100 EMF Prof Lackey "Focus Q. 1 pg 66" In the essay "By Means of the Visible", Mitchell Stephens examines the claim that the electronic image has affected our nation's consciousness and caused us to think less effectively. There are four main historical complaints that Stephens explains early in the essay. In the Old Testament of the bible it was written that "Thou shalt make no graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven or on Earth." The Muslims believe that Muhammed claimed angels would not enter a temple with images present. Stephens writes "Images-easy to understand, fun to look at- inevitably threaten to turn the populace away from the deep cerebral rewards of sacred writings or philosophic discourse." In some societies, images were feared because of their magic. It was believed that images could preserve the living indefinitely and reanimate the deceased. Images were thought to be inherently unnatural, as they could give you an external perspective of yourself. Stephens writes, "There was fear too of the magic that seems to lurk in images." Another complaint about images that the author describes is that images are often deceiving. "There is a persistent reality issue with images, they look real but are often fakes." Stephens includes a warning from Plato, "a painter can deceive children and fools with mere imitation of appearance, instead of truth or real things." Lastly, Stephens writes about the most common argument against electronic images and television. "Once we begin to lose ourselves in the world of illusion, it seems as if truth and reality are just further illusions." We often see articles that point to television as the culprit for the "dumbing" of society. Stephens also points out that television has made the world that it is supposed be to accurately portraying, less real. Much of what we do see on
television is faked, and supposed to be that way. The problem is that not all of what we see on television is faked. There are very horrible things that are being reported on through television, yet because we have become accustomed to the innocent "magic box" in our homes, we are not necessarily paying enough attention. Out of all the arguments that Stephens has outlined in the essay, I think the one that most relates to our modern society is how images are making the world "less real." Television is a tremendous medium, capable of immediately delivering powerful and touching video to our entire world. I see on TV images from Iraq that depict American soldiers and Iraqi citizens killed in bombings, or other types of attacks by the insurgency, but it no longer affects me. Growing up I can remember specifically what I was doing when the US first entered Iraq. I was glued to the grainy night-vision images of in and around Baghdad. When CNN was ordered to stop broadcasting video, I stayed up for hours listening to Peter Arnett, and Bernard Shaw describing what they could see from their hotel balcony. More recently, when the US again invaded Iraq, we were treated to live satellite uplinks with full color video from embedded reporters that were granted permission to ride along with front-line soldiers. It was common to turn on CNN or FOX-news and see a live report from a reporter who was hunkered behind a wall to protect himself from whizzing bullets. Along with the crisp video images via the satellite uplink, came the grotesque images of the casualties of the war. The reality of warfare is horrible to see, but because I have been numbed with to these kinds of images, it no longer affects me. The world is a little less real when viewed through the comfort of television.