TELEVISION SHOWS AND DISCRIMINATION

The number of people who use the television as a source of entertainment easily outnumbers the number of people who use it as a primary source of news. The success of a TV station depends heavily on ratings. Television stations with the most ratings have entertainment shows that appeal to a wide spectrum of their audience. Entertainment shows include reality shows, game shows, sitcoms and drama series. Our addiction to shows meaningless shows like Jersey shore, Teen Mom and Real world has made MTV and VH1 the most viewed networks.

Sex sells in America. Advertising moguls have adopted this method to promote products like GODADDY.COM by using almost naked images of famous stars like Danica Patrick.

Using racy images of females to market products widens the gender inequality gap that already exists in society. It also limits the capability of women in society. Moreover shows like The Bachelor and the music videos constantly degrade women by depicting them as sex objects.

There are also shows on TV that promote minority groups as being ignorant, lazy and promiscuous. One thing comes to mind when I think about the Flavor of Love show on VH1, and that is ignorance. Some televisions shows about black people promote buffoonery and illiteracy in the black community. I was a big fan of the Chappelle show but there is no doubts that show was very stereotypical and sometimes even racist. Even though a black comedian hosted the show, the producers and writes of the show regularly supplied him with racial jokes. Despite the shows huge success, Dave Chappelle had enough of the racism he was being made to feed to the public so he walked away from a multimillion-dollar contract. Using a person of color, as a vessel for racial jokes in the media is very common in mainstream media and by doing so, some people find it acceptable to make racial jokes. Others also make judgments about based on the stereotypes they see on TV.

Mainstream media has a huge influence on race relations in this country. Lack of diversity in some parts of the country causes white people in such places to resort to the media for information about minorities.