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Stereotyping is an Ethical Problem in Media Essay

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Stereotyping has to be one of the main ethical problems in media. Both advertising and entertainment media make substantial use of stereotypes. Stereotypes in most cases negatively affect people's perceptions of themselves or promote socially unwanted behavior. The stereotypical affluence of ethnic groups is one of the main examples of major area of debate especially on African Americans in the United States. One stereotype is that, Black people Abuse the Welfare System. According to Blackenterprise.com “On September 11, 2011, a non-black woman named Amanda Clayton won $1 million in the Michigan State Lottery. Before receiving her winnings, the 24-year-old mother of two brought in $200 per month in food stamps. After receiving her …show more content…

According to Wilkerson, “From the beginning, television, the image mill for the mainstream has not known what to do with black characters. It has struggled, as has the country, to find a place for them that white Americans could find comforting and digestible from the safe distance of their living rooms. Reality had nothing to do with it.” The media has portrayed black characters as nothing more than, buffoons, hustlers, pimps, and prostitutes.
Throughout the twentieth century, African Americans were stereotyped as dirty and contaminated. Though it is easy to imagine that lower income individuals may not have had money for cleaning supplies and might have been less concerned about cleanliness, those stereotypes was never true about African Americans. Thanks to this stereotype it then festered to justify laws segregating Black and White Americans under the false notion of cleanliness and disease prevention. Segregation statutes prevented Blacks and Whites from utilizing the same restrooms, drinking fountains, and swimming facilities under the assumption that Whites would be contaminated by shared use. Back in the day, Jim Crow was "just common sense." The medical establishment agreed, proclaiming that African Americans were carriers of disease, "a social menace whose collective superstitions, ignorance, and carefree demeanor stood as a stubborn affront to modern notions of hygiene." (Wailoo, 2006).
Another major stereotype in the African

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