Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants Analysis

INTRO
Mass Communication refers to the process in which specific messages are passed through mediums of communication from one group of people or organization to another usually through the acts of advertising, journalism and politics but most popularly through television and the world wide web. The impact from both these mediums has resulted in the birth of entertainment culture, an amalgam of many genres and cultures including that of the social and political. Due to its nature of needing to appeal to mass audiences, it relies on variety, hence creating a continuous and uninterrupted flow of all kinds of information to serve as entertainment to its consumers. Therefore rendering the barrier between the individual roles of social and political
A simple opening line by one of the characters in a gas mask critiquing the state of extreme paranoia and almost absurd level of fear in america with “Remember the time life used to be simple and cool ” before being violently searched as he tried to enter his school bus to attend 4th grade class, a precaution really carried out with children in america at that time. It also had commentary on political culture, specifically regarding the tense relations between international countries and america due to the latter harbouring dangerous weapons and the increased secrecy of government operations in Bush’s America, demonstrated by the three lines of exchanged dialogue between the american characters and the afghan characters after both groups narrowly avoid a U.S airstrike with the american characters finding out "Over a third of the world hates America." and the reason being “Because you don't realize that a third of the world hates you." The episode however truly exemplifies how mass communication have turned the roles of social and political culture into elements of entertainment culture by critiquing how the entertainment industry, with its refusal to place 9/11 in a political or social context has essentially contributed to the level of fear and paranoia that had been occurring due to the conflicting nature of what was being broadcasted on mass media with the episode ending with a character pointing out, “I’m confused”. Even Spiegel realized this when she mentioned that “Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants,” was “a "libertarian" hodgepodge of mixed messages”, just executed with the show’s trademark “blank ironic sensibility” thus demonstrating how the individual roles of social and political culture have become obsolete in context to mass communication due to their use as