Reflection on David Croteau's "Media and Ideology."

The main idea of the chapter is what the title states. The role of ideology in the discussion of media. Croteau first explains what ideology is in terms of the media. It is not so much about defining an image, and comparing that image to real life, because real life is a subjective term. 

The section of Croteau’s writing that really connected with me was when he discusses how the media can be used as an agent of control. Croteau suggests that one of reasons that the media might actually be able to create the dominant ideology is because the media presents ideas as ‘normal.’ This happens, in part, because despite the wide variety of media (television shows, movies, video games, social networking and so forth) what those popular medias present is a fairly narrow ideal. The other part of this normalizing is about those who use the media, especially the social net working sites, to bring to attention to moral behavior that they deem inappropriate, or ‘unnatural.’ This process serves not only define what is the appropriate mode of living, but it also creates the process by which society can be ruled. Croteau refers to this as hegemony. Croteau reminds his readers that this process of natural and obvious assumptions has been a ruling power over society for a long time. This was what underlies racism, sexism and homophobia. The media are places where ideas can be circulated as truth, and therefore leave little room for other claims. 

I see this happening all the time on the different sites I go to online. The media is too often used to further self serving opinions, as the only opinion. That simply isn’t true. Twitter, facebook, they are all viewed as a way for teens to communicate with one another in a way that is insignificant and even juvenile, however, it does not stop any of those criticizers from participating in using those same websites. It does not stop people from asserting their opinion as fact and abusing social sites to do so. However, Croteau writes as if sexism and racism no longer exist, and that the media is only used further opinions about homophobia. This is not true. The non of these forms of thought have gone away, women and people of color are still struggling to gain equality, alongside those who are struggling to gain acceptance of their sexuality. An example of this abuse is the reaction to women being allowed into active combat in the military. Something that should be viewed as a great step forward toward equality has become a one liner about there being a reason there are no women in the NFL. However it is not lost on me that there are counterculture exist. Many blog sites allow teens to put out their own opinions, that are often opposing popular thought. These teens do not always agree with one another, or get along, but there is still an option