Marshall McLuhan's work on Media Ecology taught us how media determine the thoughts and actions of people and society. His famous quote ‘Medium is the Message’, which was introduced in his book ‘Understanding Media’, tells us that media is the extension of our body, as defined in the book, “… the personal and social consequences of any medium-- that is, of any extension of ourselves -- result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.” (p7)
The text I will analyze is the famous prediction made by evangelical radio broadcaster Harold Camping about the Rapture, or commonly known as the Judgement Day on May 21, 2011 (BBC News, 2011). He broadcasted his predictions through the radio, the ‘hot’ medium. As described by McLuhan in his book ‘Understanding Media’: “A hot medium is one that extends one single sense in "high definition" (p24). He went on and explained “high definition” as a condition where there is high information load.
If one does not know about McLuhan, that person may argue that the ‘message’ is clearly more important than the medium itself. The ‘message’ Harold Camping told through his broadcast was the prediction of the rapture. But as quoted by Mark Federman, “McLuhan tells us that a "message" is, "the change of scale or pace or pattern" that a new invention or innovation "introduces into human affairs."…” Thus, the message of his broadcast may not be the prediction itself, but the change of public opinion and the attention towards Christianity that the prediction may brought upon. This change is apparent as his prediction has been published in various newspapers and notably online magazines such as BBC News and so on, catching attention wherever he goes. Radio is the extension of Harold Camping.
It is amazing to think that the media has the power to change the content of its message and influence our individual sense and understanding. The quote by McLuhan on ‘Medium is the Message’ may seem absurd in the past, but as new technologies emerge, the significance of the meaning receives more recognition and acknowledgement.
References:
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw Hill
BBC News. (2011, May 21). 'Rapture' apocalypse prediction sparks atheist reaction. Retrieved February 23, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13468131
Federman, M. (2004). What is the Meaning of the Medium is the Message? Retrieved February 25, 2012 from http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/MeaningTheMediumistheMessage.pdf
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