Media has always been, and still is, one of the most influential and powerful channels of communication, source of information, and / or entertainment. In the essay “Jets of Water Blast Civil Rights Demonstrators, Birmingham, 1963”, Rev. Jesse Jackson claims that the power of the media is such that it can manipulate the public’s thoughts and emotions by showing them what hey want to see and hear, thus shaping reality as they saw fit, hence the concept of forced reality is played. Rev. Jackson supports this claim with a photograph and hard facts of the event portrayed in it. Jackson uses his memories and historical facts of the hosing of African-American civil rights demonstrators to show how the white oppressors tried to suppress the activists.
Jackson states that since the media was controlled by the white majority, the public was shown things through that white perspective. Rev. Jackson starts his essay by drawing attention to the photograph and then discussing the event that is depicted in it. The photograph showed a group of Black peaceful demonstrators being hosed with water by the white authorities. The picture doesn’t show the white people committing this act, but the black people being humiliated and de-humanized. This was one of the ways through which the whites oppressed the blacks.
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While visiting Jo Ann Callis's "Cake Hat Pillow" exhibit at the Center for Creative Photography I was constantly in awe of her far out, surreal photographs. I have always enjoyed looked at art, but going to interpret it for an assignment was a new experience. Through her black and white, and color pieces, I saw images that could be interpreted in several ways. The freedom surrealists have as ...
As Jackson stated, .”.. words speak pictures”, this is true vice versa as well. Words and pictures can have the same effect on the viewer. Passionate words evoke emotions and spark the imagination as effectively as pictures.
This is the power of the media. The first section of the essay is mostly opinions stating what he thinks people were feeling and thinking when they saw the picture. Jackson claims that the picture “exposed the most despicable in us, and it brought the best out of us, because no one seeing this picture could be neutral.” This is, for the most part, true. The picture does indeed stir emotion, whether it is outrage or glee, but some people choose to not care at all.
Jackson further describes the photo as a way in which empowered the black citizens in their fight for total equality. The second section (2 nd page, paragraphs 1-4) is filled with facts. These facts are his personal experiences, from meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. to leading demonstrations to starting the first Black Presidential campaign. These are evidences that prove his claims and also prove his credibility as a writer.
In the third section, Jackson delves more into his main point. He discusses the power of words and pictures and the way it affects the way we think, which then it affects our perception of the world and its cultures and societies. This is what one would call forced reality. From referring to the Bible to videotape of the beating of Rodney King, Jackson uses these facts to support his claims of how language and visual effects can impose reality, and show how the media is always there, ever watching and recording pivotal (and / or private) moments in history. The media can choose to delete, distort, emphasize, and de-emphasize facts. Pictures reveal the stark naked truth, but the media can distort it to suit their purposes.
Jackson uses a personal example, something that happened to him. Jackson writes of marching to a white-only served restaurant. There, in front of the media (camera and reporters), Jackson demands to eat in the restaurant. He uses this example, this moment, to prove his claim that the media shows the truth and how it can strip away all pretences. Jackson also uses an example of how the media portrays the minorities (i. e.
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Hispanics and Blacks) in a negative light. Jackson states that the media projects all the negativity, such as violence and crime, as something only blacks and other minorities do, “onto the minds of our neighbors and peers.” Reality is shaped by the mind, by our thoughts and emotions, and our thoughts and emotions can be manipulated by the media through television and other medium devices. This is what Jackson tries to emphasize. Jackson uses his personal experiences, historical facts and evidences to prove this claim. Reality is a work of art which can be sculpted by mind of individuals.
What we see may not ultimately be what is real. Every person interprets what hey see differently. So the truth to one can be false to another. The media can twist truths into lies and vice versa. Media is a most powerful independent tool which shapes the way people perceive reality.
