Not only are we all exposed to racial and ethnic insults all the time, we become so used to hearing them that we begin to grow accustomed to them. Whether it is in the movies, music, or television I believe that we are constantly exposed to stereotypes that some members of a certain race or ethnicity would find absolutely appalling.
First, I would like to look at music. If there is any form of media that seems to absolutely be flooded with racial undertones I believe that it is the music industry. We all know why, it all has to do with the famous “N” word. Many arguments have arisen because of it. Why is it ok for an African American to say it but not for a Caucasian? Does the omission of a single letter really matter? Is the use of this word in daily life really a way of trying to reduce the power of the word and change its meaning? I have no clue how life is as an African American growing up, but to me it seems as if I would find much of music nowadays fairly disrespectful to my race as a whole.
Next we come to Movies. Movies portray many different things, and explore many situations and issues in our world. Of course racism, sexism, and ethnic stereotypes abound in the movies, they always have. Early westerns, one of the most successful genres of movies in the early film industry, centered their whole existence on Cowboys vs. Indians. Of course, these movies were full of images of Indians hooting and hollering, doing strange ritualistic dances around a fire, drinking the blood of animals, and practicing in all sorts of actions that would have been deemed taboo by western society. We all know that there were practices by Native Americans that may seem shocking to some, but many tribes just centered their existence on living off the land. They weren’t a bunch of blood crazed animals looking to kill the next white man that came around.
Books and television I find hard to classify. Sure there are books that contain racial insults, and we can even find shows that do the same, but I rarely watch TV enough to run into these shows. I watch TV mainly to watch movies or the Science Channel. Books contain the ideas of one author, who can easily be targeted for his words, and as such I believe that authors are much more careful with their words, and it would definitely be hard to find a publisher to print a manuscript that was full of racial insults.
All of these add to the growth of racial prejudice because of the huge audience these forms of communication reach. It reaches people of little education and higher education, young and old, male and female. Some of these people are easily brought in to the stereotypes and insults portrayed on these mediums, and after being bombarded with these issues become accepting of them. This in itself leads to the spread of these insults, as some people are too willing to accept information without questioning it.
I too always thought that the casual use of the "n" word in mainstream music would be offensive to African Americans and their culture. However what I believe is more offensive is the nature of the songs in which this word is typically used. It portrays African American culture as reckless and violent, so much profanity is often used that the song edited becomes an entirely different song. The songs usually center around the theme of materialism and female degradation. I don't believe that the use of the "n" word is what is really the most offensive, it is the misrepresentation of the culture as a whole.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who is so concerned about the use of the word and who is allowed and not allowed to use it but disregards the strong themes of violence, sex, and hate is completely delusional.
I've actually had a discussion with a friend and his thoughts on the use of the word. He actually finds the rap/ hip hop genre to be empowering. He went on to explain that rather than preaching and upholding the themes of violence and sex, most of it is simply a recollection of what they have experienced, it is a form of expression. Therefore I supposed like with most things, it is a matter of who you are and how you perceive it.