Pictures in my head?? Usually songs, but here goes...

"The ony feeling that anyone can have about an event he does not experience is the feeling aroused by his mental image of that event. That is why until we know what others think they know, we cannot truly understand their acts." This quote stood out for me because coming back from studying abroad was a strange experience. Many people imagined what it was like but could not get the total essence of what I thought, and they could not really get why I acted differently than before.

I use media in many different ways, and unfortunately, I know that it often makes the pictures in my head change. The best picutres that I often find are from reading books and other print sources. These are often the most genuine, however the images I see on TV greatly change what I had initially thought and show me that my perception might have been off.

My reality is very limited regardless of the amount I have traveled and tried to experience because of my innate characteristics. It is limited by the fact that I do not feel that I am yet a real contributor to society, and I do not currently pay enough attention to what is happening in the world and locally. Finally, it is limited by the fact that there is always a filter for the information that I recieve.

If I were to engage in more media, and make more time for it, I feel that I would have a greater grasp on the realities, however, it could also be somewhat skewed by the viewpoints that are presented. Along this line of thought, if I analyze message, the medium, and gatekeepers critically, I may be able to weed out the parts of the statements that I see as opinion. If this is done, it is likely to help me keep an open view of all media that I take in.

After seeing the headline about New Orleans needing teachers because of the fallout after Hurricane Katrina, I immediately pictured classrooms that badly needed help that I had seen in Jamaica. Without an intention to be discriminatory in any way, but I immediately pictured black children, when this is not going to be the only situation at all. I had to move past this initial picture to the one of a simple classroom in need of help. This made me understand the story as it was portrayed as more of a charity situation. Later as they appealed to the viewer with stories of the problems that were occuring, I saw even more what was being portrayed. In this situation, I let the information wash over me, because after considering it, there would be no reason to slant the facts in this situation. I believe that I am selective in the evidence that I believe and do not, and that New Orleans is still a city that really needs our help.