Does Media Affect Our Lives? It Did Mine

When I look back over my life, and after I’m done wincing, cringing and shaking my head in shame, several media productions come to mind, which have left a deep impact on my life in one way or another.
Chronologically, I’d have to say a visit to Billings by America’s first shock jock; Wolfman Jack impelled me to pursue a career as a radio announcer beginning at the age of fifteen. This single event has repeatedly affected my life in various ways and continues to play a part in whom I am and who I’m striving to become.
Next in line, would be Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Randall Patrick McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” I think by reading Ken Kesey’s book and then seeing the film at a relatively young age, I was fortunate to be moved by the concept. Even though now I realize that the underlying message in the story goes much deeper, at the time it instilled in me the belief that it was not only okay to question authority, but it was admirable to beat the drum that feels right to you, regardless of what the status quo wants to hear. It led to my first epiphany that made me aware that the people with power weren’t always the people that were right, a belief that I continue to value.
The “Gonzo” journalism of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was introduced to me a short time later through the books and movies “Where the Buffalo Roam” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Although I’m not certain exactly what moved me, I was pleased to learn that a person could be the total opposite of what was considered politically correct, and still be respected and sought out to lecture and to work, based simply on his talent and ability to excel at his craft. Thompson’s total disregard for protocol and pomp appeared to enhance his abilities and opportunities as a journalist. His deformed way of seeing the World as his test tube, and then relating his visions to the rest of society, kindled my love of the power of words. This is also what impressed on me that you can go through life just being who you truly are. It may not always be pretty or easy, but at least you are being true to yourself.
The horrible events of January 28th, 1986 made it brutally clear to me that this gift we enjoy called life, is not ours to do with as we please. The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger reminded me that we do not control our destiny. Furthermore, it taught me that what seems to be a great accomplishment one moment can just as easily be seen as a great tragedy only ten seconds later, and vice versa. The overall lesson I learned that day, is to celebrate each day that we have this gift we call life.
Following the events I’ll refer to as Round 1 of the Bush v. Hussein dramedy, I began to lose faith in the media and hold very little respect for the productions they so arrogantly allowed us to view. I went from a U.S. Navy trained broadcast journalist who, like an addict, read three newspapers and watched two hours of national and local news before I could leave the house each day, to an angry citizen who felt my intelligence was insulted daily by the half-truths, propaganda and commercial and political rhetoric that eventually became the norm distributed to the world by the media. I became ashamed of not only what appeared to be the degradation of the ethics of journalism, but I was also disgusted with the willingness of the public to accept and believe whatever came out of the box labeled as news.

That being said, the most recent media production to affect me deeply was a documentary I was assigned to watch for a class I was taking. I had to watch it three times just to begin to figure out why I was so emotionally affected by it each time. In “Bowling for Columbine,” film director Michael Moore presents an alarming number of issues that are suspect of aiding in the degradation of political morals, the manipulation of the U.S. Constitution and the human rights it represents, and the breakdown of not only personal, but also family ethics and values that were so proudly displayed by Americans in the not too distant past. The film made me ask, has America gotten so far out of control that it’s too late to fix what’s broke? Can one idealistic man affect a positive change in this fragile place in time and space?
While every media production mentioned here has had a profound and lasting affect on me, it was this last one that has strengthened my convictions and given me direction of where to go in Public Relations. I am determined to take my education and knowledge acquired throughout life, add to them the skills and techniques I’m currently striving to master, and do my best to turn things around. When people ask what I’ll do with a degree in Public Relations, I’ll look them in the eye and tell them, “I’m going to change the World.”
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