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Essay on Social Networking: A Modern Day Freak Show

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The carnival grotesque, with its freak shows and abnormal humans, was very popular and controversial back in the late 18th to early 19th century, by then it had matured into a distinct form of entertainment. In the 21st century, has the concept become dated? Has the freak show been revealed for the mistreatment and subjugation of many poor human beings? We live in times where many things that were once discriminated are now accepted and many kinds of people recognized as members of society and although there are instances that would challenge that notion, it is only a minority. This represents the progress mankind has made to understand one another. But has the idea of the freak show been abandoned with this new period? It is unfortunate …show more content…

The social media sites allow us to upload and express our identity. Of course there is debate on insults over Facebook post online, but debaters argue social networking is a new field of communicating there is no social conditioning really to establish how to properly act online compare to how different from how we act in real life. It is also with social media that even when we point out the freak show and in some way degrade the person, it leads to a positive matter. (Observers) For example, the article, “Serious documentary or freak show” depicts a medical professional journey in observing a clan of deformed natives. The clan was being “sensationalize” by providing programming and donations to them for animals rights regardless it is a cartoon. However because of this, the clan got money and medical treatment for themselves (Koppel 325). That is an example of exploiting the deformities; it actually helped the clan despite a loss in privacy and dignity. That is true, that social networking has allowed us to communicate with more people. We are social creatures; we enjoy the company of others but are sometimes limited because of distance situations, language barriers, and even failure to understand one another. Social networking is a concept that has received an upgrade along with society. These upgrades are sites like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and etc. They are the new ways we socialize

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