"That Song Says WHAT Over Here?"

In my previous blog post I discussed language barriers due to slang phrases and various uses of words. I'd like to continue with cultural differences but this time with overall media content. 

America as a whole tends to have the stigma of being liberal and rather loose, while the British are stereotyped as posh, snobby and refined. In actuality, the roles are reversed when it comes to the content put out by the media. In addition to large amounts of PDA, Europeans are also more accepting of cursing and other language we would find inappropriate. While in the bus driving toward our excursion on Thursday the BBC radio station was playing. When a song by a British group that is also popular in the US came on, I was surprised to hear one of the essential words in the chorus changed from the ones I was familiar with. The song always had sexual implications, but this change made it blatantly obvious. It was also played during the morning commune when children are likely to hear it before school, so it was not child censored like most stations in the US. It's interesting to see that they don't worry about exposing kids to particular media or seem to think that the messages they contain will alter their thoughts.

Let's not forget about the British tabloids. Even the reputable newspapers are riddled with gossip column-type stories. As an outsider, it can be difficult to distinguish between fact and smut. Back home we have it clearly defined which print medium you go to when you want factual information and when you want gossip. The two never intertwine like they do in many newspapers here. Also the appearances of newspapers themselves can be misleading. Back home we associate flakey paper and bold prints with tabloids, sometimes with bright colors and even odd fonts. Some of the newspapers here that are modeled in a similar way are actually the reputable ones to believe where the crisp, uniformed looking ones are the one to give you gossip. Just goes to show you can’t always judge a book by its cover!

Actually I find it odd that I’m talking about newspapers. Back home, aside from working on art projects, newspapers are fairly obsolete in my life. It’s a sad fact, but a true one. I’ve grown up in a generation that is all about technology. With google, twitter, and other social media sites, I have become accustomed to always having information at my fingertips and multiple sources to verify stories. Living in England  this summer it’s been very, very different. At Trinity I don’t even have a television easily available to me unless I fight to use the one in the beer cellar, which is usually full of other students during the time of the evening news. Yes, we technically have wifi on campus, but I’ll be blunt – it’s of poor quality and is unreliable. (Three cheers for Ethernet chords!) To find information you really have to take the time to sit down, find a good connection, and patiently search for it. And often times when you want to know things or catch glimpses of a story it’s while you’re out and walking the streets. I think I’ve really taken this access for granted and find myself feeling out of touch when I do catch new information.

The whole experience of being unattached to my iPhone has been great in a lot of ways. I feel like I know my friends here a lot better than I would at this point if I was able to be constantly on social media or even texting friends back home. Because, shocker, we actually have to talk to each other. And it’s actually quite exciting to not feel tied down to a constant stream of emails or people wanting to get in touch with you. However, while I've enjoyed this newfound sense of liberation, I'm definitely excited to get my data plan back for the ease of staying informed.