The Media We Want, or We Think We Want?

When it comes to the media we get, we don't necessarily get what we want, but because of the consistency with what we actually get we want what we get because it is we are used to.  In short, we typically don't get the media we really want.  

What this all comes down to is the fact that the media is controlled and manipulated by government and other manipulative companies for the sake of advertising various products.  This is supported by the following quote by Robert Fink; "advertising is emphatic and repetitively insistent, it promotes regression and irrationality," (Fink, Getting Ready: The Media and Media Studies Pg. 18).  This describes essentially how the media feeds us commercial garbage that essentially tells us what we want.  These commercials range from products to advertisements for shows and movies.  These commercials essentially tell us that we want these things.  

Another point that Fink made was how we essentially feel like we lack something if we don't fulfill the wants instilled.  In his words "it idealizes 'the good life', it creates perpetual dissatisfaction and feelings of lack." (Fink, Getting Ready: The Media and Media Studies Pg. 19).  This line actually brought to mind a line from Tyler Durden in "Fight Club".  "We work jobs we hate, to buy shit we don't need, to impress people we don't like."  This basically speaks to how the media makes us want things that we may not necessarily need.  Media like this is definitely the sort that we do not want, but because of the way it operates according to Fink, it instills in us the "want", the desire for more.  

In conclusion, because it is all we get and due to its persuasive methods we think we want what we get when in reality, what we should want is media that doesn't try to impose its opinions on us and tell us how to think.