Rabu, 26 Agustus 2009

Television Culture

Television Culture
John Fiske
a. Summary
Fiske explains that the television broadcast programs replete with potential meanings which change this meaningfulness into a more singular preferred meaning. And he proposes to interrogate this notion start with a traditional semiotic account of how television makes, or attempt to make meanings that serve the dominant interest in society, and how it circulates these meanings amongst the wide variety of social groups that constitute it audiences.
Furthermore, he explains about the codes of television which are being the event of television if consist of tree elements. First is a reality, an event to be televised is already encoded by social codes such as those of: appearance, dress, make up, environment, behavior, speech, gesture, expression, sound, etc. Second is representation, the reality which is encoded into encoded electronically which must be appeared by technical codes such as: camera, lighting, editing, music, and sound. In written language there is a word, sentence, proposition, photo etc. those elements transmit into conventional representational codes which shape the representations of, for example narrative, conflict, character, dialogue, setting, casting etc. The last the codes of television is ideology. Those elements are organized into coherence and social acceptability by the ideological codes such as individualism, patriarchy, race, class, materialism, capitalism etc.
b. The Analysis of the Issues
I prefer this topic to be my analysis because the television is one of media that served much information which happened in the world. Television is a miracle box which is specially placed in the corner of our house hold room; it may be the product of technology advancement which has a predicates such as window of the world and miracle box . In other words, television is a technology which is transformed to be an agent or culture producer because everything in this miracle box has changed become something new as the effect of technology.
It means that when we are facing on the television, actually we are not only getting the information but in the same time we are facing on the product of culture. It means that all broadcaster programs in television must be created to be amazing thing which can make the spectators interested. In this analysis, I want to elaborate the phenomenon of television culture by John Fiske with my perspective.
Fiske explains about three steps of the codes of television. First is a reality, an event to be televised is already encoded by social codes such as those of: appearance, dress, make up, environment, behavior, speech, gesture, expression, sound, etc. In written language, the instruments of reality are document, transcript, interview, etc. Reality tells about the fact. It becomes the first element of codes television because when it doesn’t happen, it cannot be called an event because there will be not something to be announced. Reality is needed to be the background of knowledge because all the news begins from the phenomenon. Although it is just a gossip, but it begins from the real event that has happened. If the event of Bomb J.W Mariot hotel and Rithz Chalton hotel are reputed as reality, then it must be found the evidence such as the victims, eye witness, and the location of event (TKP).
Second is representation, the reality which is encoded into encoded electronically which must be appeared by technical codes such as: camera, lighting, editing, music, and sound. In written language there is a word, sentence, proposition, photo etc. those elements transmit into conventional representational codes which shape the representations, for example narrative, conflict, character, dialogue, setting, casting etc. In this second step, focused on the process on how the reality is formed by inserting the instruments of representation such as camera, lighting, editing, music, and sound become interesting broadcasting programs. Written language is also needed as explanation about the reality which happened. The sophisticated of television technology nowadays makes written language not only be uttered from utterances but also in the form of subtitling. For example, “The football competition between Manchester United and the Indonesia All Stars are canceled because happened terror bomb in Jakarta”. This sentence is needed on the television to make the society knows and understands what the television means. That is the additional information for the society that the competition is canceled.
The last is ideology. That element is organized into coherence and social acceptability by the ideological codes such as individualism, patriarchy, race, class, materialism, capitalism etc. According to Fiske, when we make representation about reality, the possibility of the reality is inserting an ideology in construction of reality cannot be avoided. I try to see the reality of bomb J. W Marriot as the example about the last step codes of television. With the reality which is announced on the television appear many perspectives from politicians, governments, and society. This step describes how the reality is modified and transformed to the symbolic reality. Ideology as the common production of meaning and idea, it commonly uses to describe the social production about the meaning . Sometimes, ideology as a commonly production meaning process apparently have the quality like mannered, but which repetition about the meaning, will be able to appear to be an agreement reached. For example, there is a perspective that the bomb happen because of the ideology of Islam radical. In the other hand, there is an assumption that bomb is the form of unsatisfied of President Election result.
From the explanation above, we know that the effect of the reality which has been created by the social code, performed in the television can be a culture phenomenon. It can be proved by appearing the ideology which always accompanies after showing the events. In the Fiske conception, television has a function as the bearers of the meaning and pleasure. Television as a culture is one of section that very important on the production process and the constant reproduced. The production television culture is a symbol. Television produces and broadcasts the reality to be a symbol. In the social context, the people live in the three areas. First, the material of the environment, is made in by people such as: house, bridge, School etc. Second, the social environment such as organization, lifestyle etc. the last is symbolic environment. Everything has relationship with meaning and communication such as word, language, art etc. television shows those entire people environment to be a symbolic.
Moreover, in my perspective the entertainment has been the main ideology for television industry. The fact, there is strong relationship between television and the beholder. Almost the broadcasting television programs are created as an entertainment program. The society when they are facing on the television has assessment based on the quantity of how entertainment program are created. It means that the assessment of quality broadcasting television program are accounted according to the quantity of entertainment are showed. Entertainments pass through the television to get on the high position in the society. According to the reality, television is more success to make the entertainment to be a culture than effort to make the reading and writing to be main culture in the society.
By explaining the reality of the television culture above, it is known that the economic factor is one of important thing in the television industry, every broadcasting television program based on the interaction among the television, society and advertisement. The market policy has made the television which has orientation to the consumer activity by entering broadcasting television program full of the personalizing of the company which advertises their product.
The development of technology and the television innovation industry can manage and change the social order of society that irrational to be rational, but then this effort is wasted away because of the phenomenon of television culture just based on economic factors as the main ideology which appears the fictive reality on the demand of company or someone who has capital to make their interest to be success.

Kamis, 25 Juni 2009

The Marriage of Saudi Power and Wahhabi Teaching Bernard Lewis

The Marriage of Saudi Power and Wahhabi Teaching
Bernard Lewis

Biografi Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis (lahir 31 Mei 1916, London) adalah sejarawan Yahudi Inggris-Amerika yang menjabat sebagai Profesor Kehormatan bidang Timur Tengah di Universitas Princeton. Ia mendalami sejarah Islam serta interaksi kebudayaan Barat dan Islam. Ia dikenal karena karyanya tentang sejarah Kekhalifahan Utsmaniyah dan debat intelektualnya dengan Profesor Edward Said tentang konflik Israel-Palestina. Ia merupakan ahli di bidang Timur Tengah, dan merupakan penasihat George W. Bush dalam Perang Irak. Dalam Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, Martin Kramer, yang tesis Ph.D-dibimbing oleh Lewis, menganggap Lewis merupakan "sejarawan Islam dan Timur Tengah paling berpengaruh pasca perang. "
Selama bertahun-tahun dia adalah salah satu dari sedikit cendekiawan Eropa diizinkan untuk mengakses arsip dari Kekaisaran Ottoman di Istanbul. Selain itu studi sejarah keislaman, ia telah menerbitkan terjemahan klasik Arab, Turki, Persia dan puisi Ibrani. Professor Lewis juga banyak sekali menerbitakan berbagai macam buku diantaranya , The Arabs in History , What Went Wrong? and The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror .


Ringkasan Kandungan The Marriage of Saudi Power And Wahhabi Teaching
Muhammad ibn ’Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) merupakan ahli teologi dari wilayah Najd di Arabia yang menjadi pendiri ajaran Wahhabi, ajaran ini mengamapanyekan pemurnian dan keaslian ajaran islam kepada ajaran asalnya. Beliau dalam mengajarkan ajaran wahhabi didukung penuh oleh para tokoh penting yaitu sheikh-sheikh yang merupakan keturunan dari kerajaan saudi. Para shiekh itu juga mendukung pemurnian ajaran islam dengan salah satu cara membersihkan dan menghancurkan penyimpangan-penyimpangan yang terjadi.
Penguasa saudi di Najd pada waktu itu merangkul faham wahhabi sebagai salah satu cara untuk menjatuhkan kerajaan ustmani. Dengan berdalih memurnikan ajaran islam mereka secara gencar melancarkan kampanye pemurnian islam di wilayah arab pusat, bagian timur, dan juga kedaerah negri-negri sabit dengan melakukan serangkaian penyerangan. Setelah menaklukan karbala sebagi kota suci kaum syiah, mereka melanjutkan expansinya ke daerah hijaz dan melanjutkan ke kota makah dan amdinah dengan dalih ingin mensucikan kedua kota itu. Akan tetapi para penguasa Ustmani tidak tinggal diam, walaupu mereka mengalami kemunduran, mereka akhirnya bersekutu dengan Pasya dari mesir untuk menumpas gerakan wahabi dan pemberontakan yang dilancarkan oleh kerajaan Saudi. Dalam kelanjutanya mereka berhasil memukul mundur kerajaan Saudi pada tahun 1818, dan penguasa saudi diasingkan dan dihukum mati di Istambul. Walaupun kerajaan Saudi pada saat itu berhenti berjalan akan tetapi ajaran dari wahhabi tetap bertahan.
Kebangkitan aliran wahhabi yang cukup signifikan pada abad 18, dikarenakan pada waktu itu ajaran ini sangat dirasakan sebagai akibat dari mundurnya peradaban Islam dan majunya umat Kristen. Wahhabi muncul seolah-olah sebagai sebuah solusi dari permasalahan-permasalahan itu. Faktor lain dikarenakan semakin terpuruknya kerajaan Utsmani di Balkan dimanfaatkan oleh kerajaan Saudi dan wahhabi sebagai salah satu upaya untuk mendongkrak kekuasaan mereka. Aliran wahhabi dalam perkembangan idiologinya sangat menentang bentuk-bentuk pembaharuan dalam Islam, mereka berpendapat bahwa Islam harus diamalkan semurni mungkin, mereka juga sangat membenci ketika ada upaya-upaya untuk menjatuhkan Islam baik itu dari kalangan luar ataupun kalangan dalam Islam sendiri. Oleh karena itu mereka sangat bertolak belakang dengan kalangan ataupun aliran didalam Islam yang lebih moderat, seperti Sunni, Syiah dan juga aliran Sufi, mereka bahkan mengharamkan dengan kemunculan tasawuf yang dipelopori oleh para Sufi. Wahhabi sangat bertolak belakang pemikiran dengan aliran-aliran tersebut bahkan muncul sebagi musuh dari aliran tersebut.
Wahhabi dalam menjalankan ajaranya didukung oleh pemerintahan kerajaan saudi dengan mewajibkan masyarakat yang ada untuk ikut dan patuh dengan segala peraturan yang ada, bisa dikatakan mereka menggunakan segala upaya dalam mensukseskan apa yang mereka percayai, seperti halnya terjadi banyak kekerasan dimana-mana, pemenggalan terhadap orang ang dipandang kafir, membongkar makam-makam, menajiskan tempat-tempat yang tidak sesuai dengan aliran mereka serta yang lebih parah lagi pembakaran terhadap banyak literatur atau buku-buku yang tidak sesuai dengan ajaran wahhabi dan biasanya disertai dengan adanya hukuman berat seperti hukuman mati bagi penganut dan pembaca buku-buku itu.
Penggabungan antara kerajaan saudi dan juga ajaran-ajaran aliran wahhabi dirasakan semakin kuat, penyatuan dari keduanya merupakan aspek yang sangat penting terhadap kemajuan dari apa yang mereka rencanakan. Hal ini bisa dilihat dari suksesnya berbagai macam perlawanan yang dipelopori oleh kerajaan saudi dan aliran wahhabi terhadap kerajaan Ustmaniah yang pada saat itu kehilangan momentumnya, sehingga dua kekuatan ini muncul sebagai kekuatan yang besar baik itu dalam hal pemerintahan ataupun dalam proses doktrinisasi aliran wahhabi itu sendiri. Disisi lain kerajaan saudi juga membangun berbagai bentuk kerjasama dalam upaya untuk mendapatkan pengakuan dari dunia luar, bisa dilihat ketika mereka mengadakan kerjasama dengan Inggris pada bulan Desember 1915. Dari perjanjian ini kerajaan Saudi mendapatkan jaminan pengakuan kedaulatan dengan bentuk tunjangan dan juga bantuan manakala terjadi penyerangan.
Kerajaan Saudi melanjutkan kebiasaan kekuasaan seperti yang pernah ada pada zaman Utsmaniah yaitu dengan sistem kerajaan yang menunjuk keturunan dari raja atau putra makota untuk menjadi penerus dari kerajaan tersebut. Disisi lain perkembangan ajaran Wahhabi serta keuasaan kerajaan saudi tidak terlepas dari pada kekayaan dari sumber minyak serta hak untuk mengelola dua kota suci umat islam, yaitu Makkah dan Madinah, dari penghasilan itu mereka mampu membiayai seluruh penyebaran ajaran Islam menurut versi Wahhabi baik itu melalui penerbitan buku-buku maupun melalui propaganda-propaganda yang mengatasnamakan pemurnian agama islam. Jadi sudah selayaknya ketika wahhabi mampu muncul sebagai sebuah faham yang dapat berkembang dengan sangat cepat dan luas karena didukung dengan sumber pendanaan yang begitu kuat yaitu dari minyak dan hasil pengelolaan dua kota suci umat Islam yang setiap tahunya dkunjungi oleh berjuta-juta umat islam dari seluruh penjuru dunia dan tentu saja hal ini akan banyak mendatangkan keuntungan finansial bagi tata kelola keuangan mereka.

Analisa
Dari bab yang ke delapan tentang “The Marriage of Saudi Power And Wahhabi Teaching” kita banyak mendapatkan pemaparan-pemaparan tentang asal usul dari kerajaan Saudi dan juga ajaran aliran wahhabi. Disisi lain kita disuguhkan tentang pergolakan politik yang ternyata mempunyai perananan yang sangat signifikan terhadap perkembanagan keduanya. Dalam penjelasanya Lewis menampilkan integrasi antara kerajaan Saudi dan aliran Wahhabi muncul dengan begitu kuatnya, hal ini dilandasi dengan adanya simbiosis mutualisme antara keduanya. Kerajaan Saudi sebagai system pemerintahan dan aliran Wahhabi sebagai faham resmi dari kerajaan tersebut.
Yang perlu ditelaah lagi terlepas dari fakta-fakta yang ada, Bernard Lewis adalah seorang orientalis yang dalam berbagai tulisanya terkesan tidak objective dalam memandang islam . Bisa kita lihat dari pemaparan data yang ada, lewis membingkai kerajaan Saudi dan Wahhabi sebagai gerakan yang dalam mekanisme kemunculan serta perkembanganya mengarah seperti gerakan “teroris” yang senantiasa muncul dengan cara yang tidak humanis, dia membingkai dengan lebih banyak memunculkan aspek kekerasan dari keduanya, bahkan sejauh pengetahuan saya, aspek historis memang dikupas mendalam akan tetapi ajaran keislaman dari Wahhabi itu sendiri dimunculkan sangat sedikit. Sehingga muncul anggapan bahwa pergolakan yang ada hanya menembus kearah ranah politik dan kekuasaan semata.
Lewis dalam penjelasanya terkesan memunculkan bahwa pergolakan yang ada kepada tataran subyek pelakunya atau dalam bahasa lain lebih mengerucut kepada “siapa yang salah”, bukan mengarah pada objek “apa yang salah” dari fenomena yang terjadi, sehingga dengan tanpa sadar pembaca akan diarahkan kepada penghakiman sementara terhadap tokoh-tokoh yang ada pada waktu itu. Padahal seharusnya ketika kita selesai membaca terhadap konteks sejarah yang ada, bukan hanya persoalan apa yang terjadi dalam sejarah tersebut, akan tetapi bagaimana kita mampu belajar dari sejarah yang ada dengan mengedepankan konsep “al-mukhafadlotu ‘ala qodimi as-sholikh, wal akhdu bil jadidi aslah”.
Yang terpenting dari berbagai pemaparan diatas adalah kejelian kita sebagai pembaca untuk memahami apa yang terjadi dan bagaimana serangkaian peristiwa sejarah ini bias terjadi serta bagaimana sebagai seorang pembaca mampu besikap objective terhadap wacana-wacana yang muncul, hal ini perlu dilakukan karena mempelajari sejarah tentu saja akan memperkaya khasanah keilmuan kita, dengan syarat kita mampu bersikap dewasa dalam pemahaman dan bagaimana kita mampu mengaktualisasikan teks-teks yang ada kedalam ranah yang lebih humanis untuk dipraktikan.
Wallahu a’lam.

Rabu, 17 Juni 2009

Capitalism Media “The Mother of Coquettishness and Violence”


Capitalism is the economic system in which the means of production are spread to openly competing profit-seeking private persons and where investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of things and services are mainly determined through the operation of a market economy in which anyone can participate in supply and demand and form contracts with each other, rather than by central economic planning. Capitalism is originally defined as a mode of production, where it is characterized by the predominant private possession of the means of production, distribution and exchange in a mainly market economy. Capitalism is usually considered to involve the right of individuals and businesses to trade, incorporate, and employ workers, in goods, services labor and land. In modern "capitalist states", legislative action is confined to defining and enforcing the basic rules of the market though the state may provide a few basic public goods and infrastructure.
Some have argued that the concept of capitalism has limited analytic value, given the huge variety of historical cases over which it is practical, varying in time, geography, politics and culture, and some feel that the term "mixed economies" more exactly describes most contemporary economies. Some economists have specified a variety of different types of capitalism, depending on specifics of concentration of economic power and wealth, and methods of capital accumulation.
Now, the capitalism system has already included to mass media and attack society, it can proof in situation and condition in this country. As an example, in the city and village almost of teenagers have dream and ambition to follow casting and audition that under one's belt by mass media. They want to get an opulence and popularity. Why? Just one answer: mass media. They believe that mass media is the source of information, interpretation those able to influence felling and human attitude, instrument to make anything, and it can accumulate the global information.
In this reformat era, with opened of freedom that are signed by dispersal of providing information department with their sensor department, mass media that has violence inclination and pornography already sprouted. Almost of media race to get royalty and profit-seeking by showed all of sex menus, begin with the news all at once ravishment reconstructions until the advertisement of cellular phone by showed very vulgar pictures. It can see in internet, television, radio, and theater. It is not the secret if almost the consumer canalized the sexual fantasy by the pornography web that so much. The Dangdut music in the television appears that the artist just showed their erotic dancing and the core graver than the good voice and harmonic of music.
Our beholders got many under covers advertising behind celebrity news. Begin the clothes collection, their wedding, pregnant until divorces. All of showed by a good many cover, for example; media tray to show with multiple diverse, already agenda that confront the artist and devotee by dating days, there is agenda that asked beholder with sending SMS to their artist, in the other hand, the communicate and information system are domination by a glamour, veneration, and just consumption aspect. Imagine that the word that already prepare in advertising project especially in the cosmetic product makes the consumer particularly women felling not enjoy with their performance. Imagine that women in the villages who are poor and don’t have enough money because are contemptible by a beautiful girl begin to buy and pursue all of white a cosmetic product without thinking about the effect of that’s product. Capitalism media have already makes culture “flirtatious” in this country.
Radio also don’t want to remainder, conversation with devotee that has used the expert in sex as a tutor about sex problem already working trough everyday, like conversation about masturbation and orgasm. Before the private channel of television is appeared, many movies producer in our country more chose profit oriented than qualities and artistic product, they only take sex and really amoral title of movies. Now after already little bit resurgence, cinema movies adopt the Hollywood movies by take theme like homosexuals, and sexual relationship without marriage.
One of mind shaft of pornography is advertisement, in fact, the advertising that does not have any relation with pornography like jamu, strong medicine, supplement, condom, and etc. in other hand, criminal news in television and newspaper look like want to stimulus a whiled fantasia for their consumer by performed catching criminal operation whose very over acting like FBI agent and likes the acting in a Hollywood movies. That more apprehensive, can firm that every crime news there is “special” crime, like anarchism that have place in our society that begin got social justification, like executed of pickpocket with combustion, sexual crime, violation, indecent crime, and etc.
Pornography, agree or disagree, our society very interest it. The pornography program in mass media has more time than other program, above all religious program in habitually just to be an interlude and got place and time in middle night whenever almost all of people sound asleep, inclination our society for pornography, violence, and crime are very spectacular. The news crime and movie program that has theme of sadism, erotic, and horror got high level rating.
So, this phenomenon is optimism indicated for capitalism people, of course for sociologist and religion people this phenomena is social accident. Our brain memory doesn’t able to download all of file that rebound by many object and many reality in our environment. If we can’t be selective to chose, so our brain will be loss our memory and will be slow-moving to thing and can be error. As a effect we need to restate our brain. If this ways can’t able to solve that problem, of course we need to change it, because we got annoyance hardware in our body.
Wallahu a’lam