The war in Iraq is particularily of interest to me because I am an American citizen. Most of my family resides the United States, therefore the war my country is fighting requires my attention. Unfortunatly, the problem of decoding and encoding is most seen, (for myself anyway) through this war and its representation. Because the war is fought so far away from home, most Americans, and other cultures for that matter, rely on the television for the updates and stories. This however, presents a major problem. My reality is therefore being told to be by someone else. Imagine this life for a moment. You live everyday in a blank room, with nothing but a message board. There is someone living your life for you, walking around, experiencing everything that you would be if you were living your life. All you get, is messages on the board relating what "you" did that day. What you ate, who your friends with, who you hate, ect. And you have no choice but to believe it all, and why? Because you have no way of knowing fact from fiction. This person living your life may have biases, discriminations, previous experiences that have effected the way they percieve and live your life. But you have to read the messages, because it your only way of "understanding" what is going on. We live like this, everyday. How many newspapers are sold daily? How many news broadcasts are televised? Who is living your life for you?
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