No Secrets

Pg. 24 from The Medium is the Massage

For our Digital Literacies class, we recently read the book, The Medium is the Massage, by Marshall McLuhan. Put basically, this book was about the how media can effect our lives. MuLuhan's book was definitely not basic or average, though. I felt as if I was swept up into a whirlwind of information in which some of it was thrown at me with odd pictures, just to be followed by new bursts of information with crazier pictures than before. It was also quite difficult for me to really understand. I want to blame that on the fact that I think that I am technologically illiterate, but that is probably a poor excuse since this book was published in 1967. Some parts of this book made complete sense to me, while others seemed to just stamp a huge question mark on my face since I had no idea as to what was going on. As for the parts of the book that I did understand and those that were discussed in class, there were many concepts and theories about media effecting our world. One of the shockers were that some of those concepts and theories still apply today even though this book was written quite a long time ago. One of the theories in which I accustomed a particular interest in was on page 24, and entitled "The Others."

MuLuhan uses this page to talk about how media is the knife that cuts open the world, and exposes everyone and everything. "We have become irrevocably involved with, and responsible for, each other." Talk about a loaded comment. I find it completely mind boggling that a statement about media from back in the 60's has such a powerful truth that applies itself to us today. The reason I found this sentence staggering is because there IS no privacy within the digital world today. Some way, some how, anything posted on the internet, texted, called, or watched on tv can be accessed by other people. A picture that someone puts up on a blog could in some way be traced even after being deleted 10 years afterwards. A text, long deleted, can be traced by any phone company, as can a call. There are records of almost all tv programing that can be accessed in some way from 30 years ago. The fact that no privacy exists is so insane. Everyone is connected to each other if they use any source of digital media. Whether it be by what tv programs they watch, who they text or call, or who they communicate with online, everyone is involved with each other. 

Within the first part of his book, McLuhan states that "...minority groups can no longer be contained - ignored." I feel that this is extremely important, because it shows that small groups can now use the internet to empower themselves. A family owned restaurant within my small town now has both a website and a Facebook page, and has since received a much greater amount of customers. This is a form of advertising that thousands of companies have used in order to help make their companies more known and accessible. This goes the same with any type of group. There is no excuse for a group not being known anymore. If it is not widely known of, it most likely is because the group has not wanted the attention, or it has not put the effort out for the attention. Either way, the point and concept is clear: the internet gives opportunities to everyone as long as they know how to use it. 


Basically, as far as this page went, MuLuhan hit future knowledge of media right on the head. Especially as far as the internet goes, there is an extreme lack of privacy. It is still completely insane to me that MuLuhan was able to figure this out so far in advance, but I find myself grateful to have been able to read pieces of his almost prophetic book.