Media influence and the core and periphery

I may have stumbled upon something I think I was born to do, an enlightened me in the past couple of weeks has been contemplating why I am here on this earth.

I have no clue what so ever about zoology, but I see animals as more clearly defined with their role on earth compared to a human being like myself, living in a world where time waits for no one, thinking is a waste of time if it amounts to just imagination and what if’s, it’s a few minutes or hours you can’t take back, most often the thought it self of thinking is wasted effort.

A series of questions pop up, why seems to start off the questions, answers need to be given to those that ask why?

Sometimes you need not look further with the role of mass media in society clearly driving the popular culture, a scroll through facebook or twitter and you get a glimpse of what the world has driven itself into.

A world of opportunity with so much promise, a world torn by war under the guise of counter insurgency and differences in political and religious opinion.

I am not a dissident to start with but a Papua New Guinean with some understanding of how countries relate with each other.

Back in university I was fascinated with the theory of Hegemony, one of my favorite Authors is Noam Chomsky, I even used his knowledge of Hegemony for my final year research on Mass Media and Patriotism.

Definition of Hegemony

Hegemony is a Marxist theory by Antonio Gramsci in simple definition it is when a ruling class promotes its ideals and values to become the world view; one of this is promoting world view through mass media.

Some of you may clearly see this in your everyday life yet regard this as normal, let me say it in my own understanding after trying my utter best to understand it and put into a real world context.

Okay America is seen as a super power, we most haven’t been to America I myself dream of being a tourist to the stars and stripes, but alas I be just a simple journalist with a meager income a pennyworth in the eyes of some of you reading.

Yes sad but true, but back to the point, America’s dominance is broadcast through mass media, magazines, internet, newspapers, movies.

Let me take one off the cuff just by my own understanding of America’s hegemonic influence through mass media.

Every time you watch a movie and when Aliens from out of space invade the Earth who defends it, America of course, with their technology and weapons “the super power”, even certain super heroes are from America I need not touch on this.

We come in peace that’s what America would say to the Alien race as representatives from Earth, portraying that they are the protector of Earth and its people.

hopefully it is all science fiction and no real pending invasion is being planned at the moment by some new beings outside the orbiting third planet in the milky way.

back to my simple understanding, from what I have gathered American hegemony started in World War II when all its allies were torn down after war, America stood tall with its country intact, after the war it became the home of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

American Hegemony illustration 

It had a strong military and dominant economy; it was a political and technological power.

All this is portrayed through media in news and Hollywood, entertainment where America’s ideals are ever present, we all know America through mass media, and you can learn everything through internet about the country.

okay we have established US as a super power a country that has set most of the world view, on what terrorism is what counter insurgency is and what home land security should look like for countries.

but Papua New Guinea is just another small nation where do we fit into this world?

Let me throw another theory into the works The Theory of Core and Periphery, in the world countries can be divided into two major world regions: the "core" and the "periphery."

The core includes major world powers and the countries that contain much of the wealth of the planet. 

The periphery has those countries that are not reaping the benefits of global wealth and globalization.

I know it’s hard to believe this but it’s true my country is nowhere near the core.

Core Periphery relations illustration 

Here is another fun fact People in positions of power and influence around the world are often brought up or educated in the core (nearly 90 percent of world leaders have a degree from a Western university).

Another fun fact is that the periphery is just like Papua New Guinea where Many people living in rural areas perceive opportunities in cities and take action to migrate there, even though there are not enough jobs or housing to support them.

But where did all this classification start well during colonization European Countries established colonial governments and introduced everyone to what the core countries were doing.

Sad but true we were all hunters and gathers forced to learn the Whiteman’s way of life, because we had to be tamed for our resources.

Core nations had to have some sort of suppression on the periphery, because of the raw materials present and the abundance of resources; we supply the core nations with raw materials if we all become core nations who would become periphery.

Not all countries have advantages to progress into a core nation the world maintains a rough and limiting geography for the majority in the periphery.

So for your information and knowledge please do look up the theories I mentioned, I will write more about them in future.