09/09/25
Reading Response to Hobbs, “Five Core Concepts and Key Questions.”
I thoroughly appreciated how accessible this text was. This being my first class about education, I haven't interacted with much text that puts the reader (me) in a position where tools/skills are emphasized not just for me as an individual, but for others -- whether that be in a classroom setting, or outside of the class. I thought the way the 5 points were broken down was digestible but also gave enough real-world examples: applicable scenarios, possible points of friction & relatable/likely experiences -- which guided me through when these skills would be best put into use.
I thought the last point, although brief, was a necessary and unexpected (but very welcome) entry into the many responsibilities we have as we interact with media messages. Although it has been primarily emphasized to me through external forms of education (interacting with others, engaging with other perspectives), the profit/power incentive of media messaging is such an important thing to emphasize, which informs so many other webs of problematics. So seeing this featured in a more instructional format made me very happy!
It is true that media messages will reflect the biases and the informing ideologies/belief systems of the makers of said media. However, we cannot limit our analysis to a direct belief = product framework. This assumes that the makers of media messaging are engaging with their own beliefs in good faith (regardless of ethics), and sometimes they do! But, there is another part of profit incentive which may influence people to produce media/images/messages that are harmful/counterintuitive to the beliefs that they may actually hold. Sometimes people can be bought out, they can grift, they can harm - knowing the tradeoff is profit/power.
