Minorities and streotype Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Minorities and streotype - Research Paper Example The media has come under scrutiny for propagating a less than ideal portrayal of minorities in the country through their sitcoms, big screen movies, and newscasts. Television provides a ready stream of racial stereotypes that reinforce audiences’ perceptions about minority groups such as Latin-Americans, Asian Americans, and African Americans (Fuligni 43). A look at the character of Rajesh Koothrappali in the popular American Television show ‘the big bang theory’ represents a form of Asian American stereotyping. In the show, Rajesh Koothrappali gets portrayed as nerdy and socially dysfunctional. Koothrappali is so socially dysfunctional that he is unable to speak when in the company of women, even attractive ones. He is portrayed as being socially awkward and focused on his education endeavors. Further stereotyping of Koothrappali gets witnessed whenever he gets to meet any woman and the first question they ask him is if he is capable of speaking English. Koothrap pali’s parents also get portrayed as conservative and strict in the show. They nag him about marriage and they even go ahead to select for him several girls he should get to marry back in India. Further stereotyping gets portrayed through Koothrapali’s geeky and technological nature. Historically, Asian Americans frequently get typified as foreigners in television shows and Hollywood films. This minority group gets portrayed as performing mysterious customs and speaking broken English. The stereotypes of Asian Americans also get gender specific. Asian women get portrayed as dangerous or domineering women who are attractive sexually but also immoral. In war films, Asian women become portrayed as sex workers or prostitutes. In the media, Asian American men get personified as math whizzes, geeks, technologically ardent, and as non-masculine. Asian American men also get portrayed as domineering over their families and chauvinistic. A general stereotype of Asian Americans a lso portrays them as mostly doctors, engineers, or business persons (Fuligni 47). They also get portrayed as lacking fashion sense and thus dress conservatively. They often get portrayed as wearing non classy and ordinary clothing all the time. The media also portrays this minority group as looking almost identical and similar. This stereotype largely gets applied to East Asians of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and even of Indian descent. Lastly, Asians also get stereotyped as poor to the western world audience. The image portrayal of the character of Koothrappalli on the ‘big bang theory’ serves to maintain current stereotypes of Asian Americans. Koothrappali gets presented as part of the geek community in the comedy show. Together with his three scientist friends, he gets portrayed as a nerd and genius. Furthermore, he gets typified as socially awkward as he is unable to hold a conversation with women unless he gets drunk. Among his three scientist friends he is the only one who lacks a girlfriend too. His parents also get shown as conservative. In various episodes of the show, they get shown as insistent on him to get married to an Indian girl in keeping with their customs and traditions. His father appears to have the final say in most conversation between him and his mother too. The show also portrays Koothrappali as having a deep Indian accent whenever he speaks English. He becomes a constant target of ridicule among his friends about his friends who joke at him about his accent. His inability to speak to

Marijuana should be legalized or not Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Marijuana should be legalized or not - Essay Example It is very hard for authorities to reprimand a person for behavior that injures or harms only himself or herself (Clifford 23-26). According to philosophy, current regulation on drugs is unjustified and that some drugs such as marijuana that have been made illegal are treated like alcohol or tobacco. Marijuana should not be legalized despite the ethical implications associated with its use. Body The use of marijuana will lead to increased organized crime rates, corrupt governments, increased violence, and economic markets distortions. The social, economic, and political effects that substance abuse has had on the entire society are self-evident. For instance, a substantial number of Americans who succumb due to drug-related complications has soared. Direct health care costs have also increased to large extents. Besides, substance abuse cost Americans billions of dollars annually. Further, there is Low productivity in the U.S due to morbidity, which has adversely affected the American economy (Boschert 29). Drug- related crimes are the order of the day in U.S in that crime rate has tremendously heightened. Consequently, crime and law enforcement costs have been on the rise due to increases in use of illegal use of marijuana. This has invoked the American government to tighten up its belt in the fight against illicit drug and substance abuse. Psychoactive drugs have been incorporated in social events such as celebrations, religious ceremonies, and rites of passage. When discussing the issue of recreational drugs, it is sensible to talk about the harm associated with these drugs (Sabet 2009). Marijuana can be taken on regular basis with no ill basis but long-term exposure and intake of drugs is harmful. Majority of people die from drug induced causes such as organ damage, heart attack, and even overdose. In addition, there are some healths risks associated with marijuana drugs such as sexually transmitted diseases that arise from poor precautionary judgment. Apart from the self-inflicted harm, there is harm that is caused to others in society such as increased crime rate from users who cannot control their system since drugs consumed inhibits their legitimate decisions (Kilmer 39-42). Theft and muggings are commonly associated with addiction and women who are under the influence of drugs would engage in prostitution without their own convictions to do so. Children born in families where parents are drug user’s end up homeless while family resources are depleted. The idea of selling and using marijuana has both legal and moral issues. On one hand, if the government legalized the use of marijuana in society, we can deduce whether application of marijuana is immoral or not. If the law allows an individual to engage or do certain things, it does not mean that the person should do it. On the other hand, even if the use of marijuana is not morally acceptable we can question ourselves whether the use of such drugs is illegal or not. The law has many flaws in that it allows us to do many things that are immoral such as saying lies to other people (Boschert 32-34). The whole purpose and motive of marijuana is for the pleasure that they produce to the user. Search for pleasure comes natural to us as human beings. It is human nature that people are pleasure seeking and what makes life enjoyable is in pleasure of larger variety. There are pleasures in food, drugs, or romance. This way brain chemistry