Do you think media is aware if itself as media? That is, does the media in its delivery of content reflect a self-critical or self-aware role it has either in its constitution / composition or as part of an overarching genre? For this blog, find a newspaper article (or any other media source around you) on a topic of your choosing and ask if it contains a metatextual component. In this way, does it reconfigure or recognise itself as writing? If so, do you think it means to subvert, satirise, or accurately depict the content? This blog topic wants you to explore the different relationships that exist before our eyes in media, especially in relation to our role as reader/listener/viewer as well as to the role of the journalist or media source in general.
New Study Finds Humans May Have Some Capacity For Compassion
February 2, 2012 | ISSUE 48•05
TUCSON, AZ—A University of Arizona study published this week in the American Journal Of Sociology suggests that some adult humans may occasionally feel compassion, a trait scientists have long considered beyond the capacity of the species. "A small percentage of the roughly 900 subjects we observed seemed at times to exhibit genuine empathy toward another person experiencing either psychological or physical pain," said the study's lead author, Dr. Benjamin Trumble, who later added that these individuals did not appear as though they were looking to gain anything from their compassionate reactions, but, to the surprise of researchers, were simply concerned about another person's well-being. "Of course, we'll need to conduct further tests to rule out the possibility that these demonstrations weren't the result of statistical noise or the expression of some sort of very, very rare genetic mutation." The study also reaffirmed previous research indicating that 95 percent of individuals are capable of convincingly feigning compassion.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-study-finds-humans-may-have-some-capacity-for,27245/
I absolutely do believe that the media is self-aware in its delivery of content. The media targets peoples emotions; either presenting fearful, humorous, or joyous news. The news presented above is quite humorous. The article does not blatantly recognize itself as writing, but it does have meta textual content. The article definitely presents the illusion of news, but is highly satirical. Humans have compassion? No way! This article focuses on how although humans are capable of compassion, we do not show it very often. This leaves the reader chuckling to themselves and then asking, "hey wait a minute, I am a compassionate person...Aren't I...?" However, the article does seem to impose a slight truth in that many people pretend to be compassionate, perhaps due to social pressures.
Other works that have meta fictional content is in films such as The Princess Bride, Inception and Stranger Than Fiction. The novel If On A Winter's Night Traveler by Italo Calvino has a meta-fictional component in that it is about a reader reading a book. By having that meta fictional component the reader is able to feel an extra level of involvement in the article. However, with the news I do not feel that people share that same feeling of involvement; unless, of course, you are in the news. Although sometimes even if you are in the news the media can shift what you say or what you meant in a way that is more appealing to a particular audience.
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