The hierarchy of media
As I idly flipped through the morning paper, an epiphany occurred—the kind James Joyce was always going on about. It was like some invisible hand reached out of the ether, flipped open my head like a lighter and filled it to the brim with information unreachable by any other means. The entertainment section—yes, the one with the movies, music and other seemingly inconsequential matters—is the single most important part of the newspaper, or all news, for that matter. The artist holds a more influential role in a democracy than the politician—such is the beauty of the democracy.
A democracy is a reactionary government. It’s generally accepted that the people are in charge, in that we elect American flag pins with bodies attached to them as scapegoats for our respective opinions—initiating intellectual bumper cars. So, naturally, we attribute importance to this process, as it is the most direct form of theory to application. However, the process is merely the final domino, falling wherever it may.
The far more important role in our country is entertainment. Movies, music, television, and other such things plant seeds in the minds of people in an easily digestible manner, to eventually grow into a sturdy, immovable belief, which they will then hand-off to their representative. Most people aren’t able to—or just don’t care to—create new ideas; nothing comes out of their mouth that doesn’t first enter through their ears. There are a chosen few who lead and the masses follow behind them, dragging their elected officials along the way like excited children.
Sports are also entertainment, so does that mean the sports section is also important? No. Sports have no inherent meaning—meaning can only be applied to it. In other words, without an audience, it would just be one horde of unemployable man-children playing a game with one another. A film, however, has inherent meaning—in that, if “The Godfather” is playing on a desert island with no one around to watch it, the arc of Michael Corleone remains meaningful.
With that, the hand reclaimed the wisdom it bestowed upon me. All I have just written is merely a thought reassembled from the remnants of inspiration that clung to the sides of my head.
