Marx's "Alienation"

After having a discussion about the reading in class, I’m not sure what new points I can offer on my blog. I got a comprehensive overview of Marx and a sketchy history of Western Philosophy from the comic book. If I were reading this on my own, I would probably go and read some of Marx’s works such as the Manuscripts of 1844 and other works that deal with alienation.
Alienation was one of Marx’s concepts that intrigued me the most. I have read the Communist Manifesto twice, but I have never noticed this idea of Marx’s in it—perhaps it is not. I have always thought of alienation as a product of “modern” society and togetherness as an integral part of “traditional” society. By “modern” I mean capitalized, televisionized societies in which the individual is glorified an honored and people’s value is measured by what they have done to get themselves “on top.” By “traditional,” I mean a society which places the family and the community as the top priority. I mean a society in which one’s dreams as an individual are inconsequential; a society in which what matters is what one gives to one’s community. It is a society in which family and community networks are supposed to be very supportive of the individual members within them. I always thought of the alienation, or rather, loneliness that I have experienced in US society to be a result of my personality, upbringing, interests, my uptight small family, and the fact that I grew up without a television. When I heard testimonies of people traveling to countries in which most of the society is still traditional, they often described their amazement of the peoples’ happiness, their ability to give and to welcome, and their facility at making loving friendships. When I met people from a traditional society I found that I felt more welcome and more comfortable making friends and “being myself” with them in a much faster period of time than I did with my American counterparts. Marx would say that this is because since my society teaches me to see myself and other human beings simply in terms of our human labor-power. I have to admit that one of the many reasons I am in college is because I have been frantically told many times that a degree will help me get a job—no, not a job, a better paying job. I will be a better person if I can make more per hour.
Although I may not agree with Marx that this is the only reason that I often feel alienated, his analysis is a new reading on this feeling of mine. These new reasons for this phenomenon that I have noticed for a long time intrigues me. I often thought that television was the reason. I was surprised to learn that this specific form of alienation was around before the television called people to its flashing, bright glow. Perhaps the alienation Marx describes is different from the alienation that the television creates, but I think not. I see the television as a simple extension of “modern” society, or of the capitalist system, if you will. Although it has many uses like disseminating the news and entertaining, the television as a media slows peoples’ thought processes. The same piece of news, read in the newspaper or seen on television, will have different effects. If one reads, one’s inner reading voice must create the inflection, emphasis, and emotion (or lack thereof) of the printed words. If one watches the news, the announcer makes the decision of how the news will be heard (of course the writer also makes the choice of what words will be written or said but inflection and emotion are also effect how one ingests the news). Also, (and possibly the most important) when one reads the news, one must imagine the story. When one watches television, one already has a moving image in one’s vision so there is no need to imagine another one. Television, in other words, makes imagination useless.
Hmmm, this blog entry has gotten pretty far away from Marx and the comic book form. About the form: I agree with Holly that it is like a lecture, with its use of humor and visual stimulation. It gives me a solid place to start from.