The era we live in can be named in different ways from different perspectives. But one of the definitions that everyone will agree on is that it is an age of technology. Throughout the history of humanity, it has always needed various inventions and innovations in order to survive with the influence of the geography it is in. While the tools and weapons needed for hunting were needed during the hunting and gathering period, perhaps there was a transition from simple methods to more complex methods for shelter. Of course, agricultural tools and tools have come to the fore in agricultural societies. Plow is perhaps the first agricultural tool that comes to mind in this sense.
With the plow, people were now able to produce more than their needs, so they did military service to the state they lived in, and were able to pay taxes to serve and protect them. In fact, with the invention of the plow, it has been said that the settled order has been established and education, art, law and political institutions have emerged in this way. It has become possible with this change that it has led to a social division of labor, that is, some groups are now engaged in agriculture while others are engaged in other fields such as education or politics.
Every new invention, from the steam engine to electronic technology using energy sources other than human power, has actually led to a social change. Without falling into technological determinism, we can easily say that every new invention has somehow caused a change in social life in society. From a plow to an electric kettle, from a simple calculator to smart robots, every new tool changes the way we view our environment and nature.
While in the past, families who visited each other at their homes, especially on long winter nights, were served tea prepared in a teapot and teapot, which we can say for a long time, today, our friends, who are hosted outside and rarely in our home, are offered coffee that we can prepare in a short time. While it is more important to share with small glass cups, it has become commonplace for everyone to go to the kitchen, prepare their drink in large mugs with "instant coffee" or "teabag", which they prepare in a short time, and withdraw to their room to watch the TV series of their choice on digital film platforms on their laptop computer.
The dizzying progress in technology would of course also show itself in communication tools. Telephone, telex, telefax and mobile telephones entered our lives rapidly after the telegraph. But innovations such as television and cinema, which are called mass media, have been much more effective in changing and directing individuals and their minds beyond social change. In fact, newspapers, magazines or television channels, which are expected to be impartial, manage the perceptions of those who consume them and lead them to think in the direction they want.
For example, it can easily make people worry about diseases, or rather epidemics, by making the events seem much more dangerous than they are. Instead of raising awareness of natural disasters such as earthquakes in an impartial manner, those whose opinions are sought can cause people to panic with their disturbing sentences by digging the maps on the screens with their sticks, so to speak. Tips can be given to real estate investors who use their "expertise" as a means of exploitation.
Although experts cannot reach a full consensus on the effects of the media on perceptions, it is an obvious fact that almost all news sources are in some way a party. While the media plays with people's perceptions, it is open to research whether they affect their voting preferences in political elections. But of course, the political power that controls the media is more likely to control the public opinion. A government that has the power of the media to influence people at least has the opportunity to explain what it does in a much more comfortable way. Moreover, it can express what it will do and promises from now on, as well as implement some decisions whose implementation may cause reaction, by preparing the public.
What is called public perception is an effort to persuade with "virtual truths" according to their political views instead of absolute truths. The opinion of the public can be changed by presenting manipulated "alternative facts" instead of pure facts on any subject.
The position of the Felicity Party in the current conjuncture, which we tried to explain in our article last Sunday, actually shows how a political party is exposed to an intense smear campaign by affecting the perceptions of the voters rather than plain and pure facts. Just as in times of diseases, natural disasters or wars, the political forces that hold the media in their hands cause panic by appealing to people's most basic emotions such as fear.
A factor such as "Damn and gloomy days of disaster are inevitable for you if I am not re-elected" becomes the most fundamental element of public discourse. Our people should reach a minimum level of media literacy by conducting research on how the media affects the perception of society in our country, and they should be aware and question that every news presented to them may not be accurate. This issue is vitally important for a healthy social development.