# 120: The Medium Is Everything
Story behind the Passage
Sometimes I am really slow at comprehending the world. As a reader, you might have noticed this already but as a simple-minded human being that writes, I can only look at the world from my own limited perspective. And even my attempts of looking at myself from the imagined perspective of an outside observer usually fail. This might explain why it has taken me up to this point in the year 2021 to fully comprehend the meaning of the media. I mean, obviously, my income and my life depends on “media.” If you write for other people, you get paid for that. If you write for yourself and share it on a blog, you derive pleasure. Whatever you get out of it, writing on-/offline is producing media content. At least, this is the easy answer.
The more complex answer is that today, everything is related to media. Yes, see, this is what I am saying. This is such a simple thing that you hear and maybe think of everyday but the full magnitude of this insight only reveals itself in very small encounters. I guess, this is always the case when theory meets practice — when theory becomes practice. An example of this you find in publishing houses. They are struggling. They have been struggling. And it is completely clear why — because they need new business models. But the point is: Only when people approach you or tell you about how they have no clue how to sell their newspapers or books anymore — this is when it really hits you. “Yeah,” you think, “I would not spend money on this myself. Why would other people do it?”
Well, this is a negative conclusion. There are many different things media companies can do to survive, no doubt. But I am not writing an article about these solutions here. I just want to describe why this insight is so meaningful. When I studied media studies from 2005 to 2010, the world was still so different, I feel. Maybe the professorial experts saw all this coming and maybe I simply did not pay attention. But the point is: Today, you could practically only study one subject and know 80% of what you need to know for doing anything — for comprehending the world. You know which field this is? Yes, media studies! Since everything in our personal and business lives is connected to media, you always end up with media science material, no matter which problem you are trying to solve.
Obviously, this explains fairly well how I came to think of McLuhan and Fiore’s The Medium is the Massage. It was published in 1967!!! Are you getting why I am saying I am slow? McLuhan was terrific, obviously, a master mind. Even though most people know him because of “the medium is the message” quote from the previous book (Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man) and “the global village” prophecy, he put together so many other brilliant thoughts about communication, also in intercultural studies, that he is worth checking out for anybody who simply wants to grow his brain. I want to help with that by simply describing my thoughts about this one short sentence which the authors present in the context of the global village.
My Learnings
“The electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village.” You know I thought a lot about showing you the entire picture as it appears in the book. But you can find it online easily and I would have run the risk of violating copyrights. Plus, my dear colleagues would have accused me of racism, sexism, ethnocentrism and other -isms because the image — as most others is in the bookd — is really powerful. It does show a rural village in its most aboriginal form. Now, look at what the global village looks like today, especially due to the impact of Covid but not only because of that.
You know, this sentence above is such as great one to teach anybody close reading. Even though I hardly ever do that anymore — because partly it is just a waste of time if you are focusing on understanding content and partly it really traumatizes students — today, I just want to highlight certain words. It starts with the verb “electronic.” Today we could replace it with digital but the “interdependent” function is exactly the same. We are all connected now or on our way there and that also makes us interdependent. Historians of networking always give this example of the telephone. If you were the only person owning a phone, it would be worthless. So, we depend on other people using the equipment but as soon as very many use it, we also run the risk of depending so much on it that we can hardly live without it— emotionally and economically.
The part about “recreating” the world is so fascinating because, think of all the Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) stuff now. We are getting better and better at imitating the real world on the screen in our VR-glasses, etc. But you know what? It is not the real world — it is a recreation (yes, you could go into the prefix “re-” now and spend several pages on it — no!). McLuhan knew that already back then and he stressed it with such a remarkable term, even though he lived in a world that was not even close to living and working in digital times on a daily level. Still, and this is the last part, the “image of the global village” is as prominent and powerful as it was then.
You have to consider that, in addition to the saying “a picture is worth a 1,000 words,” the image of the village is not just any image. Just like ‘family,’ village is a word that everyone around the world knows. Not like corner which eskimos do not know, right? It might sound stupid but it is true. There are many studies on intercultural communication that tell you more about these words that are basically tied to global human evolution. We all know what ‘family’ means (even if we do not have one anymore) and we attach certain ideas to it — such as closeness (even if we did not experience it in our family). The same applies to “village.” Therefore, this image of the global village, which also plays on the contrasting of closeness and globalism, is more to the point than ever. And it will not become outdated, no matter how much digital tech will advance.
This latter thought about timelesness is also the bottom line of my reflection today. When you look at such a powerful and short sentence that remains relevant across decades and most likely centuries, you notice what genius is all about. Brilliant thinking does not need long papers, books, or blogs. It does not even need writing, even though writing as a form of cultural heritage conservation will remain relevant. What I am saying: Thinking; plain, concise thinking, is a value that will stand out among the noise of the digital transformation. It will prevail because brilliant people like McLuhan contribute value to society and scholarship by painting images of the future.
The future is what we can all be excited about — no matter how long or short our lives and careers may be. This global village offers something exciting and worthwile exploring for everyone every single day. Just take the time to see it. The interdependence of the world opens up priceless opportunities for this — against all the challenges and even dangers that village life also poses.
Reflection Questions
1) Do you have days when you ignore (social) media completely? Why/not?
2) How has Covid-19 changed your media consumption?
3) Does the “global village” image make sense to you?