The media telling us to hate difference?

Post Reply New Topic

Do you think the media at this point in time is telling the 'normal people' to hate difference?

I live in England and I get the feeling that people are more unfriendly these days

I'll take this from a broad perspective: as population grows, resources become more strained and competition for them becomes greater. As competition rises, groups homogenize (push out different people) in an effort to become stronger (difference being an obstacle to that since it's harder to work as a single unit when there's a lot of different people). So yes, the media may be driving the current xenophobia, but it's not the cause of it.

edit: grammar.

I thought in some ways people were becoming more tolerant of differences, but I guess autism isn't one of those differences.

I think that people in general are becoming more tolerant of difference, but the media makes the intolerant seem much louder and numerous than they actually are.

It's animal instinct to hate difference and the other, the media is just one of our somewhat more sophisticated ways of expressing it. It's been this way since the beginning of time.

It depends on what media.
Social networks definitely do, as extremists use them to convert other people. It's terrifying to see how much hatred can spread through social networks, and it seems like moderators don't exist unless if you post paintings with nudity or use a fake name ; how can they be so reactive for this but completely apathetic towards hateful messages, I can't believe that this isn't intentional.
TV and radio, not really ; they merely talk about what people want to hear about, and at the time, people are obsessed with extremism. Internet is considerably more influential now.

I'm hesitant to agree with any claims that presume that the media form a single unified entity. That being said, in my opinion, there is little explicit speech within any media that says or implies that difference is bad. At the same time, most characters are not portrayed with any peculiarities unless the characters are based heavily around those peculiarities. This leads to erasure.

Doesn't England have a god awful entrenched class system which encourages people there to classify themselves in terms of social class? The English media is just a reflection of the values of the wider population

America also has long had its own class system despite everybody here claiming to belong to the middle class.

I think the tolerance movement really just stifles our ability to embrace our differences. I'm sorry, but we are all different. Different races are... different. Different nationalities have different social structures, expectations, customs, beliefs etc. Physiologically, races differ. Men and women are different. Why is this all so wrong to say anymore? Why do we all have to be, or want to be the same? I think we've confused equal and the same. People have been conditioned to think that in order to be 'equal' we must all be the same. This is nonsense because it isn't possible. We are not. Nor should we want to be.

Also people need to accept that people will dislike them sometimes, and don't need any reason to either. It's almost as though everyone thinks being universally liked is some entitlement. It's not. Accept that. If people don't like the color of your skin, or your gender or your sexual habits, live with it. I just don't understand today's society in this way. It's so artificial.

Because (and this blatantly obvious) trying to establish differences will lead to a throwback where certain characteristics (ethnicity, culture, religion, disability, body size and sexual orientation) are socially accepted to be perceived as superior. Some people on the right of politics call this political correctness but it's actually social justice and is linked to creating an equal society

It's not social justice. There's nothing just about concealing the fact that people are different. No one is 'establishing differences'. The only thing being 'established' here, is a contrived hive mentality. It has nothing to do with superiority on the global level. Do some individuals take it that way, yes. Such is true with any thinking and is healthy. Outliers always should be allowed in any social structure.

And I believe that certain characteristics of certain ethnicities can be superior to others. Many stereotypes are based in truth from what I've seen in my life. Should these differences be used to treat others poorly? Ideally not. But people will dislike others. And for a myriad of reasons we cannot reasonably expect to control, nor should look to. We cannot all be made the same. I don't understand why anyone would want things to be that way other than they're having been the victim of social programming.

By forcing everyone into the same box, our differences become points of contention instead of things that make us unique. People assume that in order to view these differences one must do it through a lens of bigotry, but this is not true, and has been not true for many people for many of years.

It's not about concealing differences rather it's about de-emphasising their relative importance. The majority of the planet is ignorant and easily incorporate social stigma about differences leading to prejudice which is unhealthy. Education is important to understand that being different does not make one human less equal to another. I am, however, totally aware that social stigma is quite pervasive and have seen how family can change in the way they interact with you (in a negative way) when they realise you are different. In the short term there's nothing we can do.

I believe our views on this are probably a lot closer than they appear on the surface. Perhaps I am not expressing myself the way I want to. The majority of the planet is easily led and ignorant. This is very true. However, prejudices have existed long before mass media. Tribe mentality is natural. Now, many argue it's a natural instinct that's outlived it's usefulness. I can accept that argument to a degree. I may not agree, but there's validity to that line of thought in my opinion. I believe people are being manipulated today to try and actually eliminate differences, or ones ability to perceive them. Which only causes tension.

Two things are inherent with most people-- eager to identify and competitive to be the best. This will always cause some to look at others as lesser. There will always be enemies. Even enemies from generations past cause hatred and anger to trickle down the generations. There will always be people who try to elevate themselves by looking down on others... for any reason they can find.

I think by "de-emphasizing" our differences, we stifle our collective ability to truly transcend a large percentage of bigotry in the human race. Today, if I suggest something benign like Asians are usually the best at math, or blacks tend to excel the most in highly athletic games, I'm, at the least, toeing the line of 'racism'. This makes no sense to me. We all make assumptions of others when we encounter them. Again-- primal instinct. This initial evaluation of someone is based on what? past experiences. And profiling becomes part of almost anyone's process in that regard. It may not fall neatly along racial/gender/etc lines for many people, but it's based almost exclusively in how someone looks and presents themselves.

There's two options. People become a little less sensitive to the world around them, and... wait for it... toughen up, or we all end up in some weird Orwellian state where out every move is observed to ensure we can't possibly be offending anyone.

I agree differences should never be used to mistreat others. However, as I've said before people are entitled to whatever opinion of you they want to have, ignorant or not. People can dislike one another and still co-exist. This is where the focus needs to be. Not making us all the same.

There are reasons that pertain to i) access to opportunity combined with ii) cultural upbringing which might explain why some groups are underrepresented in higher education (rather than biology). For instance Neil Tyson De Grasse a prominent black astrophysicist stated that in 2011 there were 11 US states there were no black students that took the AP computer science exam. A similar low number of women take this exam across the US. There is no biological evidence that women or black people have a lower levels of intelligence. Research suggests that black Americans have traditionally been discouraged in the education system to take college studies due to the cost of education and influence of largely white teachers in cultural ignorance that their black students are better off getting a job after school. The lack of networking opportunities with other women and lack of support from male peers discourages women from studying math related topics leading to careers in engineering and IT

Last edited by cyberdad on 09 Jul 2016, 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Too much day-tah. Mind hurt. Hulk must smash now.