What You See Isn't What You Always Get?

After reading The Image Culture by Christine Rosen, I was struck with the idea that what you see is not always what you get! Throughout history, society has been tricked into thinking that what they saw in photos was reality. But, the truth, was that many photos have been altered to sway the public into thinking the way some governments want to be portrayed. This makes me think about how many times I have been fooled into thinking a photograph was real when it was fabricated to sway my thoughts about it.

She continues to discuss how catastrophes around the world are suddenly given to us as if we are there. It isn't uncommon these days to see natural disasters or the struggles people face. In the past, we were reluctant to see these events unless we read the paper. Now, our lives are filled with visions and pictures of people and events we wouldn't even be aware of. Everyday, our society has become filled with pictures that we have become desensitized to the actual severity of what is in front of us. I think this has made us believe that these problems aren't as bad as they really are. More importantly, we are now so reluctant to care about the world unless we feel it is an emergency.

She talks about Photoshop and how it has become the norm of our lives. Again, what we see isn't what is really there. Since Photoshop was invented, new pictures of people and places have come up that are based more on a perfected reality rather than the mundane reality we live in on a daily basis. Magazines in stores are filled with people who are suppose to be the perfect ideal. They are shaped, colored and contoured so that they represent the perfect human being. I fear, that while this image may sell magazines, it misleads the consumer to believe that these people are perfect. The fact is we are so use to seeing this that we have now come to believe that it is true. We have been programmed since birth to see these images and take them for fact.

The last thing that struck me was about television. Now, they say that there's nothing like a "live" sports game. But, I have become so conditioned to watching sports on television that when I am at a "live" game, I miss the instant replays and the commentary of the announcers. Odd as that is, I am the first to tell you that I do miss that when watching live sports. I look forward to seeing that playback. I've been to a few tennis matches and was hoping for a playback of the shot the player hit only to be disappointed that it didn't happen. It makes me now wonder if other people feel the same way as I do? Have we all become so affected and conditioned by television that anything else is not real? I think television has conditioned us to believe that life is more colorful and exciting than it really is. When we don't get that digital image or that instant gratification, we are left with the boring images in front of us.

What's next?