Questioning My Memory

After reading from Chuck Klosterman's Eating The Dinosaur, I became disturbed, wondering about the images in my head. He goes on for a while describing how for about 129,900 years, all of the images people had in their head were real images they had seen an experienced. He explains that today, most of the images in our head are at least partially generated from the television.

As a result, I have been thinking of the many things I picture in my head that I have most certainly not seen. Any war, for example. I have an image of war. In fact, I have many different images in my head for many different wars, yet I have seen none. This has really come to make me realize just how much of an impact both the internet and TV have had on my life and the lives of those around me. I always knew these were powerful technologies with the ability to change us, however I have not, before this, realized just how much they have influenced me personally. From now on, I know I will really think about the pictures that come to mind and try to understand how many of those pictures are not mine.

Something like this realization does make me fear more for society. By going back to the idea that the press is no longer serving its watchdog function, I can see how easily the government and all those who influence it, can manipulate how we see and understand the world. We don't see the wars overseas, or the impact big companies and factories are having on the environment or cultures of peoples around the world. These images, if seen at all, are generated for us, by the press. If they aren't looking out for us and keeping an eye on what we see and our looking at, who is and what are their motives?