Colombian Stereotypes

Today whenever you look on the television, mainstream media showcases Haitians in a negative light, resulting to misleading stereotypes and accusations of Haiti and Haitians in general. They always appear to have skin dark as night or that Haitians are the great whisperers of voodoo and dark magic. Majority of their government is corrupt and unjust due to the unfairness of money distributed in the country and poverty rising every year. Most hurtful of them all, is Haitians are poor and live in shacks made out of aluminum sheets and tires held together by the AIDS virus. Even after the unfortunate earthquake that Haiti had encountered in 2010, people were still condemned Haitians and their country, but now with sympathy in their eyes. All

The media in our lives has the strongest impact on our everyday conversations, actions, judgments and perception on society as a whole. Without our modern day technology the world would result to judgments based on their own personal beliefs, not being so easily persuaded by others. The contemporary media portrays Black and Hispanic Americans in numerous positive ways, but more so in a negative light. The stereotypes that these minorities have been given not only affect the community as a whole, but the personal lives of each individual. Although the media can be used for good, the captivating movies, news stories, and documentaries seem to have a negative outcome. The medias focus on Black and Hispanic Americans has not always been bad, but the stereotypes that have developed over the decades shed a negative light on these two racial and ethnic groups.

Being Hispanic is being able to enjoy and demolish your mom’s tamales at Christmas. Being Hispanic is also being able to explain horchata to your friends and watch soccer games with your family. It’s being able to be proud of your culture and roots. However, being Hispanic is living in fear. Being Hispanic means sometimes you don’t know if your parents will come home from work. It’s being petrified that your dad may get pulled over because he is driving without a license. Being Hispanic is seeing your mom come home, tired from a low paying job, because she could not pursue an education. Hispanic means working hard in life to make your parents proud, to make all the looks of discrimination worth it. Being Hispanic is also being told “no” repeatedly,

Drugs and violence are universal. Although not all drugs cause violence some drugs like alcohol, methamphetamine, and crack cocaine do and can have horrible results. Some of the behavior that these drugs can cause are: domestic violence, sexual assault, homicides, and property crimes. Although horrible things do happen people still use them and crimes like these happen too much. This is a social issue because people see this as a norm. This shouldn't be a norm and people need to start realizing that.

The Puerto Rican parrot or "iguaca" (as our Taino Indians called it) is a bright green bird with a red band on the forehead, a white ring around the eye and the blue primary feathers. Juveniles are quite similar to adults. Both females and males are similar and measure about twelve inches.

I do have personal experience with stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. As a Dominican I have been facing stereotypes since I was in middle school in Puerto Rico in the 80’s, people were making jokes , saying that I was an illegal immigrant even thought I migrated from my country with an legal status already established. I was a child so didn’t understand, until I begin watching the news and reading newspapers and realized that I was mistreated by others, because of the stereotype , they believe that I was just another Dominican is coming to Puerto Rico in a boat like some of them did. I was really frustrated that I just adopt the Puerto Rican accent and hide my nationality as much as I could possibly hide.

Cuban Americans are sometimes stereotyped as mostly being anti-Castro militants or extremists and have been described in some media reports, including newspaper editorials, as “crazies” for their aggressive protests. They were also labeled as overly emotional and hyper-violent criminals. Unlike other Latinos, they still have their images of being lazy, submissive, and

“Media stereotypes are inevitable, especially in the advertising, entertainment and news industries, which need as wide an audience as possible to quickly understand information. Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people—usually relating to their class, ethnicity or race, gender, sexual orientation, social role or occupation.”

Popular culture is defined as “a composite of all the values, ideas, symbols, material goods, processes, and understandings that arise from mass media” (Atkins 131). It is well-known to the public and reinforces the way people see they world, including aspects such as race, ethnicity, and gender. According to Omi, popular culture “deals with the symbolic realm of social life, the images which it creates, represents, and disseminates contribute to the overall racial climate” (540). The individuals or groups belong to a specific race can be perceived based on their behavior portrayed by the mass media, instead of being recognized for who they truly are. Such effect created by the popular culture contributes to what is known as “racial stereotype”, which is “beliefs about differences in behavior associated with racial differences” (Jones 982).

Media, one of the most influential reflections of culture, under represents women and displays them in stereotypical positions. Paula Lobo and Rosa Cabecinhas, Professors of Communication at University of Minho, highlight sex-discrimination within the media in

Women of other categories like Asians, Latinas and Native Americans face similar stereotypes to Black women. The two Black women stereotypes that Asians, Latinas and Native Americans can be compared to are the Mammy and Jezebel stereotypes. These stereotypes are either a threat to masculinity or an ideal way to be feminine in the male thought.

What comes across your mind when you think of Latin America? Latin America consists of many different cultures, people with ethnic backgrounds; Mexico, Central America, South America. Latin America has the diversity in its people, and succession has brought along what makes Latin America what it is in modern times. In the article “Latin America: Myth and Reality,” the author mentions that “stereotypes spring from ignorance and bias,” which I think is significantly appropriate to bring up in this conversation (“Latin America” 3). Latin America is united by their differences, and I think most of the stereotypes are disappearing, while people are becoming more educated. But to comprehend what lies behind the mask, we all must disregard labels, and instead appreciate Latin America for who they all are. To mention a few, let’s dive into the article to understand some common stereotypes that someone might have.

Stereotypes have become a prevalent issue in our media. They, without our knowledge, prevent us from moving forward as human. In this essay, I will discuss the effects of stereotypes in media on gender roles, religion, and race.

Stereotypes in our society are not uncommon. We come across them every day without realizing it. It is in our human nature to create expectations of the people around us, which could be based upon their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender or other factors. Stereotypes help us categorize a vast group of people that we may not know anything about, to think that they are smaller and less intimidating. I believe that the blame for these cookie-cutter patterns can lead directly back to the media in every sense of the word. Media is all around us, and affects our opinions and ability to think for ourselves. Whether it’s the latest box office hit or the headlining news, we are getting assumptions from every point of view, which makes it

The judgments we make about people, events or places are based on our own direct impressions. But for most of the knowledge, we rely on media. The media actually re-present the world to us. However, the media only shows us some aspects of the world, ignoring the rest. So basically, the media chooses what is to be shown and what is to be discarded (Andrew Pilkington and Alan Yeo (2009)). . In this essay, I will explain what stereotypes are and primarily give an example of a famous men’s magazine called ‘nuts’ and explain how these stereotypes are created by print and the digital media and what are their impacts on people.