Media Conglomerate Debate

In Friday's class we participated in a debate on differing views of media conglomerates and whether they are harmful/helpful for society and individuals. We were on the side arguing for the fact that media conglomerates are more harmful than helpful to society.

We felt we had a well-established argument covering as many aspects as possible in consideration to the time constraints. One of our key points was the fact that media conglomerates cramp an individual's style to the point where having a personal style becomes commercialized; therefore eliminating any individualism that could have been had.

Another point we made was the fact that it stresses materialism and makes it so that finances establish who one is on the cool scale. For example, "cool" clothes stores such as Abercrombie or Hollister charge $70+ for jeans and $30+ for a basic t-shirt when you can find items at half these prices at a store like Kohls or Target. But, that's not "cool" according to the media conglomerates that get into adolescents heads and those adolescents could begin to outcast those that cannot afford these high fashion purchases.

We also tried arguing for the fact that these big businesses that are taking over America (aka The Big Ten) are shoving out the local stores and businesses. No matter how much loyalty customers have to these local shops, they will always be drawn to the lower prices that the larger companies provide.