Critical Approaches

This week we learnt about the critical approaches but I will focus most on the

ideology and hegemony. That is:

Ideology

Structures our thoughts and controls interpretations of reality

Involves assumptions that are rarely questioned

Can influence our behaviours

Tied to systems of power and domination

Hegemony

Process in which dominant group leads another group to accept subordination as the norm

Manufactured consent

The news media for this week is the one from the Sydney Morning Herald “Facebook killer jailed for 21 years” dated August 31, 2012 from court reporter Louise Hall.

This article talks about a man who created a fake Facebook account to lure a teenage animal lover into bush land before killing her. He was sentenced 21 years of jail on the 31^st of august. Christopher James Dannevig, 22, murdered Nona Belomessof 18, on May 12, 2010. As soon as he learnt that she was an animal lover he created a fake profile and friend requested her telling her he was a team leader at the NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and offered her a job. I chose this story for this week because of the hegemony and ideology relevance. Nona, as other teenagers trusted the guy under NSW Wildlife Information Rescue organisation, because of its hegemony. However, the bottom line of the story is that Facebook’s hegemony is that of a non-trusted source and Nona is not the first teenager to get kidnapped because of a Facebook trap. The hegemony of both these organisation, in particular Facebook, which provides the means, are responsible of Nona’s death.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/facebook-killer-jailed-for-21-years-20120831-254ft.html