The merchants of cool made a lot of interesting questions pop up out of my head. One very important question I'd like to raise was that one when it asked, "does the media really shape the youth or does it only act as a mirror."

About this question, I'd like to talk about our own youth here in the Philippines; more specifically, those in the mainstream cluster.

I mean we Filipinos are so used to colonization be it direct or latent. I mean, our teenagers aren't really influenced by their own ideas and creativity. They are shaped by whatever the superpowers (America, England, etc.) inject into the media. We are but copies of copies of copies. Then again, we here in the Philippines are so good at emulating that even our media takes Western contexts in everything and tries to sell it to our youth. I'd say here in the Philippines, media shapes us. In the West where the superpowers are richer and, in turn, more free to create and are not bound by socio-economic or cultural factors, their media are mirrors. Their youth reinvent and the media only mirrors it back to them. With that, their teenagers get even crazier ideas and the media still mirrors it back to them. It's a never ending cycle of reinventing and redistribution.

I think that socio-economic-cultural factor says a lot about what the teenagers do. Let's face it, the Philippines is not the best place around. Most of us aspire to live the American Dream. That is why our youth, so ambitious and easy to corrupt, are easy sell outs to foreigners. I can say that even for myself. We laugh at 'jejemons' but fail to see that they are of our own flesh and blood. And we praise the Brad Pitts and Lady Gagas that the American media so greatly endorses.

With this entry I can only say that the influence of media depends on the context that it is put in. To our Filipino teenagers, all things American are good and amazing and spectacular and 'cool'. To our American brethren in the West, it's just another day in the great U.S. of A.

I guess this is pretty much a take on Sociology and Comm. Media sells sells sells what is cool. But that 'cool' is still subject to numerous factors like culture and context. Because I thought about it and realized that you really can't see our youth in one perspective only. There's so much social conflict and difference that restrain us.

'Cool' is different in so many contexts. And to the media, that's only their next paycheck. That's why it's so complicated.