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tv...advertising.....video...playstation...net
nanny...palm pilots..DVDs...SMS advertising.........OVERLOAD!!!!
Our
children consume a daily diet fed to them by marketers, advertisers
and media designed for the lowest common denominator. How can we,
as parents guide them how to ration their daily consumption and
teach them how to consume it consciously with awareness and a questioning
mind?
"We
are all wired. Caught together in a web of resonance... joined to
everyone else on the planet by cables, lines, signals and satellites..
the air waves crackle with billions of invisible forms, realities
that buzz across the sky..the world mind broadcasts through all
of us. The Holy Image Empire programs the common reality. The Revolutionaries
are those who are severing themselves from the Imperial circuits."
wrote Scoop Nisker twenty four years ago in an edition of 'The Coevolution
Quarterly' -(Winter 1977/78). His words are more relevant today
than ever.
He
describes how while attending a Vispassana meditation course he
discovered his true essence "I am a jukebox. My life is measured
out in popular songs. 'I got the music IN me.." The tapes that
played over and over on his head gradually revealed themselves to
him as he trained his mind to observe the processes of thought that
ran continually through his head. As his head became emptier he
was able to gain control over the programming ..or to take over
his own "internal radio station".
This
is what happens to our children from birth - the recording of the
programming of their minds from outside sources- us as their parents,
teachers, friends and the images, sounds and messages from the media.
According
to Scoop..."You are what you think, and what you think is your
programming, your culture, your media. And just as you can begin
to deprogram yourself by watching yor own thoughts, you can also
begin to deprogram yourself by watching the thoughts of your civilisation."
So
how do we do this? How do we program or deprogram ourselves and
our kids?
Following
are a few techniques he suggests, "some mental floss to help
you prevent media particles from becoming caught in your synapses,
causing cavities in your behaviour."
-
Turn
on your TV and count the number of technical events in any given
program or ad eg. scene changes, cuts, zooms, changes in camera
angles, music intros etc. Kind of like becoming a detached observer
from the editor's perspective... instead of watching TV you
are now watching the programming of TV.
-
Watch
for the symbolism in media broadcasts and how the symbolism
is manipulated. What is THE PROGRAM behind the program? What
roles, emotions and ideals are being presented and how are they
worked into the show? Who are the archetypes, the heros, the
shamans? What imagery is being used? What emotions arise in
you as you watch these things or hear certain background music
- become aware of your moods and energy as you tune in. It's
like stepping outside of society and becoming aware of the cultural
conditioning of your entire society. Instead of watching the
TV programming, you are now watching the TV programming of YOU!
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As
our children grow up in this media saturated environment
and learn how our culture's reality is constructed through
the media, watch out for those who are prepared to question
the CNN - MacDonalds news. Bill Gates had a taste of the
next generation of journalists when he was interviewed recently
by 15 year old, Sarah.
Read
more here
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Links to sites focusing on media aware kids>>>
http://www.educ.uvic.ca/Faculty/sockenden/edb363/students/MichelleDaly/articles.html
A great resource of articles covering media awareness, elecronic
media, violence and advertising.
http://www.adbusters.org
Adbusters - An organization working against advertisers, as stated
in their manifesto: "We will take on the archetypal mind polluters
- Marlboro, Budweiser, Benetton, Coke, McDonald's, Calvin Klein
- and beat them at their own game!!
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