Why I “love” Media

Whoever controls the media controls the mind 

To me, that Jim Morrison quote has never been kind 

All the Western media shoved down my throat 

At first, made me feel like I was aboard that boat 

The boat of my favorite Hollywood movies, CNN anchors and music bands 

Till it upturned and showed me the portrayal of myself was out of my hands 

The superiority given to Western forms of entertainment and news by consumers was key

As it only heightened the inferiority they presented in brown girls like me, which I now see

I see in the vocabulary of headlines stating the “developed” world

Or in the faces of most movie heroines, their blonde locks perfectly curled 

I see it in the billboards of skin-whitening products in my home town

Glorifying the mark of the colonial world that left my ancestors in a confused frown

A television show might throw in the token South Asian character as a formality 

But my feelings of exclusion will not end till this becomes a semblance of normality

You associate my part of the world with the word “terrorist”, and that’s all groovy

But the histories of genocide and racism, those didn’t make your movie

I don’t deny the small steps towards inclusivity slowly coaxing me back onto the boat

But I refuse to fully get back on till they have drained the whole moat 

I love media that promotes all backgrounds and cultures

Not the “Fox News mentality”, because they’re all blind vultures 

Whoever controls the media controls the mind 

To me, for now, that Jim Morrison quote has never been kind 

Ayla Alam, 13835963