Relief is a Beautiful Feeling

I'm so glad the presentation's done. I was getting a bit worried that we wouldn't have everything ready in time, but it all seemed to fall in to place quite well in the end. Being the first group to do the presentation had it's positives and negatives. It meant that we could relax knowing that everyone else had still got to do theirs, but it also meant that we had no idea of what other groups' presentations were like until after we'd done ours.

Researching Baudrillard made me realise what an interesting guy he is. One thing I didn't mention in the presentation because I got it from Wikapaedia, was that the film trilogy 'The Matrix' was allegedly based on Baudrillards ideas regarding 'new media' and the computer age. This, of course, was denied by Baudrillard - but who knows?

Manipulation by the media in its various formats is something very close to my heart, and I do have a keen interest in the way it affects people's lives (or should that be, how people let it affect their lives?). With me personally it was the weight loss phenomenon of the 80s onwards that started my interest in the way that you're bombarded with images that you're told you should aspire to, and which are impossible to achieve because the images have been 'enhanced' (or airbrushed).

Currently I feel that the internet is potentially a dangerous place to look for information, unless you're careful and use reputable sites. Someone very close to me has spent the last four years searching out conspiracy theories on numerous issues (mobile phone masts and the FDA to name just two). If you take them on face value, you would believe the world could end at any minute - look at them through the eyes of a sceptic and they look totally ridiculous. My point in mentioning these things is that it shows that anybody can be so easily manipulated and buy into the things they see on websites. Baudrillard certainly has a very good point.