I think the podcast and its take on pop culture is really interesting. While we may view pop culture as being useless and something we don’t pay attention to, it is actually vital to analyze. While we still can enjoy our pop culture, we should not dismiss anything as just being entertainment. I especially found it very interesting when the podcast talked about the influence of entertainment over facts. While this is concerning, it is not hard to believe. Our lives are full of forms of entertainment. In some cases, the sources that should be providing us the facts such as different news outlets, are our main sources of pleasure. However, entertainment can be good. Things such as different bands, movies, or books that bring attention to important topics such as racism or sexism.
Culture has influenced the world for a long time. While it has done so much good for society, it can also be harmful. When the wrong people come into power or provide different sources of social media to their audience, it is possible they are presenting the wrong ideas. Pop culture can be impactful as long as it is used in the right manner.
I agree with you that our society needs to learn how to evaluate pop culture to then form conclusions about relevant cultural and ideological issues at stake. Though, the largest barrier to this process would be conveying to members of the population how to do this without leaders interfering with this process. The misinterpretation of messages sometimes keeps leaders in power.
I agree that if we don’t analyze popular culture and how influential/how much weight it carries in our lives, we misapprehend its value in society and the wrong ideas are being spread. We must evaluate and understand how essential popular culture is to our beliefs and worldview in order to positively impact the world.