Chapter 21 in 'Communication and Cyberspace', discusses how our two way communication is surprisingly one way. The media can control most of the news that affects us by presenting information in a way that we regard as living communication. The imitation, however, is the broadcasted one-way view of worldwide sponsors. When we receive information, it has been formulated in a way that captures are attention and plays into our desires, fears, and aspirations. In chapter 21, author Douglas Rushkoff highlights how the media can take data and turn it against us. For example, Counterinsurgency air force brigadier general Edward G. Lansdale, worked for the CIA and gathered information about the Huk rebels in the Philippines just after World War II. He learned that this group of people was very superstitious and greatly feared vampires. He capitalized on their fears by quietly capturing one of their men and killing him by puncturing two holes in the side of his neck and then draining him of blood. They would leave the man to be found by his tribe early the next morning. When the tribe did come across the victim they would retreat in fear of vampires. Essentially this tactic "depends on concretizing living myth with fixed data. They invariably mine the most fertile cultural soil for inherent inconsistencies, and then replace them with symbols that can be more easily controlled"(pg 353).
This story relates to our mass media because marketers do what General Lansdale did everyday. They distribute surveys and other polling options that require our feedback, essentially allowing them to identify our target needs- allowing us to become the victims of an eventual marketing attack. In many ways advertising is becoming more and more specific. As companies now can literally map out each of their target customers likes/dislikes and preferences using stored information from their computer's history of past purchases, we might see a trend of getting advertising that applies to us specifically. In a way I'd rather see coupons for things that pertain to my life and advertsing that 'knows me' - even if it is a little bit 'Big Brother-ish'.
Communication and Cyberspace: Chapter 21
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I found that story very interesting myself. The way the General used the superstition to his advantage is in part very creative and smart but I think it bears to ask the question, was it right? Maybe in a war scenario things are different, but what about the media playing on the fears of American and terrorism or socialism etc.?
ReplyDeleteThe internet gives businesses and governments access to information about us in ways and to a degree that have never before been possible, so that marketing, advertising, and PR can be tailored to the individual. Rushkoff's book Coercion provides an accessible overview of that process.
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