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| Is this just a Typo? |
The election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States was definitely a game changer in race relations. Blacks have been and still continue to be portrayed as sub species in this country but the emergence and election of an eloquent African American politician shocked many racist individuals in this country. Politics is a nasty game therefore I expect the opposition to constantly criticize the president but I think they cross the line when they start to covertly attack the president on racial issues. Covertly racist individuals like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck use their programs to create propaganda that questions the presidents patriotism and loyalty simply because he is not white. Every single president of this country has been a male Caucasian and none of them had their citizenship or beliefs on democracy questioned but Barack Obama has been labeled a socialist and an opponent of democracy and capitalism.
Donald Trump led a recent campaign by birthers who strongly believed the president was not born in the sate of Hawaii even though his birth was announced in local newspapers in Hawaii. This campaign attracted a lot of attention from all media outlets and a recent poll showed a significant of Americans believed the president was not born on American soil. Would there be the questions about the president’s citizenship if he were white? I truly doubt people would even raise questions about a white president’s citizenship. Barack Obama recently released a full birth certificate to extinguish these rumors but now Donald Trump is calling for the release of his academic records because him and other prejudice people believe he was not smart enough to be accepted into Harvard law school but rather he was a beneficiary of Affirmative action. Affirmative action is a federal program used by schools and employers to help promote diversity by accepting a number of minorities. This controversial program has been scrutinized by white America because they claim its reverse racism but I believe after 400 years of slavery and suppression of minority groups, programs like these are required to even the playing field. Questioning his academic records echoes stereotypes such as Blacks are not as smart as whites or Asians. Mainstream media is picking up on this issue and there will be some sects of the population who will believe this theory. This is a never-ending cycle; mainstream media initiates a ridiculous propaganda or rumor that has racial undertones and then some unstable sensitive individuals pick it up and promote racism and discrimination
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| Affirmative action has been called as reverse racism |
Conclusion
The power of the modern mainstream media is enormous. They influence almost every aspect of our lives. They tell us what to eat, how to look and even what to buy. I am not against the media or what they represent. This is a capitalist and mainstream media generates a great amount of income that supports our economy. On the other hand, racism and discrimination still exists and the media has and continues to contribute to the rising incidents of racist events and discrimination against minorities, females and homosexuals. The media can alter and eradicate the prejudice white America has towards certain ethnic groups by eliminating all the negative stereotypes and representations they feed to the public. Fair reporting on minority issues can also help reduce racism rather than predetermined bias portrayal of minorities that tends to enforce stereotypes. Politics will be politics but the media can resist the blunt hate rhetoric some politicians have in their messages. Lack of support and recognition for inappropriate racist messages by the media will ultimately promote a peaceful and loving society.
