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Every person everywhere in the United States is consumed by what the media tells them: what to do, what to wear, where to go to shop. People will swear up and down that they want to have their own identity, and they will even go to great lengths to attain it, yet, inevitably, they all fall into a "clique" with millions of others. Nobody wants to be a follower, but in terms of youth culture, nobody can really be a true leader. Nobody, that is, except the media. The American people, young and old alike, line up like sheep and follow the media shepherd wherever it leads. After a pathetic plea from my 13 -year-old brother, I reluctantly agreed to take him and a few of his buddies to the mall to shop for basketball shoes.
Although taking a slew of opinionated, loud-mouthed, smart-aleck teenagers shopping was not high on my priority list, spending time with my little brother was. So off to the mall we went. On the way the increasingly louder arguments over which shoes were the best made me want to drive my car straight into a tree. The one topic that kept rolling media presided tounge's was that of the many different shoes they had seen on television.
That's when it hit me, my brother and his buddies were being led to slaughter -- the mall -- by the media shepherd. As we pulled into the parking space at the mall, I barely had time to put the car in park before my crazed passengers, a pack of teenaged hooligans, barreled out of the car and raced for the door. By the time I caught up to my mob of shoe shoppers they were already in a shoe store, each with a different shoe in hand. My little brother had already strapped a pair of hideous shoes to his feet and was bouncing around the store acting like he was Kobe Bryant. I asked him if he liked the way the shoes looked, or even if they were at least comfortable, and his reply was, "who cares?
Kobe Bryant wears them so they " re awesome!" I gave the shoes a closer inspection, because if they were good enough for Kobe Bryant, they were good enough for my little brother. At least in my little brothers mind. When I peered at the price tag my knees got weak, and I nearly fell over. I asked him how he planned to pay for the shoes, and he gave me the short version of the guilt trip he had laid on our divorced parents. Not only did he guilt enough money out of Mom for the shoes, he blind-sided Dad with a sneaky appeal for basketball accessories.
Needless to say I was absolutely flabbergasted, yet, at the same time, very impressed. The more I thought about it, the more I realized, that at the age of thirteen, my little brother had already been sucked into the media herd, and would probably stay there. I told Kobe, (a. k. a. my little brother), I had some other shopping to do, and I promptly left the scene of shoe-shopping fiasco.
My niece was having her sixth birthday in a week, so I decided to go shop for her. As I headed for the toy store, I pulled out the list she had given me. Downhill skier Barbie, firefighter Barbie (because her favorite uncle was going to be a firefighter), and / or , Doctor Barbie. Under no circumstance was I to get her scuba Barbie, astronaut Barbie, or just plain regular Barbie because she already had those. If I couldn't find any of those then she would be all right with a Barbie jacket or blanket. At least she took the guesswork out of the process.
It was absolutely amazing, six years old, and already a direct part of the herd. As I thought about it, it made sense. My sister had told me many times when she duped me into babysitting, that if the kids got too wild, just put in a video, Barbie for my nieces and Bob the Builder for my nephew. My niece has all the Barbie videos, so it should have been no surprise to me that she would want all the Barbie dolls. My sister used the videos to rope my nieces and nephew back whenever they started to stray too far from the rest of the herd.
By this time I had taken a seat on a bench in the middle of the mall. I thought to myself that everyone in my family was consumed by what the media told them. I thought briefly that they were all pathetic. Then I realized I would be high and mighty to try and convince myself that I wasn't affected in some shape or form by the media. Since I was young I have been infatuated with military history, I can watch war movies and the History Channel all day long and never get tired of it. The one thing I wanted more than anything growing up was to be a soldier.
I wanted to jump out of airplanes, ride in tanks, shoot guns, and blow things up. That's why, when I was old enough, I ran full speed to the recruiter and enlisted in the Army. I lived my dream as an airborne infantry soldier for over three years. Like most dreams, it wasn't as great as I had hoped.
There was much more to being a soldier than what the media shepherd had led me to believe. Along with being infatuated by being a soldier, I have also been mesmerized by firefighters. As a kid I remember running after the fire trucks every time I heard the distinctive sound of their sirens. I was completely fascinated watching the firefighters battling the blazing inferno. I have watched so many movies and television programs about fire fighting, every one of them gets me more and more excited about being a part of that lifestyle. Now that I'm in school studying fire science, I hope that the media shepherd isn't herding me into another disappointment like the whole military deception.
Completely astounded at this point by the way the media controls us as a culture I began to wonder if this was a fixable problem. Or even if this was really a problem at all. So my little brother wanted shoes just like his basketball hero. So my sister let her kids watch their favorite movies to calm them down.
So I want to live my dream as a soldier or a firefighter or whatever it may be this week. I don't see a huge problem with any of this. Some people get completely consumed by the media, and that can lead to huge problems, problems that I can't find an answer to. American people as a whole are followers, and will always follow.
Personally, I don't think that will ever change. Sitting there on the bench in the middle of the mall, I watched my little brother and his merry band of teenage maniacs prancing toward me like morons. Then I looked at the list of Barbies. That is when I realized that everyone, everywhere is consumed by the media. Although people may have their own personality, having an identity that they can call their own is impossible. The media is the one supreme leader in the United States, in the world for that matter.
The people are lining up like sheep to follow the media shepherd wherever it takes them.
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Research essay sample on Kobe Bryant American People
