Stereotypes in the news

Recently in Canadian news a story aired about an indigenous person listening to the staff and doctor of the hospital he was staying in talk badly about him. It is unfortunate that he had to listen to people talk badly about him for simply being a indigenous person but these remarks from the staff are likely fueled by stereotypes that go along with indigenous people.

Stereotypes have been around since the beginning of time and based around how people behave and on limited information on a small minority. For example, A person who has a beard is walking down the street intoxicated and another person walks past them and notices this persons bad behavior. That person then assumes that all men who have beards might be drunk all the time and therefor will form a stereotype against him and other men who have beards that they are drunk all the time. This is a wrong way of thinking based off of one encounter the person judging the man with the beard does not know him personally or what is going on in this person's life.

Stereotypes can also have an impact on the jobs you are able to apply for using the made up example of the man with the beard his employment opportunities could become limited. He would also be exposed to the harassment of his co-workers who would talk behind his back and question why he was hired in the first place from the thought that all men with beard's are drunk all the time. This relates to the story of the indigenous person who experienced harassment from those taking care of them from their own prejudices.

All people have some sort of prejudice and opinion against something as you can argue that it is a part of human nature. A research paper suggests that this is part of the human psychology and is used to make quick choices through the use of little amounts of information and your views that relate to your particular thought about the subject. To correct this problem the research also suggests that meeting a person from the stereotyped group and forming a close relationship with him or her could help reduce the stereotypical nature that people have.

Now relating back to the news depending on which news channel you follow they too can follow the stereotypical norms of society and can even lead to a worse situation. A recent example comes to mind around the discovery of unmarked graves across Canada at residential schools that were typically run by the Catholic Church and also funded by the federal government. The spreading of this news through the media has caused some people to develop a prejudice against the Catholic church and has lead to lighting some historic Catholic Churches on fire. This of course is a wrong way of thinking in that not all Catholic's are bad and wrong because that church is a piece of Canada's history even if it played a role in the darkest parts.

I think change needs to be done in this nation and the government needs to understand that when news spreads in the media depending on the views of the people who watch it they may take action in frustration. The best solution that I can think of to attempt to prevent this from happening instead of silencing the media is to introduce legislation to require news broadcasters to put disclaimers on reports about controversial issues. The government should also take a firm stance and make clear they will take action against those who would retaliate from the news story because people who were not involved should suffer from the actions of a tiny minority. We should also not be quick to generalize and stereotype people based on the action that we have witnessed from one person or just from one incident.