How does the media influence your perception of different cultures and groups?

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To be honest. I don't really get my opinion directed by what the media shows. e.g. the media would show an image of an anarexic girl and present her to the public as someone who was beutiful. girls would see this from an early age while they are of the age of easy influence and will suffer to try to attain what they see in media. many of these problems are things they would not and should not need to go through, but because their perception of beuty is altered by an industry. they ebcome unsure of themselves.

The same goes for different cultures. my answer may not be what your looking for but, i got absolutely no problem with any other culture. they are all interesting. im a mix of quite a few different cultures and im thankful for that. i can understand from different viewpoints and i dont really have the mentality to just look at someone and make a judgement without knowing whats deeper. i know from what iv observed that its not a good idea to form an understanding based on what is seen in media. i prefer to figure my own things out. one of the things i find rather demeaning is how the media has brought about a definition of "acting white" and "acting black". is this really a good thing. people who are black do not want to "act white" by which the media portrays as getting an education. this is stupid, and white people do not want to "act black" by which means living out of a hood in general. all these media portrayals are what is the cause of so much racism and hurt amongst people. id rather not pay any attention to them. a race is not a behaviour. i behave my own way.
i view other cultures of countries as interestign to me, but i take what i hear and try to find out the truth in it. the media just presents at image to me. im the one to make the judgement on what it is.
Good luck and God Bless...Show more

I grew up in Toronto and because of that I’ve been exposed to so many different cultural backgrounds that it would take some pretty heavy media influences for me to buy into any racial stereotype.

That being said, before I visited the US myself I would say 70% of what I knew came from the media and consequently not all of my views were positive. It wasn’t completely unfounded though. I did come across a few characters that were sooo dead on (based on what I was used to seeing on tv) that I could’ve sworn they weren’t for real. Overall I try to remind myself that these are merely generalizations that do not apply to everyone....Show more

I was raised amongst many different cultures in my neighborhood in California so the media had no real influence on my perception. Couple that with the fact that my parents did not let us sit on our behinds all day watching television. We actually played outside, imagine that.

The media can be evil....Show more

I don't believe anyone should use the media as an excuse to not expose themselves to other cultures or elasticities of people. There comes a time when you grow up and have to be responsible for your own actions and how you interact with other people. If you use the media as a scapegoat then you are incredibly ignorant.

And if you choose to only associate with people with lower character calibur, then that's your own fault regardless of what race they are....Show more

This is an excellent question.

People who live in isolated, homogenous areas (like say rural farmers) - the only exposure they might have to the outside world is through their TV's or print media. How they see other groups may become very shaped by what the media puts forth. And unfortunately, that often includes negative stereotypes - like if they constantly see blacks as criminals...Show more