I got this crazy, weird, new job for Christmas break. I'm working in a warehouse unpacking hundreds of crates and boxes so that a photographer can take pictures of each item, and then we pack everything back up. It reminds me a lot about when we learned about Marxism in my social theory class.
Anyway, the photographers have a bag labeled "radio slaves," which are, if I understand correctly, devices for a camera that make the flash go off wirelessly. I thought that the name of the object was so interesting. Even though my thoughts about this name aren't related to cameras, I started to think how we are all slaves to the radio. Who chooses what music goes on the radio, anyway? I think that top hits are played based on popularity, but what makes those tracks so popular? I thought about how media determines pop culture. I think it takes a conscious effort for listeners to resist popular culture and to find their own path.
I have quite a few friends who I really respect for rejecting what's played on the radio and instead choose their own tunes. For them, choice in music is a representation of who they are.
Sometimes it is just so easy to turn on the radio and give up the freedom of choice, to allow pop culture to dictate what we listen to. But I think it makes us radio slaves.
