#1: Beyond the Words

As I was reading Michael Ryan's "Summary: Theory for Beginners," I found myself relating to the things he was criticizing. In this article Ryan is basically saying that we are not individuals with our own opinions. He is saying that we are culture. We are what we hear and see on a daily basis. We as a society, myself included, go through our daily routines taking everything for face value. We never stop to question what the local news, our teachers, our friends or even our parents tell us.

I believe that Ryan is trying to shake us up a little. He is trying to get us to pay attention to the information we take in, and analyze it. He wants us to break down everything we have learned and continue to learn to form our own opinions on what is right and what is wrong.

I began to really grasp that he may be right when he was discussing the word "terrorism." When the plane attacks occurred on September 11th the president and media immediately labeled it a terrorist attack. Every time time the news was on the word "Terror" ran across the bottom of the screen. With the word everywhere, and in every one's mouths I never regarded the attack as anything else. I never even considered that maybe these "terrorists" had a motive, maybe even a legitimate reason to retaliate. The United States has attacked other countries before for what they deemed justified causes. It never occurred to me that the countries we attacked could see our attacks as a "terrorist attack." But in fact, by definition, we were imposing terror on these countries.

 Up until reading this article, it never crossed my mind that the" terrorists" may have thought they had a justified cause. I just went along with what the media was screaming, "terror." I was able to cope with what had happened by using the label "terror." To me terror was something that only happened in other countries, not in the great United States of America. The USA is fighting terror in foreign countries, so it didn't seem to be an issue here. After reading this article I began to see that there is indeed terror in my own country, even in my own city.  I can't watch the morning news with out the horrific stories of beatings, murder, and rape. I never saw this as terror because the media doesn't use that word when it pertains to things happening here. These acts are indeed terror as well. I feel a false security simply because of the labels my society chooses to use.

This article has made me think about the things I am falsely secure with. I now realize the power that a word posses and how one word can entirely change how I feel about an event. I realize that the media, and other prominent things in my life are not always right. Sometimes the media can force it's opinion on me without me even noticing. I am now going to strive to break things down, and not assume that just because EVERYONE is saying it, that it must be true.