The media is one of the most powerful tools used by governments and small groups of people to influence the way people think about certain situations, which could go either positively or negatively. When people take over some of the media they can influence lifestyles and choices that people make without having them notice. Many perspectives about social issues have been changed due to music, television, and radio.

Giving this power to certain groups of people can go the wrong way due to greed, which seems to have taken over a lot of the political leaders in the Arab countries. This greed would lead to corruption, unjust actions, and the terrorization of the citizen of that country just to stay in power.

Music is one of the most powerful ways to get an idea across to a group of people even if they don’t believe it to be true. For example, the gay rights movement has never been this big but due to the growing number of celebrities and musicians who address this problem through their music has changed the way people look at it. For example, only this week, Macklemore and Mary Lambert’s song “same love” has hit iTunes’ top charts and has been playing on the radio non-stop. The past 3 years, I’ve been invited to marches, clubs, and events for straight gay alliances which haven’t been brought up before.  This form of media has done well for everyone who supports the gay rights movement and has gotten them more publicity.

External media can also have an indirect affect upon other groups of people in a positive/negative way. An example of this is the Arab spring uprising in Egypt, which is partly due to the combination of heavy censorship by the Egyptian government, as well as the release of Western media to some of the public of Egypt. This sequence of events has spurred the populace into revolting against the oppressive government, which has held a tight grip upon its people for several decades. Effectively, this has turned the government’s attempts to influence the populace against itself, forcing the citizens of Egypt to rise up against the oppression, instead of simply being suppressed by the policies and censorship.

One excellent example of how media has been used to negatively influence large masses was in Nazi Germany, with the implementation of board games, radio broadcasts, and various propaganda to subconsciously turn the population of Germany and Axis countries against the Jewish populations.

Another example is in Soviet-Era Russia, where copious amounts of propaganda were used to subvert the entire population of the Warsaw Pact, which allowed Joseph Stalin and the various other leaders after him to remain in power for nearly half a century.

Therefore, media could be a positive influence on the society but also negative with the power to destroy governments and societies.