The politics of Disimagination and the Pathologies og Power - Dissertation Example

He calls it a barbarian culture, for this is the only society that handcuffs a 5 year old child for breaching the school dress code. And, this society represents the savage modern world that ‘takes delight in the suffering of others’ (Giroux). Moreover, it is strange that 35.5 percent of the net wealth 42.4 percent of net financial assets is owned by the top 1 percent of the households while majority represents a homeless generation (Giroux). According to Giroux, American civic life has literally collapsed into a ‘war zone’.

He sarcastically criticizes the dominant media as well for not covering such serious issues; he comments that “media is upset only because it was not invited to witness the golf match between Obama and Tiger Woods” (Giroux). This collapse into the war zone is not the end in itself; rather it has plunged the society into “a deadening form of historical and social amnesia” (Giroux). This is evidently a kind of escapism, and refereeing to Abu-Jamal Giroux calls it ‘mentacide’, “a form of historical amnesia "inflicted on Black youth by the system's systematic campaign to eradicate and deny them their people's revolutionary history" (as cited in Giroux).

This paper is a humble effort to shed new lights on the issue, making a general understanding of society and social changes highlighted by the author. Evidently, a young kid does not have the maturity to understand what he sees on a screen is just a fiction. They tend to imbibe and imitate it. In order to know the magnitude of violence, it is essential to communicate with people who have really experienced the impact of violence. A war survivor can better explain what the sufferings of a war exactly are.

People should realize that war drains away the money which otherwise would have been used for public development. The entertainment industry reaps money by making cartoons and video games that augments the skill to kill. We should dissuade young children from playing violent video games. They should be convinced that revenge and vengeance would only make them blind. It is high time for the American society to realize that violence is not a pleasure deriving act. Only a paranoiac can enjoy violence, and if then we ought to raise the question to ourselves regarding where we stand.

Admittedly, the easy availability of lethal weapons has made violent outbursts a day to day affair. Handguns and rifles can be obtained both legally and illegally. This has made the gun culture to grow extensively in the society. Government should discourage movies that promote blatant violence. Movies simply personify violence as heroism blinding the common sense and insight of the audience. Violent movies play a crucial role in dissipating crimes like rape and serial killings. Advertisements too play an equal role in promoting violence.

Advertisements are powerful enough to change even nightmares to objects of desire. Violence in advertisements gets imprinted and has a deeper impact on adolescents and kids more than any other media. Another shocking revelation is that reading has been limited only to prisoners. Others have no time to read. So, people resort more to visual media rather than cleansing their minds with good books. Young minds watching violence is driven in to a state of delusion in which they can’t differentiate between reality and fantasy.

Even mature people fall prey to violent