When looking at today's society I feel that it is clear that we are living in the boundaries of the mass media and what the industry deems to be the images of our world as we see them on television, movie screens, magazines, billboards etc. What we numbingly perceive to be learning experiences from our existing surroundings and peer groups are nothing more than what we absorb from the industries of mass produced images.
             Obviously not every person will succumb to these images or be persuaded to "buy" into their messages, but I believe that a vast majority will not be able to separate between what the media hands us on a silver platter and individual ideas and thoughts. Those living in today's society are choosing to buy into myths that the advertising community sets forth because it's so much easier to not have to think for yourself. It seems that Americans are complacent to the media and the messages that they bombard us with on a daily basis.
             The debate between what the media deems to be beautiful and acceptable and the consequences this has taken upon young women is one of the best examples to look at in my opinion. The media puts forth these images of women who are abnormally thin and then proceeds to tell Americans that this image is the standard of beauty. Young women and men see these images and digest them, not separating what is real and what may be an altered, unhealthy, unsafe lifestyle. You really can't blame them for internalizing these images in such a way, if you see something repeated in a thousand magazines, on every show, in every movie, then someone might rationally think that this is okay.
             I was appalled to discover that one of the major networks produced a show entitled, Ultimate Makeover, in which several men and women underwent extensive plastic surgery such as liposuction, breast implants, stomach stapling, rhinoplasti (nose surgery), and botox among others...