In Response to The Most Recent Poll On My Blog

Seeing as I only got five votes in, that makes me sad about the number of people reading my blog. But then I remember that for people to want to read your blog, you have to update it, and that's something I've been doing sporadically at best. That having been said, I want to point out something interesting about the poll:

There were six options listed, and one of them was clearly a joke. No, not Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction. That's for reals, yo. Underwater Basket Weaving? Not so much.

I got five votes, and each for a different class. And the one that didn't get any votes? Media Literacy. While that scares me for certain reasons that I will enumerate below, there's something far more interesting about the poll results I wish to discuss first.

The question was, which class sounds the most interesting? And nobody thought Media Literacy would be the most interesting. People picked politics, film, and sex over Media Literacy (hilarious because politics is covered in the media, and film is a medium, and media is full of sex, but that's more an afterthought than anything), and while I haven't had the politics or the films yet, so far Media Literacy is the most interesting of the classes I'm taking. I like the people and the teacher and the material and the workload.

The writing and the sex? Yeah, well, I never thought the workload in a class about sex would be too much to handle. But it is. And as I have mentioned earlier, my creative writing prof is a little, uh...well, you read what I said before. Or at least you should have.

No, okay, so, nobody's interested in media literacy? Come ON! Here's why you should be interested: Think of how pervasive the media is. You are consuming it RIGHT NOW! Yes, that's right, my blog is considered media. But not just that...are you listening to music while you read my blog (I suggest Ray LaMontagne for a mellow mood, Buddy Rich for something to replace any caffiene addiction you may have, The Mars Volta to completely blow your mind or The Postal Service if you happen to be a hopeless romantic)? Watching television or a movie? Checking other websites? Listening to the radio? Reading a book or magazine? Driving down the highway looking at billboards (elliotisnotawriter does not advocate this activity)? You are consuming media almost constantly. Does it have an effect on you?

85% of people say it has absolutely no effect on them. And but almost all of those people who claim media has no effect on them at all also claim that it has a tremendous effect on everybody else. Say what? That's a huge chunk of people to make up for somewhere.

So what media literacy is doing for me is making me more aware of what media I consume, and making me aware that the messages I get are being filtered from reality through the person/entity through which the message is being delivered. Think about a story about Barrack Obama on a Clear Channel talk radio station vs. one on NPR. I'd like to say that NPR is more fair (and they are more apt to be) but there is a distinctive liberal bias...though not as much as Clear Channel's conservative lean. Which is, of course, pale in comparison to Fox News'. The point is, people, pay attention to where your information is coming from. I mean, just think what would happen if everybody got their news from me and Jerry. I mean, sure, the world would be a tremendously happy place to live, but...no. Wait. I like this idea. Forget I said anything else. The last sentence should read "Everybody should get their news from me and Jerry."