Pre Class Blog - Bourdieu

"Television's power of diffusion means that it poses a terrible problem for the print media and for culture generally." (Bourdieu 328) This reminds me of what Mark Poster says when he talks about 'information superhighway' and how 'everything' can spread to 'everyone' so fast in no time. (Think about the rhizome and how it just spreads in all directions from there.) Anyways this explosion of not just tv news but internet news (which I believe would almost be just as common among people to read up on) tries to 'avoid trouble' (328). An example of this was how we use the topic: weather to talk about a lot and in day-to-day life 'because it's subject that cannot cause trouble'.

Another thing that television does (and I believe almost any media form), Bourdieu argues that when news hits especially television stations that is when we (the masses, the people) know that it has 'political impact'. (332) "Human interest stories create a political vacuum. This can occur on a national or international scale, especially with film stars or members of royal families, and is accomplished by fixing and keeping attention fixed on events without political consequences, but which are nonetheless dramatized so as to "draw a lesson" or be transformed into illustrations of "social problems"." (332) This reminds me of all our media that simply just focuses on giving us information of celebrities and their lives; about royal families, such as Prince William getting into trouble at a party or the celebrity such as Lindsay Lohan going back to rehab. Really, I always wonder, who cares? It is not necessarily going to affect your life so why do 'we' care so much? This is where Bordieu says that TV philosophers are called in to giving 'meaning to the meaningless'. (333) It takes us away from the 'real' problems in life (poverty, inequality...) and shifts are attention elsewhere...

AHC - Geena Krueger