Ethics Essay

Grant Tabler

Natalie Evans

AHSS 1080

20 April, 2010

                                                                                                                 

The Ethical Potential of Postmodern Media

            We live in postmodern times. The society we structure our lives within is one based around values which are not particularly flattering. With descriptions such as a lack of common sense and responsibility, and a declining ability to use reason to solve problems (Leslie 303), there seems to be a definite shift from the ethical perspectives that once defined cultural thinking. Given this divergent change in viewpoint, one must question what role the postmodern technologies that now define us play in the shaping of our ethics. For, postmodern culture is one that is based around an obsession with media, so much so, “they govern and shape all other relationships.” (Leslie 10)  The media that we use to structure our lives however are crowded with ethical issues themselves. Based on the ethical theories that have shaped cultures past we can see that, for good or ill, our current media are shaped by our postmodern culture.

One modern media staple of cultural definition is the internet. The internet, has often worked as a tool for the amplification of ignorance when wielded with postmodern viewpoints. In contrast, it has the capacity to be a tool for knowledge and intellectual merits. I believe Plato would object to the ways in which our postmodern culture uses a medium like the internet. One reason for this is Plato’s belief that one should learn from the wise and not from the uneducated masses.(Leslie 41) The internet allows us to immerse ourselves in endless amounts of information. We often learn through the internet due to its ease of access and its breadth of subject matter. The problem with this is the lack of quality that often accompanies such a quantity of information. With sites like Wikipedia, information is interpreted and summarized for us. When we can just “Google it” we are no longer logically thinking for ourselves, thus going against another of Plato’s ideals.

This argument is not to say the Plato would find fault with the internet itself, instead I believe he would take issue with the way in which our postmodern culture uses this tool and by extension how we learn. The ethical question is, whether the obvious bonuses of intellectual betterment that, relatively smaller, portions of the internet offer outweigh the harms it can bring to the postmodern user. The internet, much like the computer that accesses it, has been shaped to help accommodate those who want a faster source of information with less thought. To this end I believe our postmodern values seem to have shaped, and will continue to shape, the media landscape of the internet into quite possibly a more and more frivolous medium of such indulgence.

In contrast to this rather negative aspect of learning through the internet, there are some pieces of technology whose educational benefit would perhaps be celebrated by ethical theorists. One unlikely educational candidate is video games. For, video games have the capacity to be both deviously educational and distractingly self-indulgent. However, when one examines any type of multiplayer game, exemplifications of ethical theories become evident. Ayn Rand’s objectivism for example, when playing anything team based you find out quickly that you must attempt to further yourself without doing things that would hinder others for the good of the group. This is successful because often players have, or naturally perform, certain group roles. We learn the value of objectivism through the application of our combined efforts.

Video games are often seen as a double edged sword however. They obviously have the capacity, much like TV, to either assist in learning or distract one from it.  Aside from their obvious distracting nature video games often come under attack for content that is based in violence or with inappropriate aspects. Most video games are not seen as an educational means because our postmodern values dictate that we not put the effort in to examine this aspect beyond the shallower presentation of violence. The education they offer is not quite as direct as more conventional means. Though there is often much to be learned from our entertainment media. I believe that video games are evolving in a way that will allow more postmodern ingenuity to be utilized in the educational aspects then in the, more negative, critical aspects.

An item that has perhaps garnered less criticism, despite it being involved in controversies of its own, is the Cellphone. When thinking of Cellphones as a tool of our digitized age one can appreciate the communicative potential of such a portable connection device. The downside is of course brought about by an abuse of its fundamental purposes. Though seemingly a simple device for making calls we have evolved to the age of apps and texting. Our over usage has become dangerous to the point that police are beginning to ban their usage while driving. Our technological obsession seems divergent from Aristotle’s ethical ideals of the middle path, his advocation of moderation. The issue is how far we can stray into technological innovation before we have too much to occupy ourselves, how much is too much is? Inevitably, in any culture, technology will continue to evolve beyond the level of necessity. I believe we must all decide individually what constitutes the ethical right or wrong in our culture, we must choose the middle path of our own perspective.

The ethics involved with our media are based on, and shaped by, the postmodern values that accompany them. Our media will continue to evolve and be shaped by our postmodern culture, we need only question whether this is a benefit or a detriment to the progress of these media. The question cannot be answered by this essay any more than it can be answered by any single person however. It must be left up the ethics and perspective of the reader to decide how to denote the ethical potential of media in our postmodern society. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever could.

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Work Cited

Leslie, Larry. Mass Communication Ethics Decision Making in Postmodern Culture. 2nd ed. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Print.