One immediately recognises that this red octagon means to cease forward motion. Yet the object and the meanings are separate from each other. One has been brought up to know this meaning through socialization. Thereby the meaning attached to the sign gives it significance. According to McLuhan, the sign itself can be considered the message, and to extrapolate on his quote “the message is the medium” that both the message and the medium are able to act as one.
The same line of thought can be expanded to each symbol one comes across in any given day. Even in this blog there are thousands of little symbols in which meaning has to be attached. Each letter has a phonetic value attached to it. These letters are then placed in a particular order to form words which have a definition attached to it. And then finally the words are arranged to form sentences.
How these words are crafted can affect how one communicates with his or her peers and to the rest of society.
Thoughts on Action, Power and Communication
As mentioned, the words one uses and the context one uses them in can change the effectiveness of how he or she communicates. These words and sentences can be manipulated in a certain way in order to accomplish goals. Take these phrases for an example:
Recently, I went to the hospital.
Doctors could not find out what was the problem.
They do not know how long I am going to live.
Each individual sentence is inherently true. There is no lie present. But when you juxtapose sentences, there is deceptiveness in the meaning. Recently, a man from Western Canada used this tactic in order to get benefits because he made others believe he was dying, when his hoax was uncovered, he was arrested and charged with fraud. He (ab)used communication to pursue his goals and interests.
Similar (ab)uses of communication can be found riddled through the government and media. The formula is simple:
A person who is believed to be knowledgeable in a certain area strings words together in order to manipulate his transmission of information which causes what was encoded to be different from what was decoded. <-- These murky waters make a perfect storm for fraud.
This creates a predictable pattern: those in power obstruct the flow of communication. This can be through additions or subtractions of vital information or by forcing others to withhold information.
The control of knowledge is often accompanied by violence or the threat thereof in order to maintain power. One can see examples of this in many countries such as those in Eastern Europe and throughout the Silk Road. However this can also be expanded into other fears, like the fear of job loss as in the current election for the UN seat where all talk of it is strictly banned by the Canadian government.
Each of the four forms of power: political, economic, cohesive and symbolic, plays are role in depriving the lower classes of their power.
Thoughts on Uses of Communication Media
In order for one to communicate, there is a necessity for technology to be involved; this can be natural technologies, like the larynx, ear drums and air waves. Or they can be modern communication technologies, like MP3 players and Smart Phones. Whatever the vessel used, it requires technology to transmit symbols.
New technologies have allowed for these symbols to be reproduced more readily. Audio and video can now be duplicated and distributed at an incomparable rate. Whereas in the past it required a great amount of effort to transcribe a book, this process was made simpler by the invention of the printing press and now it could be simply scanned.
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