This passage talks about just how much impact visual media has on our lives today. It addresses how we're living in a time where visuals are everywhere, on TV, the internet, apps, ads wtc. The author explains how these images shape how we see things and influence our attitudes and lifestyle, whether realized or not. They also mention this idea that we're now in a time of "visual culture," where images are all around us, providing a very important defining aspect of our generation/era. They bring up Mirzoeff's argument that says understanding postmodernism is best done through visuals.
The reading also talks about how modernism basically failed to deal with visuals effectively, leading to the rise of our current "post-modern" world. Because of this, our society found new ways to understand and interpret things visually, since just relying on just text was no longer enough and visuals were able to yield more insight.
Even though we're constantly surrounded by visuals in this day and age, a lot of people realize just how much they influence us. They compare this idea to a fish not realizing it's in water. It also addresses how even if we know about visual culture, it doesn't mean we are able to analyze its contents/affects in a beneficial way, as this is a hard concept to grasp and master. The passage goes on to say that schools should teach us how to understand visuals better, such as teaching visual language and being able to view things critically/with a deeper eye. I think the main idea I took away from this passage was that on both a societal and personal level, we need to recognize the value of the visuals constantly surrounding us in order to make sense of/get the most of the world today.
The image below really helped me understand this concept and realize just how many implications visual culture has on our every day lives/society as a whole:
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