George Orwell’s “1984” is a somewhat prophetic novel. If you haven’t read it, read it, and you’ll find yourself a more informed citizen. His book is just about dead on, save for one minor detail: We’re not controlled by the government so much as we are by the media.

We are all citizens under the “thought police,” which in our case is the media.

I have been taught what to think, you have been taught what to think and all of America has been taught what to think.

And this has been done not by explicit statements – no, we’re far too democratic for that. The media has controlled our thoughts by subtly limiting what we are allowed to see or read. Certain voices have been made invisible – not because they have been denied a voice, but because they have been quietly denied publicity.

It’s ironic that I should state this in The Daily, but that irony plays into its ideality as my medium. For this paper is a perpetrator of this quiet, but nonetheless oppressive, act.

The beauty of the newspaper is its easy accessibility. I just have to walk through the doors of some building on campus, and I can pick up a copy of the paper and read it on my way to class.

But I pick up this paper each day, and it tells me right there on every page that there’s nothing going on in the world worth noting but that which is happening in the Norman, Oklahoma bubble. And every day this paper neglects to do its duty of informing its public.

Every day it tells me what to think. Every day it tells me that my conversations about this paper will be limited to this Norman, Oklahoma bubble.

I don’t understand the fear of controversy.

I don’t understand the fear of getting people to talk, of getting people motivated, activated – whether they oppose an issue or support it.

I don’t understand why three guys around my age had to make a cheap documentary called “Invisible Children” so I could be informed of the horrors that occur every single day on the African continent.

I don’t understand how the media has filtered this huge and historic genocide out of its daily reports. Africa is a continent that can satiate every interest – humanitarian, political, scientific, religious – and yet it is left out, made invisible, forgotten or neglected.

At least someone has given them a voice, however small it is. But who else has been entirely left out? Who else have we not heard about because the media monsters whom we have placed our good faith and trust in have denied them publicity?

Local media outlets have an advantage because they don’t have to be victims to the corporate ownership that has tainted the big name media. They can offer a fresh and dynamic perspective.

Especially on a college campus, a student newspaper should not stifle conversation, it should provoke it. It should shake students awake. We are the most powerful group of citizens, but our ignorance is our hindrance.

If someone writes too liberally for a reader’s taste, let him come forward and say something. Media is meant to be communication, it is meant to ignite interaction, to set a flame to passions and actions.

Why would any form of media want to stifle actions for or against an issue by leaving their audiences ignorant of it?

Engage reporters, columnists and readers in a dialogue. How does knowledge become applicable unless we can apply it?

If local media is meant to enhance the sense of community among citizens, then let it do so by begging for participation from each part.

Don’t write articles about so-and-so who came to speak – let a columnist tell you what was said and what he or she thought. And let a reader who disagrees counter his column with one of their own.

Dynamic is so important – it is a crucial and critical element of a good paper.

There should never be a fear of engagement. The media, through technology, has morphed into a much more communicative entity, which further develops the democracy we rave about. The Internet is proof of this.

This newspaper is created right here on campus each day, so feedback is easily given and easily received.

The only obstacle is content. More readers will turn to the newspaper if there is more engaging content.

Audiences of media are no longer just audiences. Each individual has been given the opportunity to have his or her voice heard via the Internet, so upon tasting this, he or she only wants this opportunity to carry on into other media forms.

Audiences are now participants. He or she won’t give his or her attention, unless he or she gets the medium’s in return.

I hate to see missed opportunities because of a fear of controversy. And more than anything, I hate to see our university’s forum be limited to the Norman, Oklahoma bubble.

The Daily is the only university publication that reaches every single student on such a consistent basis; that is an enormous power and an even greater opportunity to evoke social changes.

Any publication is meant to demand its recipients to answer questions.

Let this one ask students and professors questions that will make them grow as interactive citizens of this community, and furthermore as activist citizens of this world.

What are you going to do?

What do you have to say?