Blog Post 5 - McLuhan & The Freedom Convoy- Sebastia

    Marshall McLuhan is one of the most influential thinkers of our time. He is known for his hot and cool media theory, which argues that the medium in which a message is conveyed has a significant impact on how people receive it. McLuhan believed that the way we communicate today is completely different from how we did in the past, and that this has had a major impact on society. He argued that the hot media (such as television) are warm and fuzzy, while the cool media (such as newspapers) are cold and objective. McLuhan believed that society is changing rapidly due to the way we consume information, and that this will have lasting effects on our culture.

    I would argue that McLuhan would distinguish the Freedom Convoy as an example of both hot and cool media. The coverage of the convoy via news commentators and radio broadcasters falls into McLuhan’s category of hot media, since it does not require as much participation from the public. Furthermore, the Freedom Convoy can also be classified as cool media due to the discourse it sparked on social media. Cool media requires various participation, and the freedom convoy was being followed, reported on, and analyzed by social media users.

Discussion:

Was there a significant difference in the social media vs television/radio reporting of the Freedom Convoy? Why or why not?


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