Imagine a traffic round-a-bout as a hub of activity. Stop signs control the flow of pedestrians, bikers, and vehicles as they enter and exit the circle. These traffic patterns are entirely unique and are not always safe. Accidents sometimes occur when multiple bodies become unsynchronized in their movement in and out of the traffic flow. The organized chaos of a round-a-bout is analogous to intersection points of various ideologies and social forces. This pathhead will lead us on an exploration of an intersection point broadly described as the way in which media and society interact. Our quest begins with shedding light on a few broad questions that can be asked at any intersection point: What is power and who has it? How does media work in time and space? And how do social, political, and ethical ideologies capture and utilize social powers? For the ways in which power manifests itself, we used Guattari's theory on the collision of machines and Marx's capitalist concept of material control over production. To transverse the time and space axis, we used Guattari and Marx, but also employed Raymond Williams's theory on technology's presence in time and space to look at a few tangible examples and to discredit some common misperceptions. In looking into what social forces and ideologies are comprised of and why they are so important in cultural anthropology as a whole, we have spent a considerable amount of time using Tom Boellstorff's work in Coming of Age in Second Life. 

In addressing these questions, preconceived limitations will be lifted and many theorists and perspectives will be incorporated in order to explore a vast array of routes that grow out from the central questions posed in the pathhead. Although we will explore a significant amount of paths, many more routes exist beyond those accounted for here. This approach models after Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's philosophical concept of the Rhizome. First exploring the concept of the Rhizome will set the stage for the rest of the essay. It is the lens through which I will address the three broad questions asked at any given intersection point. The goal of this pathway is to lay a foundation for answering these questions while leaving considerable room for the reader to interpret and generate their own thoughts based their personal and communal experiences with media and various ideologies.