Tuesdays with Morrie III Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tuesdays with Morrie III - Essay Example The book forces us to take a good, hard look at ourselves and the world we belong to and see what changes our culture could make. This is, indeed, a difficult question – used as we are to ask no questions, go with the flow, â€Å"fit in†, so to speak. And perhaps, that exactly is the problem, and that exactly is the change that must be sought. Ours is a culture that propagates the idea of â€Å"fitting in†, of homogeneity, of belonging. It sets very specific rules to follow and yardsticks by which an individual is to be judged. At the most benign, it makes life a popularity contest and causes frustration to those who cannot quite meet the standard. On a deeper level, it legitimizes racial profiling and gender stereotyping. Mitch is a young journalist, and perhaps knows all too well the huge role that media plays in shaping popular culture and molding social values. Indeed, factual and fictional media portrayals have a propensity to activate culturally shared racial and gender stereotypes and affect judgment involving those who belong to stereotyped groups. The website Media Awareness Network states that â€Å"stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people—usually relating to their class, ethnicity or race, gender, sexual orientation, social role or occupation.†1 However, stereotyping is dangerous in that it transforms assumptions into realities and it places individuals in simplistic categories without recognition of each person’s uniqueness and gifts. The stereotypes of women in media are easily evident. In television shows for instance, who has not seen the dumb blonde, the soccer mom, the girl next door, or the corporate go getter? I watch television often and I see these images all the time. Though the stereotypes have undergone revamping since the 1950’s, with less of the Brady Bunch images and more