What I was drawn to in this chapter was the negative influence media can have on the population. The news put an evil lens over anyone who was of middle eastern descent. What's more, this issue continues to be relevant in today's news with the immigrants from Syria. The media can lay out a story and tell it in such a manner that you are persuaded to agree with them. This type of news can be dangerous if it leads to hate, which it sometimes does.
The second essay we read was fascinating in that cultural diversity, which is usually encouraged, was looked at in a different way than usual. I agreed with the author to some extent that focusing on what makes us different is less important than what bring us together. Cultural diversity is relatively new. When immigrants came over in the early twentieth century they were expected to assimilate into America and become "American". How this has changed over the years is not necessarily, but I do find it interesting.
Cultural Diversity as a school subject does seem quite interesting. I do agree with the author that it is important to raise children in a bonding, cooperative environment in which their commonalities are highlighted, but I think that it is equally important for those children to know their own separate cultures. A simple truth is that not one person is like any other no matter how many commonalities are shared, and it is good for children to be able to identify what makes them different from other people as it then allows them to better appreciate themselves and others. The real trick is teaching them that differences do not make someone better or worse than another person but simply different.
ReplyDeleteI agree on your view about media not being accurate because they want their views to come across rather than what's really happening. This can cause problems because people may look at things in a negative way instead of both sides.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the media always has their own agenda to push, whether it be important news or not. It's really terrible how corrupt peoples views on the world can be because of what people say on television and in the newspapers. So I really agree with what you feel about the media.
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