Well I think I can finally take my jaw off the ground becuase for a while after reading Mike Male's articles I was so astounished that I kept sitting with my mouth agap (wonderful for everyone watching me in the cafeteria at work). What really caught my attention was this quote, "Today's media potrayals of teens employ the same sterotypes once openly applied to unpopular racial and ethnic groups: violent, reckless, hypersexed, welfare-draining, obnoxious, ignorant," (121). This made so much sense to me yet I had never thought of it in that context before. Which also begs the question, how much do teens of "unpopular ethnic groups" feel opression stemming from both racism and ageism. I continued to be asthonished by all of the lies made up about by the media about teens. I have always known that the media has not always taken a lot of time to highlight postivtives about teens but to blare so much wrong information about this age group is just horrible and perputates so many excuses. Did anyone else have the reaction that after reading this article you all of a sudden become more perceptive to the fact that everyone blames thing on the media. There was this old Greek woman at work today who was telling me that "in her day back in Greece no one would marry you if you weren't a virgin and we didn't even have TV until the 1960s." Yes, that's a great story and I would love to believe it, but I'm pretty sure that some of those GIs left with more than just souveniers from foriegn countries. I see that a major issuse this article has going aganist is that some many people have believed the same thing for such a long time and its so hard to go aganist that thinking. Especially as the article suggests, we would much rather blame tangible things as opposed to facing issuses like cracking down on child abuse.
Being aware of abuse is something that unforntunatly can also fall on the shoulders of educators. If the public is not concerned with the effect that abuse has on our students and our society than our educators can at least stand up and tell children from a young age about abuse and how to find help. Teachers also have to be a safe place for students to talk about difficult issuses as well as keeping a watchful eye out for warning signs. Sometimes it can be as easy as not unlocking the bathroom door; at the school I work at the bathroom doors are kept lock and one day a father came in to "talk" to his son after the teacher called about bad behavior. The father (while taking off his belt) asked the teacher if she would open the bathroom door for her. She did and then from my position tutoring in the hallway I could hear the child crying while being hit with the belt. While it is an uncomfortable situation unfortunatly teachers have a good view into the lives of their students and can go a long way to help stopping abuse.
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My jaw seems to have suffered the same effect as yours after reading this article. I was so disgusted by not only all of the facts about crimes committed against kids by adults, but the lies offered up by the media and politicians on these issues. What is even more frustrating to me than the lies being presented as fact by these organizations, though, is that how easily they are eaten up by the public at large. Reading some of the article titles reveals why this may be the case. They are all so fantastic and littered with scary diction that one would find it hard not to pick up one of these articles and be scared into holding an opinion. "Kids killing kids" is a great example. Its just so over the top. Everyone just eats this up and remembers it because it is such a shocking image. I have a big problem with ignorance and I suppose before reading this article I was ignorant when it came to these issues. I just wish more people would be able to be exposed to this article so that the truth could be shed. Every time I am presented with a way of looking at an issue by the media I am now going to be much more cautious and have to do more digging myself to uncover the real facts and implications for what are usually very complex concerns of our society.
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