“How can we influence social change, if culture and race were portrayed differently in the media?”
Questions are easy to come up with, however, certain questions are so simple that the answer is complex and the outcomes numerous. This question seems soft, simple and yet has no definite answer, when it comes down to it. Berger defines a Beautiful Question as “… [an] ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something…” This question fulfills all these requirements as certain parts of the media; new-stations, movies, shows, etc., will take time to change. As discussed by Professor Hayes’ rotation, and professor Paul’s rotation, stereotypes and prejudice are often integrated into society, and take time and effort to change the parts people see.
There is no question that the “Gatekeepers” of our society shape how the everyday American sees the world. So, it seems logical that refereeing to the entire human race as divided amongst itself both mirrors and reinforces the fact that the U.S. makes humans and their skin-color a controversial subject. For example, Professor Hayes’ rotation had us discuss how pop-culture influences our perceptions of what is deemed exceptionable in the media. From street gangs and Natalie Wood playing a Puerto Rican incarnation of Juliet, to how the sensation Hamilton has changed perceptions of history and the Founding Fathers, pop-culture shapes our views of everyday life. Diverse cultures have historically struggled with representation in the media, from having being underrepresented as a whole, to being passed over from partaking in the media.
In Professor Paul’s rotation, we had a discussion about microaggressions and stereotypes being ingrained in civilization. Reactions to different practices and beliefs are dependent on how we are exposed to those differences in our everyday lives. The media is a big part of the thinking that leads to the dividing and damaging reaction we have to difference.
The term “race” for instance, is supposed to refer to a separate and unique species of organism. Using the word “race” in place of “ethnicity” when talking about people, gives the public the impression that skin-color is indeed a divide that allows people to distance themselves from others. Additionally, the ethnocentric recounting of history is a divide that tells us it is okay to remember deeds of large global giants, rather than focus on the cultures and lively hoods that were damaged, erased, and oppressed, to get where we are today.
This distance, this distinct divide, is the foundation for racists and superiority thinking in general, as “racial differences” are little more than culture and pigmentation. By starting small, perhaps with small time TV shows and local and liberal leaning news stations, using other terms for “race” such as “group,” “ethnicity” and “culture,” maybe the small, slow shifts needed to make the move. Next schools when talking about biology and history can implement the more diverse retelling of historical context and cultures, and why in the context of human relations it is important to hear more than one voice. Tolerance and acceptance of people can begin by highlighting “differences” and make them obsolete through accurate representations of people and the social, cultural, and political environments in which they live.
