Unit 1, Issue 1

As soon as I read the title question "Are American Values Shaped by the Mass Media?", the automatic answer that came to mind was "yes!". But as I began to read both, Schiller and Carey's points of view, I had to really analyze my quick response.

In The Myth of Unchanging Human Nature, Schiller says, “what human nature is seen to be ultimately affects the way human beings behave, not because they must act the way they do but because they believe they are expected to act that way…" (pg. 7). This statement really jumped out at me! I completely agree with Schiller in saying this because its true. I believe that although media portrays many characteristics and behaviors, people choose to follow them because they categorize it as the "right" way, yet little do they realize its been manipulated into their minds through subconscious ways of saying "it brings acceptance".

On the opposite side, Carey stands in saying American values aren't shaped by the media mass. He did go into state many forms of beliefs such as religion, politics, etc., that do shape American values. He also emphasized how values are transmitted to the people through "giving and sending information through various forms". In this, I believe Carey is right and the most common form of communication is through the information being transmitted among the people. “Society is possible because of the binding forces of shared information circulating in an organic system” (pg. 18). People come to have values because of what is most commonly seen and believe around them. Once again, they are manipulated into believe in order to be a part of.

In conclusion, I come to believe that although it changes through time, the mass media does essentially shape American values. Although when a constant is changed, when enforced and repeated, time makes it valuable. People come to view things that once weren't accepted as something that can now or potentially be morally correct. And we can't fail to mention that at all ends meet, America (people) itself has come to shape the mass media, who then reflects what is already valued.