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Popular Culture is Not the Devil

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Popular Culture is Not the Devil
Popular Culture Is Not The Devil

Many people can agree that popular culture is invasive, but the opinions differ on how invasive it actually is and whether it is harmful or beneficial. In David Denby’s Buried Alive: Our Children and the Avalanche of Crud, he clearly states his opinion of popular culture and how it has invaded his home and the attitude of his children. The main source of popular culture according to Denby is the media, which has become “three-dimensional, inescapable, omnivorous, and self-referring” and has taken away the idea that parents and teachers are the ones to nurture their children. The media hitherto is not always a good influence on children because of its vulgarity and addictiveness, which can cause children to take on the attitude and life style portrayed on television. Denby is correct in stating that popular culture affects children’s lives and their attitudes, but he is incorrect in saying that pop culture only has negative affects because it can actually benefit the human mind and keep the world connected.
Popular culture includes television, the Internet, radio, and any other form of media. Although pop culture is indeed invasive, it can be beneficial by connecting people to the world by informing us on social, economical, and political issues, as well as current events. Without the Internet, television or radio, the world would not have found out about the government shutting down so quickly, nor would we have followed the presidential election so closely. Therefore, children can be educated on many subjects through the media without it impacting them in a negative way. Children can get a sense of how the adult world functions, and learn just by watching television, reading on the Internet, or simply listening to the radio. Pop culture in this sense helps people stay knowledgeable of everything going on in the world.
Another form of popular culture is video games, where people interact with virtual characters to complete

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