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Life is full of misconceptions; we usually tend to believe the “cover” of the book or even trust the word of mouth “reviews”, before actually reading it.
How many times have we simply taken someone for granted just by judging the way that person looked? We are all guilty of that unfortunately. However, when even the media “agrees” with the image, it becomes hard to fight it.
A little more then one year ago when I decided to move to Israel, the reaction of the people around me back in Brazil, was testament of that media portrait. People came up to me worried I would be blown up in a terrorist attack, asked me if I was going to live in the desert and even simply stated that I was out of my mind.
I blame these misconceptions partially on the media and also on lack of information or willingness to get that information. People tend to take in the media “food” and eat it without taking a minute to notice what they are chewing. Then, it’s too late and the faulty portrait has become part of their intellect and from then on it works as a virus, infecting everyone around. That until someone decides to fight it and break the cycle.
The hardest misconceptions to fight are the ones based on facts. Israel is a country that has never seen peace, a country where terrorist attacks are a part of life, unfortunately, but Israel is also a very unique country, beautiful sceneries, from amazing beaches to breathtaking desert views, incredible nightlife, interesting people, diverse society that varies from extremely religious to free spirited people with no fear of living life and experiencing new things.
How can we judge a country that has always been seen as the “bad guy” on the news?? I have a hard time getting that message across my friends all around the world, the media set portrait is a hard one to break, but I will take the challenge and I hope not to disappoint.
This piece is not supposed to sound Zionist, it’s just my way of fighting our tendency of pre-judging and trusting whatever the media feeds us blindly... The only way we can KNOW something is by experiencing it and no one can do that for us.
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You have desribed Israel beautifully - Israel is a very unique country, beautiful sceneries, from amazing beaches to breathtaking desert views, incredible nightlife, interesting people, diverse society that varies from extremely religious to free spirited people with no fear of living life and experiencing new things.I am impressed and I do like to go there in future.
Each and every country has its own beauty and culture, faiths, religious believes, and obove all a unique lifestyle of its citizen. We can’t judge it just by the news published in media.
Thanks :) I only say what i see and feel... Israel is indeed amazing an worthy of being visited for sure :D
The mainstream media is terribly overrated and too many people put too many ”attention” to it...
The mainstream media is terribly overrated and too many people put too many ”attention” to it...
Amen.
;)
As to Why popular media manufacture such misconceptions? Well, you must read Chomsky’s ’Manufacturing Consent’.
Media is often cleverly used as a tool of propaganda by powerful...
Chompsky and Foucault exist on different tributaries of the fast-flowing river of subversive intellectual analysis and endeavour...
Media is also a tool used by the not-so-powerful in a culture to define the parameters of their existence. People are educated by the media to expect to live certain kinds of lives, normalised lives with delineated ends and needs.
In the end, concerning this article at the top, Israel is just another country. A country with good and with bad, with beauty and with ugliness - like any other country. The media discourses on Israel run the inevitable gamut between valorisation and demonisation. We all know who is responsible for which image. The reality, as with any place, is always somewhere in the middle.
:)
and Israel is in between... it is far from being perfect and I plan to adress the not so perfecta nd even funny aspects of it very soon :)
It doesn’t sound Zionist. It sounds Humanist. Misconceptions and generalisations proliferate everywhere and about everyone.
We require generalisations to be able to communicate at all but when the generalisations become the raison d’etre of communication and a reason and excuse for a stark misrepresentation of reality, nothing of value is communicated.
Thankyou for your creative conception on the topic of misconception.
:)
I must also add that I am fascinated by the term on the blog you linked to (perhaps your own blog ?): Judeoblondism.
:O
However I have considered creating one under an alias in order to write more r rated stories... not as juicy as that one im afraid hehe
I appreciate the comment and compliments... :)