In Manufacturing Consent, I found it really interesting when Chomsky discussed the purpose of sports. If you think about it the majority of the population in North American culture lives around professional sports. Many people have “their team” and “their player” and spend a lot of time watching people play a game with some sort of ball and net.
I think this idea of sports as a distraction to keep the masses focused on trivial things rather than real political and global issues can be extended to the massive amount of Hollywood/entertainment type media. If you don’t waste all your time watching sports, there is something else for you… ET, tabloids, magazines (like people — what people? Hollywood celebrities and which ones are breaking up and hooking up).
The media is filled with sports and celebrity distractions. I mean more people in the US voted for American Idol than in the presidential election… Come on!
What I want to know is who benefits by distracting the general public from real issues? Probably those people with some power in our society who use the general public’s ignorance of issues to gain more power and financial strength.
Pop culture is taking us away from real issues into sports games and celebrity lives…
Example: CNN covered Britney’s new haircut… Was there nothing more important to talk about?
Another eyewitness report on Britney’s tattoos… (Chomsky was right we are being distracted from real issues in the media when their is a 3 min report on a celebrity’s tattoo.)
