Mainstream media has an enormous amount of influence in society, and in shaping what people think, how they behave, what they believe, and what their perception of reality is. Sometimes this can be done for good, such as for example raising awareness of the dangers of tobacco, which has reduced smoking in the West by a quite significant amount compared to the 1950's.
The drawback of this is, however, that this influence can also be done for bad. To use mainstream media for propaganda. To influence people politically, to affect how they view society, and what the values of society are. This may also have unintended (or "semi-intended") consequences on how it shapes people's perception of reality.
Some recent polls have shown that a good portion of Americans believe that about 50% of Americans are black. Similar polls in the UK have shown that a good portion of Britons believe that about 25% of Britons are black.
In reality the proportions are about 13% and 3% respectively. The error is quite significant.
This is, no doubt, a byproduct of the sheer over-representation of "minorities" (in this case black people) in mainstream media. In advertisement, in TV shows, in movies, in documentaries, in news broadcasts... The amount of black people appearing in these pieces of media is in no way proportional to their numbers in actual society, and when people have seen so many black people in media they get the false notion that they are much more numerous in society than they really are.
This kind of misconception is for the most part relatively harmless and innocuous. However, it's scary in another way: If people's perception of reality can be warped this much by mainstream media, what other things can they be influenced to believe? Other much more significant things with a lot more serious consequences.
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