CMCstudent, Bourdieu

“Our news anchors, our talk show hosts, and our sports announcers have turned into two-bit spiritual guides, representatives of middle-class morality. They are always telling us what we ‘should think’ about what they call ‘social problems.’” (329)

This quote from Bourdieu is very true. It makes me think of shows like The Daily Show and Oprah. On the Daily Show Jon Stewart takes the news and toys with it, inflicting his personal opinions on what is actually going on. Audience members may take his news as factual, others see it as humorous. It is only because it is a comedy that he can have such opinions. In CMC 100, we learned about how you can get away with saying more if you covered it up with humor. If The Daily Show was a serious show, people would say he is messing up the news, and that he has no room to talk on what is being presented to us. However, since we know it is news shown in a humorous light it is ok to laugh, and go along with his opinions of trashing Bush.

Oprah is a good example of a talk show host turning into spiritual adviser. Oprah started out as a talk show host and now has out numerous books covering the topics of spirituality, nutrition, etc. Since when did a talk host become so smart that they are now publishing these kinds of books? Oprah’s books sell off the shelves like water in a drought. I never realized that talk show hosts were so brilliant, or do we just make them seem so? I say that because these people have a opinion on everything, and since they are famous everything they say becomes publicized constantly, perpetuating the false truth, as ideology works unconsciously. Who would of known that they can give spiritual advice, make a nutrition book, talk about the way people should be treated, and even address social problems? If Oprah ran for senate, there is no doubt in my mind that she would be extremely popular candidate. Oprah talks about the social problems and those in poverty all across the world. This woman has a huge cult that surrounds her, just because of all the person media has made her out to be.