Op Ed Assignment

The male-dominated culture in America has a problem with violence and what it means to be a man. 
Violence is something that is fostered and implanted in the minds of men from the day they are born. 
The media tells us that if you're not dominant enough, you aren’t masculine enough. If you’re not strong 
enough, you aren’t manly enough. If you openly express your feelings, you’re not manly enough. What 
people fail to realize is that men experience just as many emotions and have the same emotional depth 
as women do. We need to implant a culture that fosters a change in the way young men act towards others.
For example, in American culture, Donald Trump would have been viewed as tough and masculine 
throughout his presidency. His “grab them by the pussy” way of dealing with other people has earned him 
relentless loyalty from his voters. When Barack Obama gave a tearful response to the Sandy Hook 
shooting, he was relentlessly criticized for being too emotional, feminine, and weak.

Our culture perpetuates certain characteristics of what it means to be “masculine” throughout our daily 
lives and interactions with other. The easiest way to foster our culture’s infatuation is through the media 
and entertainment aspects in our everyday consumption. For example, the Media Education Foundation 
estimates that by the age of 18, a child will have witnessed over 2000, 000 acts of violence, including 
16,000 murders, through the media outlets they are exposed to.

Masculinity is a social construct. In mainstream society, men are not born, they are made. For instance, 
men can prove themselves worthy of manhood by pursuing high-status careers, being competitive 
in sports, having multiple sexual partners, and engaging in risky, adrenaline-fuelled activities 
like skydiving or motocross racing. Many of the mass shooters in history are seen as outcasts and social 
rejects of society, who have trouble making social connections and establishing relationships with 
opposite sex. The Columbine shooters, for instance, were victims of bullying and public humiliation. 
Another shooter, Elliot Rodger, wrote a manifesto in which he blamed his virginity on the “cruelty of 
women.” The main cause of  toxic masculinity stems from the media standards that set the bar as what a 
man SHOULD be, and the coming realization of not meeting those standards.

The violent, male dominated culture that dominates the media, along with our fascination with guns, 
are two deadly chemicals that cause an explosion when mixed with each other. In a culture where 
violence and masculinity go hand in hand, everybody is a victim. The young men who consume 
media products on a daily basis are victims because they are often told to change who they are to fit 
society’s definition of man. The victims of the heinous acts, portrayed in the media and copied in real 
life, did nothing to deserve the death they suffered.In order to curb the violence from not just guns, 
but as a whole, we need to have a stricter ruling on the kinds of content the general public is allowed 
to have access to. There should be tighter rating systems that are stringent in the kinds of content that 
certain age groups are being shown on a wide scale. Media agencies need to target entities that cater to 
pre-teen males and young adult males because they are the ones most susceptible to the kinds of 
violence we are exposed to in the media. There needs to be change in the outlet for young men and the 
kinds of information they consume.

Blog Post #6

The movie Crash is centered around the everyday interactions and the stereotypical assumptions we hold over complete strangers. One of the most important distinctions the plot asserts to the audience is that every person is “profiled” in their everyday interactions, no matter the race or social class they represent. The movie does a good job of portraying this realization in the way the characters interact with one another, given their life experiences up to their intersecting points in time.

The frantic Asian women, who burst in yelling her husband’s name when she came to check to on him in the hospital presents a problem with how profiling people can lead to misunderstanding. The nurse automatically went to the assumption that she couldn’t speak English, not knowing that she was only yelling her husband’s name. Another character, a Hispanic male with a shaven head, is profiled as being a gang member while simply doing his job. One of the more deadly consequences of  profiling was the young cop who was able to save the black television producer from being shot by the police, ended up killing another black character when he thought he was pulling out a weapon from his pocket.

I think that it’s important to take note of the use of profiling by the characters in this movie. The majority of the “profiling” was done whenever someone was agitated, angry, or overstressed. They were used, in spite, to hurt other people. For example, the opening scene of the movie depicts an argument between a hispanic woman and an Asian woman. The two women taunt each other using stereotypes about each other; the Asian woman threatening to call immigration services on the hispanic woman and, in kind, the hispanic woman makes fun of her accent and talks about the stereotype of Asian women being terrible drivers.

The lady who was robbed in the movie presents the largest character development in the entire cast because her prejudices actually changed, instead of simply being more sympathetic to the struggles of others people like the overwhelming majority of the cast. In the beginning, she justified her prejudice attitudes and stereotypical allegations towards the hispanic men by using her victimhood from the robbery incident. Her character was the best representation of becoming self aware when she realized that it was her own unexpressed resentments that was driving her prejudiced attitudes and not her fear of being hurt by men of color.

Stereotyping is rampant throughout the world because the population is much too big for any one human to process every instant and every variable that exists among human interaction on a daily basis.. In order to process the world, humans result to stereotyping because it’s the summary, or average of the world. In order to get a better control of our inner prejudices, we need to examine the roots of our prejudices and what drives them. We need to learn to be more self aware of our unconscious motives and the underlying causes that influence them.

Blog Post 5

One of my favorite television shows is called The Wire. Seeing as many television shows take on only one perspective from one social or economic class at a time, this television series takes on a different perspective and shows numerous social classes as part of the show’s plotline. The Wire, focuses on the inner-city Baltimore drug trade and the numerous entities and organizations that surround it. For example, there is a wide range of characters that are involved with the law enforcement organizations, criminal and drug enterprises, politicians and Congressional districts, educational facilities, as well as the newspaper and the media entities. This television series does a great job of switching back and forth between these different social forces in a way that flows along with the story’s plot while, at the same time, depicting different socio-economic class groupings as well.

This show is pretty consistent with the reading’s note of how poor whites and poor blacks are represented in the media. The reading noted how white victims of Hurricane Katrina, for example, were seen as hardworking people, pulling themselves by their own accord, and helping out other people. This reminds of character in The Wire, Nick Sobotka. Nick is a worker at the shipping ports at the Baltimore Harbor. He starts selling heroin and letting illegal contraband come through the Baltimore ports as a way to bring extra money to purchase a house for his girlfriend and young daughter. There is one scene where he blatantly states that he doesn’t take excuses for lazy workers and that he doesn’t work without a contract. It’s these subtleties that reinforces the media’s representation that blue collar whites are hard workers and live by strict principle.  

On the other hand, the poor black characters are cast in a different light. They are viewed as people who are lazy, have no morals, and aren’t willing to change their own situation. For example, one character named Bubbles, is a heroin addict. Throughout the premises of the show, he is seen as a thief; always looking for items to steal and pawn them for money to buy more heroin. There’s one particular scene where he is seen printing money out and pouring coffee over the paper to make it look like real paper money.  Another character named, Dukie, is also a heroin addict. In the fourth season, he befriends one of his teachers and the two grow closer and closer. Near the end of the season, Dukie asks his teacher for some money, under the impression that he would use it to pay for the upcoming semester classes at the local community college. Instead, he lies to his teacher and uses the money to pay for more heroin.

Coming from a family that lives in poverty, I have seen both sides of the argument regarding social class and I am in a state of contradiction about whether it’s the social and economic policies that keep people in poverty or whether it’s their own fault.  My parents use examples from my extended family to paint a depiction of what it’s like to live in poverty. For example, my uncle on my father’s side of the family is a car salesman. He works from 7 AM to 10 PM everyday of the week. He often works on major holidays and is never able to take vacation time off due to his busy schedule. On the other hand, my uncle on my mother’s side of the family is characterized as lazy and as someone who is willingly mooching off the government. He stays in his mother’s house and watches ESPN on a daily basis. The media’s portrayal of social class, especially when it depicts poor whites and poor blacks, has a lot of influence on my perspective on these issues. So, in conclusion, there are legitimate points on both sides on poverty. I think that while there should be government programs that are catered specifically to people who are trying to cover the basic necessities, I think it should be only offered to those who are willing to help themselves.

Interview-Blog Post #4

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had to battle stereotypes in almost every aspect of
my daily life. I’ve dealt with stereotypes from, the way I dress, the kinds of music I listen to, 
the food I eat, my skin and eye color, my hair texture, and even the way I talk over the 
telephone. Growing up, I’ve had the unique perspective of seeing and experiencing problems 
of lower social and economic classes from an outside-in perspective. I’ve had the chance to 
experience what it’s like to be in a home situation that is constantly being undermined, 
yet still come back to a stable situation at my own home. I have family members who have 
been killed due to gun violence, yet I don’t have to worry about gun violence in my 
own neighborhood. I have friends that live in community housing and live on food stamps, 
but yet I come back to find a home cooked meal every night.  I’ve worked the night shift at a 
plastic injection mold factory, not to take care of and provide for my family, but to save up to 
buy new wheels for my car. I have childhood friends who have overdosed from drug abuse. All 
these are examples that have shaped my experiences and my overall view of the world.

My parents were the first ones in their families to not only attend and graduate from a university, 
but to go on and complete graduate school as well. They have always used examples from our 
extended family members to preach the importance of getting an education. Stories about my
older cousins getting into trouble with the law and having children out of wedlock.They use their 
own examples growing up for added emphasis. For example, my father tells me stories 
about standing on a sidewalk with his belongings, during a winter storm in Washington DC
 after getting evicted from his home. My mother tells me stories about having to explain to her 
parents what the letters from school were saying and having to interpret what the teachers said 
because they were immigrants who didn’t speak a lot of English. All of these lessons and recounts
were used to reinforce the importance of going to school and getting an education.  

Although the demographics of Hickory are changing with the influx of immigrants, 
the town has been a traditionally white, blue collar working, and a politically conservative area. 
One my bestest friends, who we’ll call Ben, is someone who fits the stereotypical description of
what a “redneck” is. He drives a run down, mid-1980’s Ford Pickup truck that screeches every 
time he presses the gas pedal. He never shaves his bushy beard, often wears an Iron Maiden or a
Metallica shirt, and has a Marlboro cigarette in his mouth while showing me the latest addition
to his bird and reptilian collection or his latest horror movie collectible. Ben, a smoker since 
he was 12, grew up in a relatively unstable home environment. His mother was addicted to
 drugs when he and his twin brother were just infants. His father was an alcoholic who could 
never really hold a stable job. I will never forget the time he told me about the sizeable holes 
in his door, when his twin brother grabbed a kitchen knife and violently stabbed the door
during a fight they had.

In combination of my experiences growing up around working class whites and my experiences 
with the media, I feel that the consistent positive light that whites are portrayed in is hurtful to
everybody, including white people. I virtually never see white people being portrayed as dirty, 
violent uneducated, or working manual labor jobs. My experiences with whites are the complete 
opposite of what I see from the media everyday. To me, this presents an unintended consequence 
of the media representation of white superiority. It hurts white people because not all white 
people are rich or educated or non violent as they are portrayed to be in our culture. My interactions 
with Ben and his family have taught me that there are opposite spectrums in every race, including 
white people. I believe that in order to fix the myth of white supremacy, there needs to be more 
media coverage of the poverty levels in the white community. For example, a statistics chart
released by the National Center for Children’s Poverty indicates that white children take up 
the biggest percentage of those living below the poverty line. The media should note that 
while, yes, whites hold numerous advantages over people of color in the United States, not every
white person is completely protected from the different societal forces that drive our existence. 
The general public needs to be taught the concept of internationalism, and how each person
 has inherit advantages and disadvantages in their everyday lives. If people study internationalism 
more frequently, I think the concept of race can be discussed across all spectrum and more progress
 can be through newfound understanding in less time.

Blog Post #3

Most of the advertisements I came across were pushing beauty standards and were aimed at women in particular. In today’s society, women are constantly being force fed and influenced to pursue a certain standard or image, much like the ones they say in everyday advertisements. For instance, there was an article I came across were a woman had laid out her outfits for each day of the week.  In another, there was a woman author who wrote about how people were calling her “brave” and admiring her authenticity of herself by refusing to dye her hair and cover up the gray hairs she had. Many of the advertisements I came across were beauty products such as cologne or makeup or fashion items. There were also articles that talked about weight loss and slimming down products as well. The advertisements I came across were mostly marketed towards young women and there always seemed to be a sexual component tied in with the ad, which indicates that there is a male point of view invested in these ads as well. These ads were meant to appeal to the self confidence levels of regular, everyday women and were aimed to make them feel bad about themselves so they can go out and purchase these products.  The magazines definitely had a bias when it came to the levels of beauty and were communicating a message that says if you don’t use our specific brand of products, you are not attractive. The ads specifically used attractive spokespeople and celebrities, such as Blake Lively, to market towards their target audience. In my own opinion, I believe that having one or two of these kinds of advertisements would not have as big of an impact on the women’s target market. However, when every single ad is pushing out a specific standard of beauty, it becomes a problem. The repetition of these kinds of images on a constant basis is what’s driving these astronomical levels of beauty standards in modern society. I think articles such as the weight loss article I mentioned earlier are the kinds of ads we need in today’s world. It promoted a positive outlook on everyday body image issues and it gave its readers a sense of hope. That while, yes, they may not look like the women in the advertisements, they can still set and achieve their own goals by looking at the real life role models they read about it.

Blog Post #2

Growing up, I’ve always known the stereotypes of the native and indigenous groups before the European 
settlers. The facepaint, feathers, loud drums, and dancing around the fires late at night are all images that I’ve
seen in movies growing up. The most stereotypical scene I saw depicting Native Americans were the ones in 
the movie Peter Pan and the Indian in the Cupboard. In my opinion, the depiction of Native Americans are
not much different than how blacks and hispanics are portrayed. People living in the outdoors with minimal 
clothes on, shouting in different languages and hunting animals. I believe that these assumptions are 
where the ideology of white supremacy starts from. The ideas that Europeans have these technological 
advancements such as guns, concepts of business and formal education, clothing, and religion are used 
as evidence in support of these racist ideals.

I think the effects of these portrayals leads to the further justification of the genocide of Native Americans. 
People who view the culture of Native Americans as poor and savage may often justify the treatment of the 
tribes by saying things such as “we civilized them by bringing them the Bible” or “taught them to be apart 
of a more advanced culture.” In effect, I think this also contributes to the nonchalant attitudes when it comes
to issues affecting the Native American tribes in this day in age. For example, the North Dakota pipeline 
protests received almost no media coverage from the big news corporations until violence erupted during 
the demonstrations. If these protests were peaceful, there would be no coverage and the oil companies would 
have won out against the protestors relatively easy.

Native Americans should be seen as they truly are: people. I think the best way to start on shattering the 
media-bred stereotypes of Native Americans is to start with the education in elementary schools. Instead of 
just talking about the Trail of Tears, why not talk about famous Native American leaders and their 
accomplishments to today’s society? Why not go into depth about Native American culture? Explaining the
differences in culture for the different tribes in different parts of the culture will definitely help to get rid 
of the notion that ALL Native Americans look the same. Talking about the traditional purposes of wearing 
animal hide or what different face painting styles mean will also help to counteract against the savage
Indian stereotype.

However, the most important way to battle stereotypes of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds is 
to have face to face interactions with people that are different than your own self. Unfortunately for Native 
Americans in particular, this is definitely easier easier said than done. I propose that schools in states 
with a long history of Native American oppression should schedule field trips to historic sites so students 
can get a feel of the experiences the tribes experienced during their oppression. However, the first step 
in battling stereotypes, is to have an actual conversation with someone and get a glimpse at their 
different life experiences.  

#1: Racial Autobiography

Growing up as an African-American male in an overwhelmingly white community, I have always been
aware of my racial identity. I was the only person of color in many social settings and attending  this 
university is no different than how my childhood was. My parents told me they decided to raise me 
around white people because of the better overall living styles. There were better schools, grocery stores, 
banks and safer neighborhoods around whites. I look at pictures of myself in class pictures, and I am the 
only black kid in the picture.

My father grew up in a single-parent household in a mostly African-American neighborhood in Eastern 
Washington DC. He’s told me stories about the struggles he had growing up. How he remembers being 
evicted from his house and standing on the sidewalk, with all his belongings, during a snowstorm. He 
recalls the first experiences he had while looking for a places to live  here in North Carolina, how he 
confronted his coworkers about him not being paid equally and treated fairly.

My parents have always talked to me about the importance of representing our people in a positive way. 
They have routinely talked to me about racial profiling from law enforcement and other people who aren’t 
used to interacting with people of color. I’ve been profiled in front of my own parents at Best Buy. I’ve seen 
my father racially profiled with my very own eyes as he was accused of trying to steal a leather jacket from 
Walmart. “Watch the way you dress because people make judgements off your appearance” is something my 
mother always tells me before I go hang out with friends.

One year around Christmas time, me and my two brothers drove to a shopping mall in Rock Hill, South 
Carolina. I remember the mall parking lot being completely packed as we looked for a parking space. 
When we finally got of out of the car, the security guard pulled up and told us he called the police because 
there were reports of us looking for cars to break into. Sure enough, not even five minutes later, several
police vehicles pulled up and 6-7 officers started interrogating us. “What are you doing here?” 
“Where’s your ID?””How many times have you been arrested before?””Do you own this vehicle?” 
The police left us alone without filing any charges against us that day.

The way African-Americans are portrayed in the media is disgusting to me. When one of my brothers got 
into a traffic incident, he told me the lady locked herself in the car when he was trying to exchange insurance 
numbers. It makes me feel that there is always a camera watching me even before I leave the house. I feel
guilty for just being in existence sometimes.

To me, being “racially aware” is knowing the history of your people. Understanding the struggle of those that 
came before you and the sacrifices they made so you can reach farther in life. My grandmother tells me that 
she wishes she could’ve gone to college, that she wishes there was no such thing as segregation where she 
grew up. All these stories and lessons I’ve heard from my older people in my family have made me more 
aware in the shaping of my identity and how my identity is projected to other people.