Mass media and popular culture are greatly influenced by the organizations and people in power in the United States and beyond. While there are some laws against monopolization in place, there are no laws against a single organization becoming immensely wealthy and using that wealth to promote their media in a way that bulldozes over other smaller organizations or individuals. “We live in a world saturated with media. We see our reality through them. But these are not transparent opportunities. They involve the workings of power,” Stuart Hall – Race, Gender, Class in the Media said. It takes another level of reflection to realize that the reality one lives in is greatly curated by the media one consumes.
If one’s media consumption is primarily coming from one or a few sources, and if those sources are predominant because they are excessively wealthy, the media that one is consuming may be wrought with unspoken or ulterior motives. The ways that media is used to push narratives regarding frequently contested subjects like race, religion and sexuality are potentially dangerous to the beliefs and understanding of the world that individuals have, causing bigotry and hate. People must be able to critically think to be able to escape the mental traps that false information in media can be for those who are ignorant to greater understandings of society, culture, life and reality.
The term media literacy, which was coined to further define critical thinking skills in regard to media, has only been talked about on a larger scale in the last fifty years and has only been largely taught since the 1990s. There have been living examples of the negative effects that media can have on different subjects throughout the centuries. At one point or another, the media has grossly degraded women, BIPOC people, disabled people, and LGBTQ+ people, just to name a few. Here in Humboldt County, there is plenty of people possessing these fanatical beliefs. In Ferndale, CA, there is a priest who has chosen hate and ignorance. In the Lost Coast Outpost, Pastor Tyrel Bramwell was quoted saying that “drag shows represent a ‘rejection of God’s order,’ namely that there are only two genders, male and female.”
When there is hate being pushed as the narrative in these instances, there are going to be some who are ignorant enough to eat it up and take it upon themselves to do harm toward one or more of these communities. They may try to frame it as something good they are doing for the sake of someone else, when in fact they are likely being hateful and inappropriate. If you live in the illusion that racism, homophobia, or misogyny is dead and gone I am sorry to say that is incorrect and it is alive and well. That means the right to individual identity and respect must be continuously fought for with strength.
The horrible truth is there are many people in this country and beyond who have one or more of these abhorrent traits and have no appropriate shame in rearing their bigotry-filled heads whenever they see fit. It is up to each person to stand up for people being themselves. “I’m a political drag queen. We all are. You have to be ready to protest the racism and the ignorance, and combat the legislation sometimes,” Fantasia said in Drag Queens Fight Back Against Armed Protestors. People should always be allowed to do whatever they want as long as they are not hurting anyone or anything.
Unfortunately, some disagree about what is “not hurting anyone.” My greatest hope is that people feel empowered and motivated enough to educate themselves on topics that for some reason may make them uncomfortable and to have an open mind and a growth mindset. Everyone deserves to have the space to be themselves and not be categorized. Hate does nothing good for society and it is unfortunate that popular culture and mass media push subliminal messages that promote such discriminatory narratives. Sometimes these narratives are explicit as well, but it is much easier to sway a large number of individuals by sneaking such messaging into their daily media consumption in a way that makes them potentially think that they came to the idea all on their own than being blatantly prejudiced.
Ruby Cayenne 