The Ritual View Of Racial Profiling In The Media

274 Words2 Pages
All Men Are Created Equal? “All men are created equal,” but in today’s media racial disparities are still prevalent. Great lengths have been taken to overcome racial differences in images and ideas. These images are discriminatory and are around every corner. Whether one turns on the television, reads the newspaper, or notices a park bench, ethnic minorities are the prime focus of crime related ads. Ethnic Minorities are played off as the villain. These ads vilify ethnic minorities and help promote racial inequality in today’s ever increasing media circle. "Racial Profiling" refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin, as defined by the American Civil Liberties Union. Racial profiling is only continued by the racial stereotypes that are portrayed in the media today.…show more content…
Henry focuses on how the way that the American public views the problem of racial profiling. The “ritual view” is defined as The ritual view suggests that when reading or viewing the news, individuals’ conceptions are not altered nor do they gain new understandings of the world, thus when reading the newspaper individuals continue to reaffirm their conceptions of minorities as criminals rather than changing it.” Racial profiling is intertwined with ideologies, social roles and the perpetuation of these ideas over time. The ritual view helps emphasize how communication rituals serve, create, and reinforce shared ideas and beliefs. The ritual view is essential in understanding a particular
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