How Does the Media Portray the Poor?
How Does the Media Really Portray the Poor?
For as long as there have been media, there have been incorrect portrayals of different subjects, for instance, what the perfect body image may look like, what beauty truly is, what happiness consists of, etc. But there is one not so popular subject that is constantly portrayed incorrectly by the media, and that subject is the lower or “working” class, more commonly known as “the poor.” The different medias that society is exposed to usually show poor people being lazy, dirty and homeless, having no morals or goals for themselves, are often uneducated, and are deadbeat drug addicts or alcoholics. The truth is, according to author, Bell Hooks, who wrote the article, Seeing and Making
Culture: Representing the Poor, “Value was connected to integrity, to being honest and hardworking. One could be hardworking and still be poor” (Hooks pg 433). People who are of the lower class are probably more hard working and dedicated to their families than people who are apart of the middle and upper classes because they have to constantly battle to provide for their families and for themselves, whereas people of higher classes do not have to struggle as hard because they are not constantly worrying about whether or not they can afford to pay the monthly electric bill or to go grocery shopping the following week. But no matter how hard a person of the lower class works, they never seem to find the light at the end of the tunnel, where money and finances will come easier and more abundantly for them. A poor person is not typically a drug addict
or an alcoholic, but is rather the provider of one’s family who has lost his or her job and now must make the sacrifice of downgrading to a lifestyle that their family is not used to living. People that are poor did not choose to be labeled as such. Yes, there are situations where a poor person may wind up homeless, but “poor” does not usually mean one goes without having a
For as long as there have been media, there have been incorrect portrayals of different subjects, for instance, what the perfect body image may look like, what beauty truly is, what happiness consists of, etc. But there is one not so popular subject that is constantly portrayed incorrectly by the media, and that subject is the lower or “working” class, more commonly known as “the poor.” The different medias that society is exposed to usually show poor people being lazy, dirty and homeless, having no morals or goals for themselves, are often uneducated, and are deadbeat drug addicts or alcoholics. The truth is, according to author, Bell Hooks, who wrote the article, Seeing and Making
Culture: Representing the Poor, “Value was connected to integrity, to being honest and hardworking. One could be hardworking and still be poor” (Hooks pg 433). People who are of the lower class are probably more hard working and dedicated to their families than people who are apart of the middle and upper classes because they have to constantly battle to provide for their families and for themselves, whereas people of higher classes do not have to struggle as hard because they are not constantly worrying about whether or not they can afford to pay the monthly electric bill or to go grocery shopping the following week. But no matter how hard a person of the lower class works, they never seem to find the light at the end of the tunnel, where money and finances will come easier and more abundantly for them. A poor person is not typically a drug addict
or an alcoholic, but is rather the provider of one’s family who has lost his or her job and now must make the sacrifice of downgrading to a lifestyle that their family is not used to living. People that are poor did not choose to be labeled as such. Yes, there are situations where a poor person may wind up homeless, but “poor” does not usually mean one goes without having a
Cited: Hooks, Bell. “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor.” from Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader. Ed. Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008, 2nd ed. 431-437. Watkins, Craig S. “From Young and the Digital” from Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader. Ed. Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008, 2nd ed. 505-515.