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Media has an unbelievable influence on our lives. There is no escaping the influence of the media. Our society allows the media to have too much power. Our lives are based around the media. We can't even go on the internet without being inundated with pop up advertisements. The sofas in our living rooms are set up so everybody has a good view of our televisions, and the daily newspaper is on our driveways or every morning. Our constant exposure to the media is shaping the morals and values of our society. The media controls what we buy, how we speak, the way we live, and even who controls our country.

Our government officials know we our controlled by the media. That is why they advertise themselves for office and that is why the person who is elected is usually the person who spent more money in advertisements. Local government officials to the President are very aware of the benefits that come from the influence of the media. Our country went from fighting a small group of soldiers in Afghanistan to waging an all out war with Iraq. How did our president get support for the war in Iraq? From the media. Every headline in every newspaper made the country of Iraq look like it was responsible for the events of September eleventh, when really the President shifted focus to Iraq when we couldn't find Bin Laden and he got the media to do the same. The media turned the united States into "a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred million people all with the same face."

Even more dangerous to our society are the popular television shows that are giving us a false sense of what we believe is a good life. A long time ago, shows like the Brady Bunch set the standard for an "ideal" family life and the way things should be. Nowadays, we see celebrities give tours of their mansions and show off all seven of their sports cars. We watch all this and can't help but to be jealous of these people. The worst part is, all of these shows are designed to air when the networks know their target market will be watching because they know we want what they have and we will buy whatever they indorse.

The truth is we rely on the media and we have the power to control it. We have the choice of watching the television or not. We can sit with our backs to the TV and