Hello Bloggers! Another Happy Friday. I hope all is well in our little cyber neighborhood. Anyway, this week I’m writing about media’s role in ugly language. The essays in out textbook brought up interesting ideas about a persistent issue. We all have been exposed to some sort of judgmental insults in our lives. Its not a fun experience but one to learn from none the less. Many want to blame the media for popularizing the use of prejudicial language. Yet I think the root of the issue lies a lot deeper.
It is my belief that it all starts at home, how and even where a person is raised. We all can acknowledge some of the strong cultural and environmental traits among our parents. The language that they speak, becomes the voice we pick up. For example, my step father is Mexican and was born and raised in Venice Beach. I hate to cast prejudice on my dad, but some time he can be a walking stereotype. Yet back to point, his language has rubbed off on my younger siblings. My little brother called one of his friends a vato, which if some don’t know, it’s a Spanish reference to a male. Sounds harmless but most of us know that in the real word this type of language is interpreted as gang slang. It is something that both father and son was raised hearing, there fore there use of the word echoes amongst others. It tends to begin the spread of judgment and preconceived notions of a person
Now don’t get me wrong, the media does play a crucial role is pushing the use of this language. Yet to be fair to media, its exploits anything popular even if this includes language. Making something popular is our job. Yet certain facets of the media are more aggressive than others, many seem to be following. Music has been a source of freedom for many people and meaningful to the artist that made it. Yet to me it seems that use of certain words are plaguing the music we listen to. Its not just bad for the younger kids that are listening, it degrades the art all together. Some rappers make songs that have “nigga” or “ho” as every other word. MTV eats it up and plays the video in between reality shows. Lady Gaga is also guilty, her memorable outfits and catchy songs is being pushed on the public. I walked out of a wal-mart awhile back when a girl, maybe 8, brushed past me singing “want to take a ride on my disco stick.” Though I think the most appalling part about it was the fact that her mother was strolling right beside her.
It is not right that the media manipulates the pubic with there scandalous schemes. Yet it has been this way for quite awhile now and very parent knows children will soak up everything. In this generation we find kids being raised by the media, between music, TV, and video games some begin to know no better. Its inevitable that this person would pick up on the over dramatic cues of some of these media facets. Yet I think people need to take control of how our children are being raised. Let them grow up and decide if they want a mouth of a sailor.
Anyway- that’s what I got to say. I will talk to everyone soon!
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Ha! Really, the girl said that? Stuff like that makes me laugh and it disconcerts me a bit because the girl probably doesn't know what it means. Hopefully, the mom didn't know what that meant and that's why she allowed her child to say such dirty things. Man, if I had said something like that when I was her age I would have had the snot smacked out of me, At least she wasn't saying, "Skeet, Skeet, Skeet!" (That is really nasty word)
ReplyDeleteI believe what your saying, about how media is raising our children today. So many kids watch T.V, play videogames or surf the internet that they stay locked away from reality. They get drawn in by this fictitious reality and they believe it's true, especially young kids. I think that part of the problem is that so many kids are inactive and the parents allow this. When kids are inactive they usually sit in front of screen to fill their time. Which is really sad.
I think your right about how we should let our children make a choice on whether to be a sailor mouth or whatever in the future. I know I was influenced by my parents speechwise. My mom cusses alot and calls out bad words when she is mad and I do too. But we all have to be responsible for our own actions and we can't really blame the media for our own actions all the time.
Your blog actually is the opposing argument to the other blog I responded to. There is a difference between parenting and censorship. Censorship bans certain things altogether, it believes it is wrong and should not exist. Good parenting does not address the issue of morality; it in essence says that my child is not ready to observe what ever it is. For example, mixed marital arts, I find nothing wrong with MMA it’s an exciting sport. I will not allow my four year old daughter watch two man beat each other senseless for money though. She is just not ready for that kind of entertainment. At a young age what you witness is taken as the way things. This is the issue with children encountering media or situation that are not suitable for their age; it develops a false sense of reality. Have you ever notice, that children allowed to listen to music with bad language in it don’t know how to communicate without using curse words? They truly believe that “bitch” is a synonym for female and see not problem with using it. The responsibility of shaping a child’s mind should fall on the parents, not on a censor board that sticks those parent advisory stickers on my CD’s.
ReplyDeleteI think that the media is easy for us to blame. We do not want to blame our self for the problems in the world when really if we would sit back and fix our own problems rather than blaming them on the media or something else the problem could be fixed. I think most of it does come from our parents. As a child we look up to our parents. We play dress up and wear their clothes and try to be like them. I do not think that some parents realize how much we learn from them. Parents can sit there and blame the media for the way their child is when really the parent had total control over what that child watched and was exposed to. I know that music is a way to express yourself and that there is an extent of freedom. I think it could be in a controlled manner. There is no reason for such language sometimes. For example "want to take a ride on your disco stick" I know you have the freedom to say that but there is really no reason for it. I also think that artists are creating songs that sell because people are not controlling what they buy. Regulate what your children watch and buy. I believe if we fix the problem at home then the problem in the media would eventually fade.
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