Racism In Media

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What is racism? Why does it still exist today? Is it because of the people that lived during the civil rights Era passed their negative thoughts of black people to their youth, or is it the media that is setting each race into stereotypical categories. I feel that It is the media that manipulate our minds to view different races in a offensive matter. Media is very popular and is used everyday by a majority of americans. According to Sutter Health “Through media, you can find out about important news, listen to your favorite music, or watch your favorite TV show. But there are also negative sides of the media that can be especially harmful to teens and young adults like stereotypes” (p2). Think about it, how do caucasians, african americans …show more content…

Especially when they are not around other races and live in an area where there are rarely other races to be around to experience for themselves. People form these mindsets from the media around them. From looking at the news or any other tv show they make think that all muslims are terrorist or that all black people are ignorant and dangerous. Being in a predominantly african american community and always being surrounded by african americans, I never knew what is was like to actually conversate and interact with a caucasian. From me not being around caucasians, I would expect them to be lame, corny and having no rhythm or soul because of television shows like Friends or Two and a half men, Or from looking at the news where different races are being exposed for mostly their bad and not enough their good. Media plays a huge role in racism and is displaying other races and religions in an offensive …show more content…

As stated by Roger cohen,” Many people see comedy as merely funny, but there’s more there than just a laugh. Beneath the humor lies a rich layer of social commentary about race relations in the United States.”(p2) Racist stereotypes are funny at the moment but they are still offensive to different cultures and may continue to go around and be used to bully other races. There are often times when a person looks at a show and a character might say something like QUICK FIND A BOMB SHELTER OSAMA BIN LADEN IS COMING and you may not even notice how offensive that is because you are amused by what was just said. Afterwards you may see an arab walk down the street and began to duck or keep an eye on he/she because you remembered how the show you watched earlier joked about arabs and you may want to make sure that he/she don 't have a bomb in their belongings. You may not notice but stereotypes are often mixed into everyday cartoons. Family guy for instance have tons of racist stereotypes from mexicans to jews. For example, one of the characters featuring on family guy is a mexican maid named consuela. The creators of family guy made her seem like she barely understood english and all she does is clean. They even mentioned on one episode that no one is shorter than a mexican maid referring to her.Another example of a racist cartoon that degrades other races is South Park. South park also

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