For this post I am going to deviate from my use of
Films to discuss modern media issues and how they affect cultures and society.
Earlier I discussed how Australian culture is a mixture of every immigrant,
every indigenous person and every person who colonised the nation.
I'm a Caucasian Australia with Italian, Irish and French heritage who has been
to over 30 nations globally and enjoy every type of cuisine. I love Australia
from the average 'Bogan' to the every Politician. I believe Australia is a
country anyone can share their culture, ideological beliefs and opinions with
little hatred. But I despise the focus commercial television;
radio and newspapers have on portraying any immigrant, refugee or
Non-White Australian as a Job-stealing Criminal who is going to destroy the
fabric of society. Shows like ACA or Today Tonight and people like Andrew
Bolt utilise fear mongering to portray a far concern but describe it as
fact. Currently I believe our media (Excluding the ABC and SBS) focuses more on
ratings and manipulation than facts or informed opinions.
Now my major fear, apart from this continuing is the
fact that immigrants, refugees and people in other countries are going
to perceive us different, this has occurred in India
already after a string of attacks on Indian students. Although almost every
person in Australia has immigrated from somewhere else they have started to be
tricked, deceived and manipulated by commercial media leading to the possible
loss of customs, beliefs and attitudes prevalent in their family and culture in
favour of these distasteful antics (Bryan and Thompson:2002) Furthermore the
fear of difference and loss of culture by self-entitled 'White Australians' has
led to this pushback that occurs when citizens think they are under attack but
failing to see that we have no really defined culture (Birch et al:2001).
Personally I see Australian culture as simply everything. As a nation we have
grown from roots in almost 200 countries and become currently the most stable
country in the world. We should be proud of Australia and the vast demographics
we have.
Birch, D, Schirato, T & Srivastava, S
2001, Asia: cultural politics in the global age, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.
Bryant, J., & Thompson, S. (2002).
Fundamentals of Media Effects, 1st ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
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