Why are americans so brain washed by the media?
446312
Why would you assume people are brainwashed? Why would you settle for the easy answer of blaming the media for social woes? Why not think a little harder and not take the easy way out?
930041
Absolutely, this is the crux of the problem in the United States today. Sensationalized news for the sake of ratings has deteriorated the truth of how the world actually operates and interacts economically The impacts of different policies from all countries effects eveyone one of us globally. The shame is we in America have the most capacity to educate via the mass media. The conundrum arises because our current capacity to educate has stemmed from greed perpetuating the sensationalization of "Real News". Personally I don't care about the Scott Peterson case or O.j. Simpson. Real news is happening and people are dieing because the misinformed public prefers to be distracted with Paternity tests on The Maury show and an "MTV" culture of who's dating, marrying, and or divorcing who.\nCapitalism is a breeding ground for greed and the result is ignorance on a mass scale. I love my country and what it truly stands for. I just don't think our founding fathers would be too pleased with our outcome at this time. God Bless.
1116069
I think that aspects of the political and media elite have worked hard at dumbing down the media outlets to where most people don't even realize that there is a problem. Most are more concerned with who won American Idol or Survivor than what has been done to the Constituition. I also think that Americans are daily exhorted to act in our own interests rather than the interests of the whole of society and sometimes we succumb to the temptation. Buy the latest  greatest, must have thing, lose weight, but don't stop to think about the people that made a lot of the things we are able to buy that are on subsitence or less wages, and never question how is it that obesity is a problem here and there are people starving in every ghetto, and in other places around the world.. Sorry for the long answer..
139973
Foreigners do not hate America, I think they hate our politicians. But, I agree with you, I do think it's ignorant. But at the same time you have to consider the fact that our image is influenced by what the world sees on the news and what they see in our movies, music, etc. But, I think it's mostly influenced by the media.
1039936
That is the general opinion all over the world at the moment, but the truth of the matter is that Americans are no less educated than any one else in any other country.  I pinpoint the blame on the examples you pointed out as mere cases of general human stupidity.  And unfortunately for most, the stupid people are often the most vocal.  I think it's safe to say that Americans are no less intelligent that any other country's population, as idiocy is a general characteristic of humanity that is non-specific to any group of people.  America's stupids are just more vocal, and Americans are a huge news topic at the moment, so there is this sudden wave of "Look at America".  This causes people to look at what idiots in our country are doing and forget that they have morons in their country as well.  Education in America is fine.  People are just dumb.
398835
i'm assuming you're in a america, so i'm answering based on the american media:\n\nbecause the media has freedom of speech, they can report pretty much whatever they want to - which means they can make up stories, and slant stories so that they have the desired effect on the audience. unfortunately, many people do not suspect the media of being this manipulative, and take the media's word as truth. the media can also leak classified information illegally, jeopardizing national security in such cases. also, foreigners watching the american news will be presented with views that supposedly accurately reflect the views of the american people.
1062660
We dont think American are stupid we do however believe that you can be found to be slightly naive. You see us Europeans here the American Governments Propaganda all the time but unlike the American ppl we actually know the truth about world events and political situations so at times we cannot believe that the American ppl believe G.Bush`s crap seriously no body had much problems with the Americans until that Muppet came along
412005
HUH? Just kidding!! It's pretty frustrating isn't it? We have finally figured out that the world is sperical and people are more ignorant now then when they thought it was flat. Note everyone that she said ignorant and not stupid. Thanks to mass media we can all get stuck in our comfort zone and all be as ignorant as one another and not feel bad about it. There is alot of deceit and media controlled crap out there though and it's very hard to know the truth, to know anything that isn't presented to you. To be informed one has to actively research and seek the things they want to know, not just sit around waiting for it to pop up on the six o'clock news.\nPS - being educated doesn't mean you're not ignorant - neither does being nurtured.
86148
You have been duped by the media once again.\nThey LOVE Americans!
849208
I personally believe most media does a huge injustice to the American people as a whole either by not portraying the news as it is or tweeking the truth a little to favor one side or the other.  An example right now would be Britney Spears and Kevin Federline.  O.k. so it's not World News, however what do you think most of America feels about Kevin?  Has Britney told anyone anything herself?  Of course not media does it by rumors, speculation, etc.  Fox News is  a Republican station that owns many many stations.  you wtch their news and it is totally biased on the Republican side of course.  You see lots of things that would justify us being in a war right now.  For most people that rely on the news to give them "the truth" about the world and what they should think it's really sad cause they are relying on people that have everything to gain by you viewing things the same way that they do.
857507
Short Answer: That's part of the reason.\n\nLong Answer: There are several factors that contribute to the general misinformation of the populace, both liberal and conservative.\n\nThe biggest one being that not many people use critical thinking. It takes effort, and effort is not something people want to put into figuring out the newsbites they're spoon fed over mass media.\n\nApathy is another big factor. People don't want to be bothered. In general, people feel they can't make a difference which is one of the reasons why our voter turnout is so miserable.\n\nThe average American watches American TV, with American news. The average American is told what to buy and who to support. The Average American does so without questioning why. The Average American, for the most part, doesn't really care what's going on in the rest of the world.\n\nFor example, a good portion of the country believes that we went to Iraq to fight terrorists. Certain news shows back that premise. Certain politicians spin that premise. The people believe that premise.\n\nAnd therin lies the problem. Belief. Belief is what keeps people blind to facts. Belief is what keeps people thinking that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, even though now there are two government reports (with another on the way) that say Iraq had no connections to terrorism.\n\nWhen you have belief you have emotion. When you have emotion, logic and reasoning gets pushed aside. It doesn't matter what if that belief is true or not, according to the believer it is "right". Many a deplorable act throughout human history have been performed by those who believed they were "right".\n\nSo why do people favor belief and emotion? Because it is easy. It is easier to get angry than it is to analyze someone's arguments for flaws. It's much easier to just declare "YOU'RE WRONG!" than it is to listen.\n\nWhich brings us back to the current situation. Instead of hoping on the interenet and doing some research, instead of examining other country's perspective of events, instead of looking at the data an evidence and coming to their own conclusions, the American populace in general is just happy having someone paint their "picture" of what reality is.\n\nWhat is most sad to watch are the elections. The only way to know what each candidate really stood for you would have to go and examine their voting records. All the political ads were nothing more than adults acting like a bunch of kids pushing each other on a playground.\n\nI'm hoping that someday soon people will wake up, but what is happening today is really no different from what happened during the Roman times. To distract the populace, they made sure they were generally happy and well entertained. Content people are less likely to resist and question.\n\n~X~
772918
What do you mean "our media?" It's not only here in the US. This is the same advertising used throughout the WORLD! Do you think that only Americans are allowed to be vain? Yeah, right! \n\nI know it perpetuates stereotypes and enforces a shallow, superficial image, but when you get down to the bottom of it, they're making money. That's all they give a crap about. And the world does not operate without money. Sad, but true...
987689
Americans, for the most part, are lazy. They would rather believe something just because they saw it on television, then look it up for themselves. Furthermore stations like Fox News feed on this.
73619
The sad thing is, most of us do not care about their views, but other countries see their views as America's views as a whole, since they are in the media spotlight....scary isn't it?
588675
Because, the media is portraying them only as camel riding tent living people. It's like the world seeing America as only McDonalds eating fat ignorant people. It's all just a slight misunderstanding.
924871
It is truly sad how many believe the nonsense that passes for news in the US.\n\nlove and blessings Don
1028991
It is media in America's nature to be liberal and slightly anti government because we have free press, if we had a state sponsored press similar to China or Saudi Arabia like some folks would prefer, than we would have a cheerleader press that never criticised the government, and always stood by their side, but people seem to forget, that is un American.