Personal Narrative Essay: The Controversy Over Gay Marriage

Media coverage of news events can be disseminated to the general public in any number of different ways and media biases often “reflects certain organizational and/or professional preferences or values” (Bennett 2011, 173). In fact, Lundman (2003) points out “that journalists assess the newsworthiness of homicides occurrences using the relative frequency of particular types of murders and how well specific murder occurrences mesh with stereotypical race and gender typifications (357).” In addition, Johnson (2012) felt that the real job of media was to “create a message that…grabs public attention (62).” In other words, can the media grab the public’s attention and hold it?

“The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights

Being in the twenty-first century, it is almost inevitable to not have media be a major aspect of one's life. With this in mind, the characters that make this possible are the news outlets who are actively present in politics and every detail that occurs within the government. Such news outlets include MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN, who over the past week have reported on the controversy over the deaths of four American soldiers who were killed by Islamic extremists in Niger. Such controversy has been receiving great attention from these news outlets due to the Trump administration delaying any sort of statement towards the attack and fatalities, especially on President Trump, who has not publicly himself said a word on behalf of this causality.

In a very real sense, it is reasonable to argue that the government should have no say at all in the processes of marriage, or decide which adults may or may not legally marry. State and federal governments play a role, of course, in that marriage is a civil union, and provides benefits and legal protections for the couple. Historically, marriage serves the interests of the society by promoting stability and future generations of citizens, and governments usually act in ways to promote this very vital element. At the same time, it is highly questionable whether this governmental authority should have any voice in who chooses to marry, provided those involved are adults and wish to do so. This is in fact, at the heart of the same-sex

The only thing Stryker and I can agree is the old way of public shaming doesn't work. In this day and age, you can't do things like that anymore, as it simply doesn't work. as Stryker says scarlet letters stopped working because with planes, trains and automobiles, if people were being shamed they just left and moved somewhere else. “So we turn instead to public humiliation, an organic form of social control that never went away completely,” (Stryker 2.) The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts a woman pregnant out of wedlock and she gets branded with a red A for adultery, a very clear case of public shaming and humiliation. Like Stryker discuss scarlet letters just don't work anymore. If that happened today (even though it wouldn't) she would just leave town and live somewhere else. So I do agree with Stryker that things like that are a way of the past. Doxxing is the new world of public shaming and it's working. As seen in this story from the Charlottesville riots in august. “Logan Smith, the man behind the Twitter account @YesYoureRacist, began posting photos of alleged white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia—and gained over 300,000 followers in a single weekend, some of whom helped him expose the identities of the protesters. One of the people Smith outed has since been fired

When the ink stopped flowing on the Emancipation Proclamation, black men, women, and children breathed a sigh of relief. But did they rejoice? They couldn’t have, not if they still had to deal with the infinite hate that could force them into cages for people to laugh at. Talk is cheap, so it’s easy for people emphasize the numbers in the phrase, “It’s two-thousand-seventeen, why do we still fight for this?,” but it will never be enough to mask the presence of racism in this age. Not only do stereotype reinforcements exist in the real world, but it thrives in the virtual one; it ranges from Twitter to valid news sites, leaving a trail of crumbs behind it. Patriotic citizens of the United States proudly sing that their country is the “land of the free, and home of the brave,” but how is it that groups of “free” citizens can’t get equal representation in the media? It sure is brave of news sources to hide the good actions minorities take to defeat stereotypes and still sit privileged folk on the throne for doing things those minorities have been doing for centuries. On Twitter especially, it is easy to find news articles

In the article “8 Ways the Media Upholds White Privilege and Demonizes People of Color”, journalist Maisha Z. Johnson compared the media coverage over mass murders like Adam Lanza, to Tamir Rice, a victim of police brutality. 20-year-old Adam Lanza, a well-known mass-murderer who was responsible for the shootings in Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, which killed 20 first-graders and six adults. A headline from a NY Daily News article headlined the story calling Adam Lanza a “deeply disturbed kid”, the article also emphasized that he suffered from mental illnesses and that he had a “tortured mind” (Johnson). Johnson compares this to coverage of Tamir Rice, who was 12 years old when he was killed by police for playing with a toy gun. Johnson gives examples of the media coverage over this issue, calling the 12-year-old a “young man”, and describing him as being big for his age (Johnson). Not only did the article disproportionately represent the age of these two suspects differently, calling a 12-year-old a young man and a 20-year-old a kid, but the media also emphasizes the white suspects possible mental illnesses. This type of bias can have a dangerous effect on the audience they reach. When the media characterizes the victim to be older than he is, it can deceive an audience that the boy was a bigger threat than he was, and that the officer was

Modern America is a land where freedom of speech is valued and glorified, that is, if the speaker has the correct opinion. Thousands of veterans have laid down their lives for this constitutional right, yet the left-winged media has taken advantage of their sacrifice, twisting this liberty to suit their own agenda. Because the media has such an immense impact on culture, this bias has spread to other elements of American life. Liberal partiality is prevalent in schools and the entertainment industry, as well as traditional news outlets.

Anywhere in America today, a newspaper headline or magazine article touts an alleged injustice against an individual based on their race, handicap, religion, or sexuality. Yet the supposed victims of discrimination are sometimes the very people shouting the loudest if they receive the equal treatment they are demanding. If taken on a case-by-case basis, there is certainly bountiful evidence authenticating the practice of impartiality does occur. However, the danger of attempting to placate all by offending none, can destroy every American’s right to free speech. We have become a nation so focused on policing our own thoughts and expressions we bowdlerize their very intent and meaning. Consequently, this

So, to be clear I am not a sexist, racist, homophobic, etc. Hate does not pump in my veins. Entitlement does not stick to my skin. That is not who I am or what I believe is right.

An issue that has become prevalent in the news recently is the unlawful murders of African American citizens by law enforcement. To combat this issue, a group of concerned citizens rose up to demand a change, known as the Black Lives Matter movement. Due to others not clearly understanding the mission, the connotation associated with the movement has turned negative from conservative media. Those participating in the protest for a better justice system have been painted as hoodlums, racist, and disturbers of peace. The news outlets have become biased on the information presented to the public, in fact the updates of the movement have begun to play on the fear of the viewers. The act of rearranging words, and taking one group of

A daily diet of being inundated with anti-America and racially based rhetoric has become the norm. And most disconcerting, it has become socially accepted by the acquiescing masses,The ever growing populace of dumbed-down citizens lacking a sense of self preservation.

Most aspire to be the normal people in life. Went to school, then to college, found a spouse, settled down, have three children, and a white picket fence. We have created this cookie cutter image of perfection but then smashed it down once we feel it has become our owner. Now that we are threatened by an idea that is stereotyped into fitting this image we again try to remove any of its tiny instillations we perceive as “against the will of the people”.

This tells the story of media people all over the world. That no matter how much you broadcast and write about these stories, if no one takes the time to listen, it would all go to waste.

Gay marriage is a very talked about topic in are country that shouldn’t be ignored. I believe men and women should be able to love freely and not be shamed by it. Marriage is a great factor in the United States. To some people it’s what we live for; is to get married and start a family. To not give everyone the same opportunity to have a happy marriage and family is unlike us. This problem is bringing a lot of hate, the same hate that was used in racial discrimination so why not give gays equal rights like everyone else. Andrew Sullivan wrote a article that shares his experiences of coming out and being accepted. When puberty hit he started to realize he wasn’t the same. He knew that his marriage is not going to be the same as his