THE MANIPULATED
WORLD OF INFORMATION
BY
Caicedo, JEFFERSON A
Foreign Language student at Universidad del Valle
Have you ever stopped to think how much believable is
the information media brings to you? Have you ever reflected on how much people
depend on information and technology in today’s world? These two questions make part of the main
topics that the American author Ray Bradbury presents in his book Fahrenheit 451, first published in 1953
and according to—http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/summary.html—one of
Bradbury’s most popular and widely
read work of fiction.
My aim in this paper is to work on the development of the two topics
that are strongly referred in Bradbury’s book, namely: the constraint of media
on human’s life and the lack of knowledge as means of enslavement. To do so, first, I will present a short
overview about people’s need of information and I will also give some examples
of how people benefit from information; secondly, I will attempt to propose a
dialectic rhetoric about these two subjects by using some quotes from the book
and by presenting the point of view given about the topics by literature
student Amatoga Jérémy, linguist JoEllen Simpson and Anthropologist Beth
Bartlett who were interviewed during the time we were reading Bradbury’s book
in 2012.
Historically, humans have had the need to use information. It has been used for many purposes: merely
for being in contact each other, for being updated about what happens nearby or
in a very remote place, and also as a mean for accessing knowledge. Some examples of these ways of benefiting
from information are seen when someone writes a letter to be sent to someone
who left to a different place, when people contact each other to talk about the
health conditions of a relative or about good news that just happened. In terms of knowledge, people benefit from information
by reading books, magazines, etc.
So far, we have highlighted a positive side of the use of information
but now we are going to focus on the other side of the bridge. Information has been use in a manipulated
way in order to constraint people from the access to knowledge and practically to
enslave them. These two aspects are core
of our discussion in this part.
The perspective regarding information as a tool to constraint people, we
discuss here is not something new; it has been a strategy used since long time
ago. In an interview with Amatoga Jéremie
held in 2012, she claimed that in the American context during the American
slavery African-Americans were not permitted to read, to may how to read, to
may how to write; therefore, they did not have access to books or education. So important it is, information is a mean to
constraint both, either by giving too much of it or by prohibiting its
access. Referring to this, Jérémy
continues:
“[…] at TAX University since the 1960s, there have been students who’ve
been trying to fight for an African studies department. An African studies department allows for all
students to kind of having alternate view of how the world works.” […] “And
finally, we’ll see that the African-American department has been established
but during the period when we didn’t have it, it was…it was inaccessibility to
certain kinds of knowledge because the university did not want to challenge the
status quo.” These testimonies presented
by Jéremie give us a clearer and a specific vision of how banning information
has been applied historically and what for it has been done.
The influence of media on people’s life, the over-information, and the
manipulation of data are bond to the Government action and it is been more and
more noticeable; this is an issue that Bradbury foregrounds in his book as
follows:
“If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides
to a question to worry him; give him one.
Better yet, give him one. Let him
forget there is such as thing as war. If
the Government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those
than that people worry over it. Peace
Montag. Give the people contests they
win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state
capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year.
Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of
“facts” they feel stuffed, but absolutely “brilliant” with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll
get a sense of motion without moving. And
they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like
philosophy or sociology to tie things up with.” (Fahrenheit
45, page 68).
It is obvious that the goal of the system is to transform citizens in nonthreatening,
non-interesting humans who can be easily led and manipulated through fear. Likewise, in the next excerpt, Bradbury
portrays how media manipulates people’s mind and makes them rely on a false
rhetoric and fake reality.
‘The chase continues north in the city! Police helicopters are
converging on Avenue 87 and Elm Grove Park!’
Granger nodded. ‘They’re faking.
You threw them off at the river.
They can’t admit it. They know
they can hold their audience only so long.
The show’s got to have a snap ending, quick! If they started searching
the whole damn river it might take all night.
So they’re sniffing for a scapegoat to end things with a bang. […].’ (Fahrenheit 451, page 155).
On the other hand, Amatoga’s statements are closely related with
Bradbury’s point of view. This
manipulation of information by media and by the government seems to be applied
in order to establish and keep a status quo. Aligned to Bradbury’ modern
ideas, JoEllen Simpson declared although she thinks it is not right, she agree
that education is a way to establish a status quo, and that it is a new way to
enslave people.
I think that even at the universities the type of education that’s given
at the public universities is different than the type of education that’s given
in the private universities. And I think
that part of that is to keep people stupid so then they don’t ask for more
things.” She continues.
Nonetheless, Simpson firmly points out the positive and relevant role
technology has in the manipulated world of information which is a vision in
opposition to Bradbury’s views. She
argues that fortunately though, with internet more and more information is
available, so the people who are self - motivated can find the information
themselves and they can overcome some of the limitations to the system.
Another important aspect to bear in mid in the manipulated world of
information is the influential role of those who are in high-power or
hierarchical positions i.e., media, politicians, scholars, doctors and so on. They are authorities and whatever thing they
say can cause a great impact on people’s mindsets and on their behavior; mostly
in underclass people. In relation to
this, Jéremie states that for instance when you think on a politician, or
doctor, or a researcher wherever knowledge they produce, people tend to believe
them and they can control their mind in that way because people don’t have
knowledge. Jéremie continues arguing
that political leaders distract with the bunch of statistics, they distract
with things that are going to be, but they never tell you what they’re actually
doing, or how are they actually solving the problem, but they keep on throwing
more information so thus you get lost in
it.
Beth Bartlett who we also interviewed
during the time we were working on Bradbury’s book, states that she does
believe having information is power absolutely.
That information for example provides people with the knowledge to know
what they can do and where they can go in order to change perhaps circumstances
of their lives; and she does also believe that people who don’t have access to
information either purposely or just for the circumstance, are people who are
really limited in their possibilities in life and they’re kind of dependent, in
some way, on other people intervening in their life and helping them. In Bartlett’s words people who don’t have
access to information are “a kind of powerless.” Bartlett’s point of view is in some way aligned
to those of Jéremie, Simpson and Bradbury.
This rhetoric is related with what we have been discussing above. Information is a mean to control, to enslave
and to constraint others.
There are many more aspects to point out regarding the world of
information and media; however, we consider this realm too complex and too wide
to be covered in this paper. What I
have done in this writing is to present my perception and that of some people I
interviewed, about both sides of information; a positive one that helps people
to communicate, to be updated, etc. and a negative one which is related to the
way information is manipulated in order to constraint human’s life. I also pointed out how lack of information,
no access to information and excess of it are aspects that make people be
powerless, dependent and aimless when choosing what information is really
objective and reliable.
In sum, we think that people must be responsible with information they
work with in order to be objective and authentic. However, we do believe that there will be
always the risk of running into manipulated information inasmuch as most of the
time there are particular interests; those who release the information are not
always the first source, and as we read in Bradbury’s book media is always
looking to catch the attention of an audience which is eagerly waiting for
information.
References
Amatoga Jéremie (2012). In: Interview held October 11, 2012: Santiago
de Cali, Colombia.
Beth Bartlett (2012). In:
Interview held October 05, 2012: Santiago de Cali, Colombia.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/summary.html. Last day of
consulting: September 2, 2012 at 20: 52.
JoEllen Simpson (2012). In: Interview held October 05, 2012: Santiago
de Cali, Colombia.
Ray Bradbury (1953). Fahrenheit
451: Great Britain, Flamingo Modern Classic. 1993- 68, 105.
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