Media Viruses as Means of Communicative Aggression
Media form settings on the adoption of values, but do not verify their authenticity. Therefore, the value is able to find its own denial to become a "value-negation". The depth of the history of ideas of value not only gives them an attractive reliability for a man, but also reveals its vulnerability to attempts to destroy the value structure of public consciousness via media viruses (D. Rushkoff). Media viruses radically change values' code and the person's behavior: they can be a source of communicative aggression, wars, genocide. Communicative aggression is understood here as a qualitatively new manifestation of social contradictions in the media environment; it is directed and spontaneous reaction of society to the current value stimuli in the spheres of politics, culture, religion, economy. Resolution of conflicts are associated with the interpretation of values. In this connection a special role goes to axiologically significant media virus "value-negation". Opposition of humanism and traditional Russian culture distributed in the recent time is also a media virus. Under its influence, there happens reprogramming of "healthy cells" of public consciousness - as the guardians of patriotic Russian culture and supporters of its integration into the global cultural space on the principles of humanism. The reprogrammed cells of social consciousness become agents, on the one hand, of chauvinism, on the other hand - of the vulgar Westernism. And if we take for granted features of contemporary social process, it is necessary to accept that value and its negation act as interchangeable values, which place in the journalistic work determines the position occupied by its author. Thus, for social consciousness their equal area as one of the grounds of pluralism is manifested. However, the position of "contemplating with indifference the good and bad'' is opposed to the natural function of journalism to create conditions for public dialogue and to be its initiator.