The reading this week was focused around the emergence of new technologies like the radio and how these new mediums helped to dramatically transform the political and cultural scene in Latin America. I found it very interesting to see the heavy influence that the radio had in Latin America. I obviously knew that the radio marked a large shift in the way the world functioned, but I hadn’t necessarily thought of its impact in this particular sense.

The whole topic on the “crowd” I found to be particularly interesting. The invention of the microphone allowed for large gatherings of people at political rallies and speeches and such, when before the size of the crowd was severely limited due to the simple fact that a person’s voice will only carry so far. The radio then allowed one’s voice to travel thousands of miles, and the way that this could unite people and make them feel like they’re part of something larger I found to be very cool. Nowadays, we have the ability to communicate and view information from across the world at any time, and so we end up taking it for granted; but with the radio this was all still very new and I just think the wonderment of it must have been truly special. I also found it cool how the radio helped to form popular culture by playing certain songs and programs that everybody would then know.

With this new medium came a lot of potential for political influence, a fact that definitely did not get past the politicians. While many of them failed at properly utilizing the radio, this was not the case with Juan Domingo Peron, and his wife, Evita. The way that they were able to capture the hearts and minds of so many Argentinians, particularly the working class, I found to be quite extraordinary. Evita was not quite a politician, but also not quite a regular person, and this medium that she found as this sort of bridge in between, and the way that people loved her, was unique and impressive. The whole story of the Perons just seemed very unorthodox, and it was definitely an interesting read.