The problem with the modern media is they do not have a sense of social justice.
Do you agree?



According to wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, social justice refers to conceptions of a just society, where "justice" refers to more than just the administration of laws. Modern media refers to the means of media that is offered to the world now. It is now in the form of radio, television, newspapers. Every one of us will definitely be in contact with such devices of media. Modern media has impacted us one way or another whether we like it or not. The modern media has no doubt helped us in knowing more about the rest of the world and has high entertainment value, but it seems to be providing entertainment at the expense of social justice.

One good example about modern media not having a sense of social justice is movies. There is the stereotype of Asians seen across as eccentric, mad characters. In the chick flick, Freaky Friday, that starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. It is about the mother and daughter changing bodies for to step into each other’s shoes literally. The person that caused this whole incident was an Asian, the mother of Pei-Pei, the owner of the Chinese restaurant that they frequent, who is a meddlesome being. This stereotyping of Asians is one fine example of modern media not having a social justice. Just simply for comic relief, they are able to mock at one’s race. This might start off small, but it might have sparked a series of confrontations between races, causing a breakdown in diplomatic ties within countries and that the world would not be at peace anymore. Another kind of stereotype, is that the main character of the show has to be pretty, gorgeous, skinny and of course, white. In a study of prime time TV and daytime TV, roles for older men outnumbered those for older women, women are made older sooner, and an older woman who is cast is more likely than an older man to be stereotyped as bad, or "evil."

Another example of modern media not having a sense of social justice is how they portray a non-realistic and unhealthy body image of women on advertisements and television shows. Many actresses, pop stars and fashion models are seriously underweight, having a Body Mass Index of less than 16 which falls under the category of severely underweight. Many diet and smoke to keep their natural weight off, this is extremely unhealthy and it affects other young girls. To be like their idols, many girls suffer from eating disorders to lose weight. Eating disorders like anorexic and bulimic may take one’s life, or even cause damaging effects on the patient. Some young girls might even take it further by going for plastic surgery to be more like their super skinny models. Celebrities are also walking advertisements to plastic surgery. Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore, Mariah Carey are just some examples.

Lastly, it is the amount of violence being shown on television. Just to increase profits and the number of people watching, they can actually not think about how much harm they can cause to someone else. Media violence is exceptionally harmful to young children under eight as they are unable to differentiate between reality and fantansy. This might potentially lead them into becoming anti-social, aggressive. Similarly, making them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence and increasing their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life. Thus, affecting them for life.

Therefore, I do agree that the problem with modern media is that they do not have a sense of social justice, all that they are thinking of is profits, increase ratings. Are these that important as till one might actually forgo simple moral values and willing to put society at risk?

http://crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/mediainfluence.htm
http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Corporations/Ads.asp
http://www.pbs.org/perfectillusions/eatingdisorders/preventing_media.html