People seem to think that there is a huge amount of stereotyping on television and in mass media in general that is having a bad impact on today’s youth. I believe that stereotyping has its place however. Stereotypes are used for humor and to shorten time needed to develop a character. You can’t blame stereotypes for the lack of positive ethnic role models for children.
Stereotyping can not be blamed for racism or ignorance. If children are only learning about other ethnities and cultures through sitcoms and other noneducational programming, then there’s something wrong. Tolerance and togetherness needs to be taugh by parents and in school. Maybe a child is not racist because he saw an African American working as a janitor on TV but because his parents have raised him to accept that. If parents encourage racism and teach their children to look down on minorities then the stereotypes on TV are only a reinforcement, not a starting point.
Everyone may complain about the negative stereotypes, but what about the positive images shown on TV? There are plenty of programs that show minorities in a postive light. Children can see that minorites can hold high political and corporate positions. There are entire stations devoted to the positive image of minorites such as BET and the Spanish Channel.
People also seem to be forgetting that caucasians are not always shown positively either. There are many sitcoms and comedy shows that portray “whites” as redneck, hick, or just plain stupid. Minorites are not the only ones that are stereotyped. Everyone is generalized on TV, for entertainment sake.
