The Medium Is The Message: McLuhen, Memes, Meaning and Expanding Minds

PART ONE

In 1967, Marshall McLuhen first coined the often repeated phrase “…the Medium Is The Message…” in a book of the same name. (McLuhen 1967)

It is important to contextualize McLuhen’s context of the 1960s in which he saw the technological landscape shift from a prevailing emphasis on books and printed literature which required the active and focused attentions of the audience\consumer to that of television which McLuhen saw as a far more passive form of information exchange. He would subsequently designate various forms of media “hot” and “cold” (or “cool”) depending on the degree of engagement and investment demanded from the audience (McLuhen 1966.)

Theodor Adorno would refer to a similar concept, purporting that purveyors of the industrial revolution working in homogenous factories of mass manufacturing would subsequently become homogenous and mass manufactured themselves, requiring a active stream of novelty in their rest and recreation time delivered in the most simplified, pre-digested form. (Adorno 1941)

McLuhen’s concept is archaic and anachronistic when applied to a modern digital landscape. I am of the belief that many forms of modern media have the capacity to be both “hot” and “cold” in nature and in examples like the internet encourage the consumer\audience to engage on a level they feel most compelled to.

[EXTERNAL LINK: Why not both? http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/File:82733-why-not-both-meme-5LvD.jpeg]

Where McLuhen was entirely correct was in his premise that technology and media when unchecked has the ability to influence the passive consumer. (McLuhen 1967) This becomes an enormous danger as the mechanism can be manipulated in a capitalist and demographic society for both political and corporate gain.

On the television program “In conversation with Allen Gregg…” Neil Postman encourages the consumers of media to consider if technological development\advancement is moral: Does it move us towards greater morality or corrupt our existing morality? (Postman 2000)

When framed alongside this line of inquiry Mcluhen’s concepts feed into questions of political alignment and social structure and whether these concepts can be considered absolutely inherently “good” or “evil” or if those words are simply an expression of individual interpretation, opinion and meaning-making.

Indeed, Jacques Derrida’s concept “deconstruction” suggests that all meaning is constructed and thus as much truth can be found in the dismantling\tracing the root of the concepts “good” and “evil” than can be by simply investing meaning in the terms. (Derrida 2002)

I feel that Neil Postman’s initial query regarding the morality of technology and technological advancement is in itself a flawed one. It is therefore erroneous to ask if technology is moral or not as morality can only be defined in context. The inference is implicitly asking if technology is good or evil, both concepts are also constructed and inherently contextual in nature.

In McLuhan’s terms: “…the hidden aspects of the media are the things that should be taught, because they have an irresistible force when invisible…” (Mcluhen 1967)

[EXTERNAL LINK: Media Ecology — A Brief Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilHHAAcSJz4]

Video essayist the Nerdwriter suggest that “…new forms of media actually reorganize our consciousness…” (Nerdwriter1, 2015). When considered through the lens of Derrida’s deconstruction I contend this is not a matter of good and evil but rather of the mechanics and economy of how meaning is made, how its facets are formed and which faces of meaning are invested into at the expense of others.

Consider as an example — a majority of technological innovation takes place in a capitalist environment. Subsequently funding for research and development, production, distribution, marketing and recuperation\return on investment are a constant underling consideration. McLuhen was horrified by examples like Facebook or the forthcoming Reddit whose models monetize a predominantly naïve, ignorant or apathetic user base, a notion which the majority of users do not regularly consider. (Goodson 2012) To some this is an ethical compromise, to others it is neither here nor there and some consider such matters a compromise of ethics and therefore evil. The conclusion is contingent on where each individual choses to invest their own personal interpretation and subsequently how their meaning is made.

This paper places emphasis on the internet as a blanket manifestation of modern ‘technology’ and considers it as a medium, an extension of humanity as a whole — the entirety of history, knowledge, culture. Online Identity is formed based on preferences — that is to say, the content consumed by way of the internet, but also the passive and active ability to navigate and self-curate the landscape. ie. A bored middle aged woman browsing TMZ and Facebook at work or a politically minded person actively pursuing, comparing and contrasting different news media in pursuit of a (relatively) whole and (as much as is possible) informed view of an issue.

It is through internet facilitated online through which we presently engage with academic discourse and are required to assemble a (relatively) holistic picture of the landscape of information before picking and choosing the positions of protagonistic and antagonistic sets of information whilst initially composing and later reinforcing, reaffirming and reshaping our personal perspective on the subject, issue or matter of current focus and scrutiny.

If then, the internet is the medium then what is its message?

“The Medium is the Message” (McLuhen 1967) suggests that meaning is inherently limited by the native tongue through which it is manufactured and subsequently the way the human brain organizes information. In this way the internet is a unique medium exhibiting a swift and regular evolution of its terms, conventions and parameters of expression and vocabulary be that written, spoken, verbal, audiological, visual, non-visual etc. However, the internet is an adaptable, collective consciousness and ecological system with a tendency to swiftly and regularly manufacture or repurpose tools (including language) for its own purposes and benefit. (Favilia 2017)

Fiona McPherson Senior Editor of The Oxford English Dictionary is quoted saying:

“…There is no doubt that technology has had a “significant impact” on language in the last 10 years, says Ms McPherson. Wireless in the 1950s meant a radio. It’s very rare to talk about a radio now as a wireless, unless you’re of a particular generation or trying to be ironic…” (Klienmann 2010)

The Uber app’s overnight revolution of the personal transportation industry is another citation of how swiftly the internet can reorganize and dismantle the status quo seemingly at will.

The concept of “uberization” has taken the general meaning of disrupting any industry through the use of technology to circumvent unnecessary bureaucracy and legislation. What is interesting about the use of the term uberization is that again, the subtext is not just about the actual process of transforming an industry into something more efficient or productive. Saying that an industry needs to be “uberized” is as much a commentary about its unwillingness to change, modernise and really meet consumers’ needs. (Technophrenia 2015)

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PART TWO

What cultural shifts have been caused in your life by technology and media?

“The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village” (McLuhen 1964)

It is widely known that I am entirely in love, enamoured and committed to the internet. I pledge no allegiance to any flag, culture, family or nation but instead my interests and identity aligns solely with the bastion that is the world wild web.

In the discourse of media ecologies Marcus McLuhen states that “…the medium is the meaning…” (Mcluhen 1967) Further reading into his concepts of “hot” and “cold” (or “cool”) media make more sense when anchored contextually to the transitional period in which they were initially conceived. At the time the mediums of radio\recorded music, film\cinema, television and print media were substantially more empirical, monolithic and clearly differentiated than they are now (PBS Ideas Channel 2016) A major proponent as to why these mediums have evolved into something more seamless (and sometimes homogenous) was the advent of the internet.

If we are to examine McLuhen’s often repeated premise that “…the medium is the meaning…” what then, is the meaning of the internet?

When I began to examine this question I thought about the front page of Reddit, which by popular opinion (and an algorithm that is largely democratic in nature but not entirely devoid of political or mechanical manipulation) curates the most popular links, articles, images etc to create what it calls “…the front page of the internet…” (CGP Grey 2013)

Updated in real time this frequently sees popular events such as significant deaths, terrorist events, medical breakthroughs, breaking plot developments in the most recent episode of Game of Thrones, particularly significant music videos or album releases, sports results etc. pushed to the top of the page with a degree of immediacy and crowd-sourcing that is almost unparalleled. The discourse that follows is likewise curated by a system of ‘the cream rising to the top’ so to speak.

“…they are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral and ethical consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected or unaltered…” — McLuhen 1967, The Medium Is The Message

Instead of drudging through pages of inane, low-quality tosh the arguments and commentary democratically considered most valuable are “upvoted” and rise to the top. (Again it is important to weigh this perception with a healthy dose of broader awareness regarding demographics and precisely who is doing the voting\moderating\administrating and what their agendas might be. But generally speaking, it is a strong and effective system which results in constructive results and draws information from real human beings from all sorts of different backgrounds whose voices might not otherwise be heard or contribute to communal discourse.)

“Social news and content aggregation Web sites have become massive repositories of valuable knowledge on a diverse range of topics. Millions of Web-users are able to leverage these platforms to submit, view and discuss nearly anything. The users themselves exclusively curate the content with an intricate system of submissions, voting and discussion. Furthermore, the data on social news Web sites is extremely well organized by its user-base, which opens the door for opportunities to leverage this data for other purposes” (Weninger, Avi Zhu & Han, J 2013)

If we are to assess this platform in isolation as a reductive and efficient picture of “the medium” then its message in recent years has been a painful, aggressive, violent, polarising and divisive one. terrorism, politics, school shootings and gun policy, generation gaps, government corruption, the marginalisation and oppression of various minorities, systemically institutionalize segregation of generations, issues of economic division, violations of personal privacy and security, corporate corruption etc, are to my mind just a few of a litany of issues which greet me every single morning when I open my eyes and check just the top 3–5 links floating to the top of the feed.

It paints a horrible, depressing picture of the time, culture, generation and geography to which I swear allegiance — The zeitgeist of an environment of such limitless potential offers us a window and hand into an endless world of information and connectivity is apparently a device which operates exclusively as a platform for some of us to scream lamentations into the void whilst the rest huddle alongside watching or staring at their feet, succumb to the inevitability of our doom, suffering and demise — the ultimate futility of it all.

The creative expression I chose to create in response to this project came by way of a “meme template.” I chose a format called the “Expanding Brain” meme.

[EXTERNAL LINK: Know Your Meme: Expanding Brain — http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/expanding-brain]

Memes in general are something of a mindless novelty. They are Warholian in the sense that although not all memes will appeal to every individual there are often little novelties of the internet that emerge and are quickly expended (Adorno 1941) but while they are alive these memes seem to resonate with a large majority of individuals on the internet causing us all to engage in the content. (The Conversation 2014)

“What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.” -Andy Warhol (Ballard Brown 2013)

The universal, egalitarian and equitable nature of this access regardless of background or demographic greatly appeals to my political sensibilities. All that is required to participate is an internet connection and that makes all online citizens equal. This feeds into the popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs, the most notable of which is World of Warcraft was an online world which at its peak on October 7th of 2010 had a population player base of 12 million.

Much of the natural appeal of role playing or adopting a virtual life as an avatar is exacerbated from the platform’s ability to reduce an individual’s natural barriers be they social, economic, genetic, geographical etc. and allow them to forge a new identity based on an entirely different form of cultural capital. (Corneliussen & Walker 2008)

Provided an individual has the time to invest their progress and development has been designed and curated to have a far more linear progression in which all citizens begin from the same point of origin which is ostensibly more “fair” than in real life. (This is neglecting the exchange of real-world currency for in-game advantage.) (Malaby 2009)

Reddit operates on a similar basis in which popular content is upvoted resulting in the accumulation of “karma” which to some is a significant signifier or online status in the community. Downvotes for negative comments or anti-social behaviour result in decreased karma resulting in a community that is incentivized towards constructive contribution to discourse rather than deliberate “trolling” and class clown tactics which would be disruptive to communal dialogue. (Reddit Help 2017)

The simplicity of the “Expanding Mind” format encourages individuals to engage by tweaking, modifying and otherwise adding their own twist of ownership and authorship upon the medium and in this way, memes become a language in and of themselves — the microcosm of media ecology consisting of those who specialise in the generation, curation and appropriation of self-authored memes is further demonstration that the generation and comprehension of such content is a skill or a language by which one can become more effective and proficient (even if the outcome is arguably redundant. *Jacques Derrida purports that all meaning is created and subsequently all value is inherently artificial anyway. (Derrida 1995)

Although often based on humour the notion of simple, immediate images or messages going “viral” is not limited to just the template meme format. Pictures and videos of cute cast, dogs and children are another culturally unifying, demographic bridging favourite of the internet, as are particular anomalies of interest like the 2012 dress that appeared blue to some and white to others, forcing us to examine our perspective when compared to that of our neighbour. (O’Mera 2014)

Returning to the premise that “…the medium is the meaning…” I have subsequently come to the far more optimistic conclusion that the internet itself allows us to observe and discuss broadly, the ultimate fallacy and doom of human condition to which there is no abatement to the swift, unrelenting drive towards death. As Father of nihilism Friedrich Nietzsche says: “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” (Nietzsche 1989)

But in an exercise of self-regulation, the meme-economy exists as something far smaller, more personal, more intimate and more communal to remind us not of the things that divide us and bring us pain and suffering, but to celebrate what it means to be mutually human and the joy inherent in living moment to moment, particularly when that joy is shared with others.

The internet, like so many things, is a clear dichotomy but as with all things a balance and equilibrium is always found eventually.

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REFERENCES:

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