The Problem

American popular culture is like a gigantic wall. This wall is covered by a collage of bright colors, pretty people, loud noises, and mesmerizing wonder. However beautiful this wall is, it brings some catastrophic results. The Pop-Culture Wall is so intriguing and so easy to understand that people choose to sit down and stare at this wall for a very long time, sometimes for the rest of their lives. As a result, people are only aware of the superficially advertised and displayed and ignorant of anything else.
   

 The illusory Wall allows even our most powerful leaders only to disguise themselves as being intelligent or honest. They can get into office as long as the people remain ignorant of politics and history, as the Wall distracts  them. Unnervingly, this society shares some traits with the dystopian society of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. People don’t realize the damage they are doing to the environment, and many even outright deny it. Most don’t care about NASA’s and the European Space Agency’s efforts to expand the reaches of our knowledge beyond Earth's limits, evident by the fact that 1 in 4 Americans believe the self-centered Geocentric Theory[1]. The only things people care about are selfies, celebrities, YouTube, and the remains of what modern society has maimed, tormented, and degraded music into. The media has made an embarrassing and harmful confusion of fiction and reality.
   

 The media dismisses extremely pressing issues despite these issues being advocated by the brightest in the scientific community. It has also played the role of cheerleader in plague after plague of corrupt politics. American media has indoctrinated  citizens with wild ideas, like "appearance dominates all qualities", "your ability to holler in the right pitch makes you a good singer", or even "America is the greatest country in the whole wide world[2]"

The Solution

While the problem of American stupidity is a serious issue, it can be fixed by transforming the media from an entertainment Wall into a source of valid knowledge for the common people. One solution has much potential and promise: popularizing science and politics. If we take political issues and scientific progress and simplify it without altering the important details, we can paste it on the Pop-Culture Wall, where the people can see it. As the people become intrigued by the entertaining elements of this kind of media, they will become more attentive of it, which happens to be truly valid. More popular science and politics can be published to satisfy the demand for it. Eventually, people could begin to care more about what matters in the world.
     

Imagine the groundbreaking results of this popularization of science and politics. Dishonest and/or ineffective politicians would be impeached from their chairs by the educated peoples. Climate change would be on everybody’s mind. Endangered species would give people the scare needed for them to care. The politically literate majority would know their rights and when they are violated by authority, keeping the government in check by the people and limiting their power, just as the Constitution of the United States intended.

In a Nutshell

     The infiltration of the mainstream media by scientific and political fact could gradually reform the landscape of popular culture and redirect the people to a more sound reality-based society. As the people open their eyes, political corruption could be combated effectively and pressing issues, especially on the environment, could be resolved.

Sources
-The presentation of the issue introduced in this thesis is based on the following: http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/20081110_america_the_illiterate, Retrieved March 11, 2014

[1]- The claim that 1 in 4 Americans believe that the sun revolves around the Earth is based on the following: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/14/277058739/1-in-4-americans-think-the-sun-goes-around-the-earth-survey-says, Retrieved March 12, 2014

[2]- The claim that the United States is not the greatest country in the world is based on the following: http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-25-more-signs-that-america-is-not-1-2012-6, Retrieved March 11, 2014