In the past, the voice was held by only a few people and institutions with power. But in today’s society, it is not only the authorities who control all the discourse, but also the netizens on the Internet can start to express their own opinions. So in this case, whether the Media discourse is still effective?
Michel Foucault’s point is that power always includes resistance, which means that the relationship between power and power is always likely to change in some way. The actions of individuals often bring about unintended consequences, and even if individuals and groups have free choice, they will be influenced and limited by their background or situation.[1]
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Online blogger Xiao Xue, in July 2023, some netizens started a rumor against her, claiming that she had taken a lot of indecent photos. They formed a small group on the Internet and made a series of unfriendly comments about her. To counter the collective power of the abusive comments that flooded her video comments, Xiao Xue took screenshots of their comments and filed them with police and courts. In a newly released video, she says she will not spare anyone who attacks her personally in the media, and many of her fans have also supported her. We can find that when the media discourse hurts individuals, if we cannot get the rights we should have by ordinary means, perhaps seeking the help of law is the most effective means. In her video, we can find the power of this person’s discourse against the media’s discourse.
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The story tells of a girl who posted a photo on social media of herself and her sick grandfather. The photo received a lot of offensive comments from netizens, with some saying she did not look like a “good girl” because of her pink hair, and some even saying she was using her grandfather’s illness to gain Internet fame. Labels about pornography and hypocrisy attacked her wildly, and in her very bad state of mind, she chose to commit suicide. After her death, the incident gradually heated up, and more and more people began to speak out for her, and some angry netizens went to social media to find people who made inappropriate comments at the time to lash out. In this case, the unfriendly comments made by netizens are typical reactions of groups influenced by background and culture, which indirectly led to her death. But then netizens continue to attack netizens, which is another kind of media discourse formation, but things have happened, what we should do is to help her defend her discourse power rather than continue to attack each other.
It can be seen that media discourse is everywhere, but we should not use it as a means to attack others. When such violence is found, we need to help those who have been hurt, rather than constantly attacking each other. And if we receive online violence, we also need to know how to protect ourselves and try to avoid bad things.
Reference
[1] Foucault, M. (2020) Power. Third edition. Edited by J.D. Faubion. Translated by R. Hurley. London: Penguin Classics.
A very good article, the content you proposed resonated with me! I think in this era of the internet, it’s really too easy to ruin someone or something through rumors. I watch various types of short videos every day. Although they often bring me joy, there are also many rumors that I see. Many elderly and young people lack judgment ability and easily believe in false information. The spread of information is difficult to recover, and the harm it causes to the victims is unimaginable. Therefore, I believe that everyone should have a strong sense of prevention, Also learn to use the law as a weapon to protect oneself.Nice job!
I like your approach on this. It allowed me to start to think about something which I wouldn’t usually ncessarily stop and think about. Thank you for the nre insight I will definitely read more into it!
I agree of your point of view about media discourse. It’s an inevitable drawback. And it’s a problem not to be underestimated. However, media discourse does have its advantage. The existence of these discourses enables societies to rapidly establish symbols and signs, as users on the web are building and expanding communication groups all the time. This leads to the formation of many symbols that allow everyone to think alike. So life becomes easier.