Why do people believe America as a nation of freedom and opportunity? The answer is in the book called, “Lies My Teacher Told Me” by James W. Loewen, the author of “Lies across America.” This book is published by Simon and Schuster from Touchstone in October 2007 as the second edition. The whole theme of this book is to show the faulted story, and the chapter seven, The Land of Opportunity, is showing that the United States is not a land of freedom and opportunity as everyone knows. It is shocking that there are many controversies that society hides from people. Throughout the reading this chapter, I wondered why people started believed the United States as a nation of freedom and opportunity. Then I realized that the society continuously reminds us that the United States is a land with full of opportunities, and people are treated equally in here through Mass Media. “Lies My Teacher Told Me” said that textbooks and society hide and manipulate the important but negative facts to make historical characters to be heroes. It makes young children to believe what they have learned are true. Not only textbooks, but also Media and popular cultures take roles to teach wrong directions and to have stereotypes between genders.
When people think about Media and popular cultures, reality show is reminded naturally since it is popular throughout America. Media hide many truths from the people, but reality shows need censorship for youths, but some says Reality shows are just for entertaining. Moreover, Rachel Potratz, the author of “When is Reality Real?: Youth Perceptions of MTV Reality Programs,” said that reality show programs are helping youth to learn about the world by parasocial interaction when she had a survey on seventy-eight colle...
... middle of paper ...
....sciencemag.org/content/295/5564/2377.full.pdf>.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Print.
McConnell, Marla. "Media and Gender Stereotyping." Serendip. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. .
Potratz, Rachel M. "When Is Reality Real?: Youth Perceptions of MTV Reality Programs." Diss. Ohio University. Abstract. When Is Reality Real?: Youth Perceptions of MTV Reality Programs (2007). Digital Resource Commons. 2007. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. .
Rankin, Aubree. "Reality TV Study Research on Sex, Profanity and Violence on TV - Reality TV: Race to the Bottom." Parents Television Council. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. .
A History of the American People, written by Paul Johnson, as well as A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn, is a different sort of manner in which to better understand the events that happened from the creation of the United States, to the 21st century. While both authors tell the story of America in a similar fashion, they each put their own “brand” of sorts on it. Johnson, being British upper-middle-class, was never taught American history as a student, and this made him have a sort of child-like sense of wonder about America. He writes, “…I eventually came to American history completely fresh, with no schoolboy or student prejudices or antipathies.”
Sipple, L. (2011). The appeal of reality television for teen and pre-teen audiences. Journal of
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Second. New York, New York: Touchstone, 1997. Print.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
Reality based television has a broad landscape ranging from competitive game-like shows to programs following the daily lives of a group of people. Every major network now has some form of reality programming because the genre’s shows are high in viewership and require low costs for production. The genre is appealing to viewers because it provides them with a first-hand look into the lives of everyday people, which allows them to observe social behavior that helps them determine what is appropriate or not (Tyree, 2011, p. 397). Since the majority of modern reality stars start out as unknowns, frequent viewers of reality programming believed that fame is obtainable if they appear on a popular show (Mendible, 2004). According to Mendible’s evaluation of the genre in the article Humiliation, Subjectivity, and Reality TV, people enjoy reality programs beca...
The first effect of reality shows is the image it gives viewers. Reality shows give misconceptions of everyday life; the Real World and Jersey Shore show young adults relaxing, having a good time, and partying every day. The...
As the fictitious character of Katniss Everdeen captured the 21st century audience, so does the viewer of American reality television. Taken into account the influences of American reality shows, there’s just so much a parent can monitor children’s TV viewing. It’s a given fact that the young mimics the adults and as such, if these reality icons influence a supposedly mature adult, how much more of youngsters? In as much as I want to argue that it all depends on one’s moral standards, it seems to be apparent that the influence of today’s American reality TV may be perceived as psychologically destructive. Hence, may one day contradict a supposedly civilized society governed by standards of right and
Reality based television has a broad landscape ranging from competitive game-like shows to programs following the daily lives of a group of people. Every major network now has some form of reality programming because these programs are high in viewership and require low costs for production. The genre’s shows provide audiences with a first-hand look into the lives of everyday people, which creates resonance among viewers because they feel like they can relate to the characters on screen (Hasinoff, 2008). Since the majority of modern reality stars start out as unknowns, frequent viewers of reality television have essentially bought into the belief that they too can achieve overnight fame by appearing on a popular show (Mendible, 2004). According to Mendible’s evaluation i...
Since its invention, television has been one of the most influential forms of media to date. As tv sets grew in popularity and became a standard household item, they also become a learning tool for audiences as well. To some extent, television provides an essential framework of knowledge, and our view of society and reality, in general, is shaped by the perceptions on what and even who we watch. The issue with this is that the lines between “reality television” and actual reality become blurred, and it becomes increasingly difficult to make distinctions between both. Throughout this paper, we will examine the extent to which media represents the world in which we live. We do so by analyzing the reality tv show Toddlers and Tiaras in comparison with the news program Good Morning America. Comparing and contrasting the differences and similarities between the two, we will attempt to determine how the evaluation of
Tyson, Zakeia. "The Negative Influence of Reality TV on Teenage Girls." The Opportunity Agenda. N.p., 2 May 2012. Web. 8 May 2014. .
James W. Loewen. Lies My Teacher Told Me, Everything Your American History Teacher Got Wrong. The New Press: New York, 1995.
The. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. 60. The ECB 169.
The Effects of Popular Culture on Society Popular Culture is music, dance, theatre, film,T.V., poetry and Art which is enjoyed by a wide group of people. Some people would argue that popular culture in the 1960's cause harm. Other people however argued that other factors brought harm and change to society. Some people would argue that music would cause harm because of the lyrics in pop songs. Lyrics like 'Lets spend the night together' by The Rolling Stones, influenced young people to have casual sex.
Reality Television has changed television in a way that no one could have imagined. Being the one of the most talked about genre in history, it is seen by millions of viewers. It has more ratings than any other kind of show (Breyer 16). From its start, there have been many Reality Television shows. Shows like The Real World, Survivor, Big Brother, and Jersey Shore. All of these give off a negative portrayal of reality. While Americans watch these shows, it seems that the show is real life, but in reality, no pun intended, before the show is even filmed, it’s written, edited, and produced (Breyer 21). Writers humiliate and degrade people just for the plot of the show, making their private lives public (Breyer 16).
Have you ever wondered why people are so addicted to watching their favorite shows on TV? Have you ever wondered why reality TV is so popular? This paper is an explanation of why large numbers of people watch reality TV shows. Proof and facts will be provided showing that reality TV provides entertainment, inspiration, the stirring of emotions, vicarious living, and a substitute for social life for many who watch. Here are a few examples of these statements.