Minorities

Learning about the different models and views of minorites in the media realy made me think about the world around me and what I've done to shape it.
I agree with schema theory and stereotyping, in that people tend to view others in a certain unfamiliar group almost the same. If you've only met a few people from Brazil and they were all good at martial arts, then you might develope a stereotype that people from Brazil are good at martial arts. This, of course, isn't true, but this is the way that some view people in the media.
The media spits out the images of black people being ignorant criminals, Mexicans as being illegal imigrants not willing to learn English and white people as...what? White people tend to be in all aspects of the media, but they aren't put in a constant bad light as other races are.
This is why I agree mostly with the newer theory that asks us "What do people do with the media?" I believe that the media is biased, but it's what people do with the "biased" information that matters. There may be a black woman wanted for a dangerous crime. The importance of the situation isn't that she's black or that a white woman may not of had such a loud outcry, but that people know that they're in danger. True, the media shouldn't choose how we view groups of people...but it does. If we don't like the media, we should change it, but first we can take what the media gives us and decipher it into useful information.