I Could Be Wrong

I think that the advent of media has prevented many artists, including myself to be able to really aspire to their true form. I mean, technology and media is great, but is it really that great when it reshapes the way we look at the world in a way that isn't always the truth?


The news is great for doing this. They'll frame stories so that they look a certain way. They'll make this guy look bad or this guy look good depending on who is writing the paychecks.

A great example being the Peterborough Native protest that went on a while back. On the news it was framed as this massive rally where danger lurked and the inconvenience to motorists passing through was really pushed. They set up police blockades and armed them with shotguns.

This is how the story was relayed to the outside world. An acquaintance of mine snuck past the police blockades and rode an ATV towards where it was reported that all this ruckus was happening.He did all this while reporting to Trent Radio. You can probably find it online somewhere.


When he got there he found just a bunch of Natives whom congregated for social change purposes. They were playing a drum circle and handing out free drinks and food. There really wasn't much to it. They were there for a reason, but they were hardly the break your knees mob the media said to stay away from. How does this pertain to the artist? Well, it might just pertain to me.


The fact is that I’ve grown up around media (television, internet, radio, etc.) and it constantly throws out messages about how the world is supposed to work and how the world is supposed to look. It saturates everywhere it can with its messages. Commercials of families, shows about sibling rivalry, learning from mistakes and the like. They are hardly ever portraying the way that my actual world would be defined without these messages.


So, as an artist I’ve always had these two loud voices in my head that are constantly in conflict about how the art should look, according to what I’ve learned about the world and how I should define it and make it look through the way I actually see the world. I’m sure I must not be the only person to think this way.

Of course, some people are probably naturally predisposed to throwing out the media message and always returning to their own definitions of the world to create their art, which is really what you want, I think.


On the other hand, the two voices often create good creative pieces of art just because they are fighting with one another. Some peoples whole lives are based on this kind of art. The conflict between `what is` and `what you think is`. Does anyone else think this way or is it just me?