Words Vs. Emotions

This week’s reading did not have a whole lot of interesting things that stuck out to me, but one passage that did came on page 209. “‘Anger’ can be thought of as a surrogate term for ‘violent’ or as a precursor to violence. More television airtime goes to black leaders when they use angry rhetoric. This also true of local television news coverage, which includes a lot of angry sound bites uttered by African Americans. In contrast, white leaders are rarely shown shouting.” This quote exemplifies the media’s ability to turn one’s emotion into a stereotype. These individuals are trying to push for some sort of a change because they feel passionately about some issue, generally speaking. The media then picks up this story, plays the race game, and uses ethnicity against the candidate in order to frame a particular story which in this instance provokes the image of the “angry black man”. Yet Larson has not made this connection, She simply states that there is media, and there are minorities in the media so therefore there must be stereotyping of minorities in the media even though “No systematic content analyses have been performed to document racial stereotyping of black candidates in the media….” (208) Emotions are the bridge that creates stereotypes. To use a more current example, when President Obama makes speeches, his thumb and index finger are pushed together in a pointed fashion while the rest of his fingers close to make a fist-like structure. This hand shape is used to emphasize his points while he speaks and to create that sense of passion behind the meaning of his words. However, that symbol is also deliberately done because it is seen is a non-aggressive gesture and distinctly different than the closed fist which has a loaded connotation and close resemblance to black power movements. President Obama’s hand gestures mimic the emotions mirrored in the media because of his mixed heritage his raised “fist” is reminiscent of minority empowerment so the media is drawn to anticipation of “what might be" while the openness of the fingers suggest an openness of communication or a willingness to work with others like a good “model minority” which the media love to exploit.