04 Readings 1 Discussion

Instructions
Answer the questions below according to 04 Readings 1. You may agree or disagree with your
classmates' answer by commenting to their answer. 
1. Has McLuhan’s ideal of a ‘global village’ become reality?
 Yes, McLuhan's global village has happened: the global village, one world. It was
interconnected by an electronic nervous system, making it a part of our popular
culture before it happened. Marshall McLuhan was the first to introduce the
concept of the global village and to consider its social implications. His ideas
were revolutionary at the time, and they have fundamentally changed how people
have thought about media, technology, and communications ever since. McLuhan
came up with the term "global village" to highlight his observation that an
electronic nervous system (the media) was rapidly integrating the planet, events
in one part of the world could be experienced in real-time from other parts, like
what human experience was like when we lived in small villages. Although
McLuhan popularized the concept, he was not the first to consider the unifying
effects of communication technology.
2. To what extent does global media serve as guardian of free speech, democracy, and
justice?
 In many fledgling democracies, the global media serves as a guardian of free
speech, democracy, and justice. The media can only play a positive role in
democracy if there is an enabling environment that allows them to do so. They
must have the necessary skills to conduct the kind of in-depth reporting that a
new democracy implies. The media can and must hold the government
accountable in a democracy. This task can only be completed if the government's
ability to censor the media is restricted (or preferably non-existent). A set of
strong rules guaranteeing freedom of expression, as well as a larger social respect
and tolerance for free speech and the airing of offensive, disruptive ideas, are thus
important. Freedom of expression can also be a requirement for success. Nudity,
salaciousness, violence, vulgarity, and political dissent are often the kinds of
things that governments and socially conservative segments of society want to
prohibit.
3. What is the ‘message’ of new social media?
 "The medium is the message," according to Marshall McLuhan, which means that
the attributes of a media have as much impact as the information it conveys. For
example, hearing about a scene in the newspaper versus seeing a photo of it
versus seeing a black and white film versus viewing a color video has a very
different effect on someone. McLuhan was particularly taken by television,
describing it as a "cool" medium with a relaxing impact on viewers. Years later,
when medical research revealed that watching television does indeed induce
people to settle into passive brain wave patterns, he was delighted. One wonders
what McLuhan would think of the Internet, the most powerful media we've yet
devised, pushing the global village integration he predicted.