Blog #4
Visibility, representation , and diversity were all key points that were talked about in our readings this week. In the article, “The Poor Will Always Be With Us: Just not on the TV News”, I was not surprised to learn that the media gives little coverage about poverty in America, however, what I found to be very interesting was that coverage on poverty rarely allows for Americans living in poverty to share their opinions. It was even more interesting to learn that concerns for the elderly and veterans living in poverty was seen as more important than any other group living in poverty. This can be understood in both ways. First, the elderly population are more than often portrayed as weak and unable to provide for themselves. Second, the arm forces are a group in our American society that receives not only many resources, but also are seen as national heroes. Thus, these two groups within our society are thought as more “important” and as the “deserving poor”.
Further, reading the article “Let toys be toys: The case for gender-neutral marketing” allowed me to reflect on my own childhood and the choices I made when buying toys with my parents. One of the main points this article states is that “parents and environment are more likely to influence which toy a child picks up, not gender”, and I completely agree with this statement. Looking back into my childhood, I vividly remember having an endless amount of toys which consisted of Barbie dolls, Barbie dresses, mini-doll houses, etc. Social forces in which a child grows up around shape the way they think and how they perceive the world. Thus in my case, I was taught that girls were supposed to play with dolls and boys were supposed to play with cars. I think it’s a difficult task for parents to not only realize that gender stereotyping is wrong and has a huge impact on how children make sense of the world around them, but also teaching children to be more open-minded. Thus, as the article states “it’s a cycle: Gender stereotypes are fostered in childhood and take shape in adulthood, to be passed on to children.
In the article, “Global Food Disparity: A Photo Diary”, I was shock to see how different each country’s family food choice differs so much from America. This article, brought a different perspective of media in my mind. Though media sometimes portrays ethnic cultures, gender, and race in a rather negative way most of the time, this article help portray the variety of culture we have in this world. Media pieces like this one, helps bring awareness about the obesity problem we have here in America specially with regards to child obesity and gives readers a different perspective.
With all of this being said, I am interested in hearing what are your thoughts with regards to these articles. Were you able to relate your personal experiences to these articles? Did you agree or disagree with what was said? and do you think that certain factors in our society are visible and represented more through media?
