Media Impact

The power of the media: rising and falling stars.

As the media have increased the technological global might fortunes, so has the reputation, celebrity’s success and ruin are like fast media clips and shadows we observe daily.

Since the mass press of on hundred years ago we have gone a long way. M Gandhi was a master builder of a shared reputation for Indians independence, from the former British Empire. He knew how to stop the mind of millions, how to impact million if Indian and citizen the world over, collecting the media in his favor.

As Facebook and Twitter seem to impact immediately on millions of people, the rising and falling stars—music, arts, sport, politics—all depend heavily on instant exposure. Political campaigns, election, fortunes and reputation are somewhat tarnished overnight in the internet. The famousChiapas revolt of the year 2.000 was a master media campaign by sub commander “Marcos”. He didn’t want political power, he needed exposure. His guns were the kind of a ridiculous low firepower for the Mexican army, although a threat for the local police. He empowered theChiapas peasant and the poor instantly. He set the fist rebel “website” financed by Europeans and dealt a heavy blow to the Mexican establishment. Sub commander Marcos, a rare outcast in many ways, he fled to the southern mountains of Mexico to embrace a powerful peasant cause: the forgotten poor peasant of Chiapas. He claimed to have established the Zapatista Army of Liberation, a symbol of Zapata’s revolution for the peasant one century ago. Another media hit. In a few months he ruined instantly, whatever achievements former president Salinas de Gortari had in Mexico reforms. The Mexican establishment was taken by surprise and the media war though the internet was won by the rebels. Their practical achievements perhaps were small after months of negotiations, but their cause was heard far and wide in all media around the world.

The examples are endless of stars rising and going into oblivion. Like king Midas, the gold-touch myth anything the media touch can convert into a fortune overnight and bring ruin in a couple of weeks. Sponsorship of advertising fees triples or more the income of ATP tennis players, Golf stars, or movie stars. This can vanish overnight. Examples are also endless.

This is of course a mixed blessing. By some account about 1.000 million Internet users are active: some one sixth of the world population. Most news are driven by sensation and emotional impact and money, oriented business providing an impact; but also becoming extinct for the next media impact.

Trasnformation /The Work

The purpose of Life / proposito del vivir

Sogyal Rinpoche, creador de la fundacion Rigpa habla

Sogyal Ripoche Creator of Rigpa Foundation speaks

Drunvalo: un mistico indigena americano

Druvalo en Argentina

Las tecnologia IT

Why are ICTs so addictive?

In the years 2003 some trade statistics stated that if you logged into your e mail more than four times a day you were already hooked and addicted. Since IM Instant Messaging started as a fad among the young more than a decade ago, young people seem to be connected all the time (24/7) to their social networks, examples: Facebook, Twetter or the like. As of November 2009, Facebook credits itself some 350 million users, most of them teens. Tweeter credits its consumers to some 30 million users. But teens also log into their mobile phones and used them to send short messages all the time, all over. Microsoft Live credits to have 800 million people as registered users.

Socializing in a virtual fashion

Profound reasons have to do with our socializing habits. We are deeply social and drawn together. Nevertheless, virtual or internet relations are not the same, although they seem to. What makes them so appealing and addictive for your people? They provide 1) instant gratification: you push or press a button and there is a response due to instant feedback; they are very interactive. That is not the real stuff of human face-to-face relations. If you push people around at the very least they will come back to you aggressively.

Play it safe: don’t zap

When we meet people there is a delay, some surprise and people—are not yet—push button. Some of our expectations or anticipated future might not happen. With ICT it does happen. When we get frustrated usually we react in one of three forms: get anxious, get angry or get sad. With ICT we usually are very happy on our own. We cannot yet “zap” people out of our lives. So, another way is 2) when using ICT if we get “tired” bored or the like, we “zap”, change channel, site, conversation or drop the whole thing. If we do this to people we are—at the very least—very uneducated and we risk retaliation of been rude for our bad manners. Therefore ICT are some sort of “safe-ground” People are much more hazardous and unpredictable.

Finally, 3) you can buy ICT gadgets, change model, and drop the widget, phone, Pod or what have you as obsolete. If you do that with people, you again risk retaliation, we can get into trouble. We seem to be getting into this trouble because we are so accustomed to treat people as machines and machines as people.

My conclusion is that ICT are a safe-ground for frustration and clever way but lousy to get increasingly isolated from the pains of life.

Real People

Real people are much more unpredictable, perhaps more rewarding in the end. But there is a long way in how relationships develop. There are ups and downs, turns and dead ends, fun and sorrow; just life. You don’t get that with simulated virtual worlds; even the best computer games are very predictable. Young people don’t seem to like to wait, or get frustrated easily, nor deal with it in a proper way. Press a button, zap, get away or whatever.

Gustavo Jimenez Lagos

November 2009.

Hablar al corazon

“If you talk to a man a language he understands,

That goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language,

That goes to his heart”.

Si le habla a una persona un lenguaje que comprende

Ello llega a su cabeza. Si le hablan en su lenguaje

Eso le llega al corazón

Nelson Mandela

Mirar: el Buda

“Si quieres conocer tu pasado, mira tu cuerpo. Si quieres conocer tu futuro, mira tu mente”

Buda Gautama Skyamuni