Unit A3.1 talks a lot about how much power the media has on the representations of images that we see. “In modern society we are constantly fed images of the foreign other…” (p. 41). What is crucial for society to remember is that what we see on T.V. is most likely only a portion of what is going on in the real world, and also very carefully selected. We see what the media wants us to see; the opinions and prejudices we make are done so because they want us to think that way. “The news media provides us with a very narrow, very tightly constrained and grotesquely inaccurate account of the world in which we live” (p.195). It’s a little scary to think of how much power the news media has on a society, how they can change the image of a certain group of people in either a positive or negative light, and how they can create new stereotypes.
On page 200, Stuart Hall writes that “stereotypes get hold of the few simple. Vivid, memorable, easily grasped, and widely recognized characteristics about a person, reduce everything about that person to those traits…” (p. 200). I absolutely hate stereotypes; I don’t understand how people think it is acceptable to take a human being and shove them into a mold of how society thinks they should behave. Everyone has been stereotyped. I personally have been stereotyped for several things. People don’t understand the effects of stereotyping until they have personally experienced it. On a personal level, I get stereotyped for being in a sorority. Once people find out that I am in one, they automatically assume that I am a “typical sorority girl”: a raging party tramp with a low GPA and absolutely no ambitions in life. The fact that people would assume I am this type of person just because I wear Greek letters across my chest is hurtful and damaging to my esteem. Then once they get to know me, they realize all the positive things that a sorority can bring out in someone; my friends are flabbergasted when they learn that I have a 3.5 GPA, I don’t party a lot, and I complete over 100 hours of community service every academic school year. Stereotypes not only hurt the people that is mentioned, but also the people that hold those stereotypes mentioned. When I studied in Spain, many of the Spaniards thought that all Americans were over-the-top alcoholics, basically exactly like the cast of “Jersey Shore”. I had to break those assumptions as well.
I feel that recognizing stereotypes is important, especially for educators. In my classroom, there will be a variety of races and cultures among my students. It is up to me to take care that not only I remain neutral from stereotypes, but that I encourage everyone to look at the assumptions society has about their peers and to get to know each other on a deeper and more meaningful level. If every teacher was able to accomplish this in their classroom, imagine what the next generation of students will be like: open, accepting, and independent.
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