The HBO series; The Wire (2008) is an excellent show that examines the hardships and troubles that many face while residing in urban areas. The Wire portrays the daily lives of those living in the city of Baltimore, Maryland for what it is. The show does not hide any details of the true issues people face living in this area. The Wire depicts three central themes surrounding urban areas: the drug trade, organizational dysfunction, and the role of the media influencing public views. These three themes can be seen throughout the television show as well as while viewing race and crime as a whole. Drugs seem to be an issue everywhere. Just like alcohol, the drug trade is not a primary issue for one race. Drugs serve a heavy impact to all those involved. Drugs are not just reserved to those that use them, but also to the manufacturers and distributors of the drugs. An excerpt from Anderson (1990) involves a former dealer describing the drug culture. He states, “The way I see it, there’s top dogs, middle dogs, and low dogs. The top dogs are the guys with the money, dudes with the cars…the middle dogs are the ones who sell drugs for the top dogs…and they sell it to the low dogs” (p. 7). However, it does not stop there. Drugs also affect the family and friends of those involved. Many residing within areas centered on drugs often times express feelings of anxiety and fear. Wacquant (2007) states that petty theft, drug use, the resale of stolen goods, vandalism, and alcoholism are the most visible form of delinquency (p. 208). Drugs are not only a problem for older generations, but often times those in younger generations become involved in the drug trade as well. According to Anderson (1990), “Children who become deeply engaged in t... ... middle of paper ... ...themselves and their futures through education. Funding should definitely be more evenly distributed to ensure proper education for those living in both areas. Culture seen in The Wire appears to be correlated with research on organizational dysfunction. Research as well as The Wire depicts politics and the public school system in the same manner. The final theme portrayed within race, crime, and The Wire is the media’s influence on public views. The media plays a large role in influencing the views of the public. What the media decides to air is broadcast to the whole world as what is “right” so discretion should be used in reporting information. Blacks already carry a large stigma for many reasons, however the media should not reinforce this. Anderson (1990) states that many learn to fear minorities based on crimes seen on television as well as in the newspaper.
...cal discourse. It is important that news media are challenged to be fair and accurate. Therefore, racial bias contribute to racist policies, inhuman treatment and indifferent, and murderous attitude that so many black people and other people of color will find themselves as victims. Also, “The Cosby Show” exemplifies that not all black families are poor and uneducated. Although television seems to be more realistic than the shows of the past, we still have a long way to go. It is time for the media stop hanging on to what have been proven to be untrue and outdated stereotypes. The media must stop trying to keep America segregated and racist. Therefore, when watching the news and television shows, viewers must keep in mind that these are just stereotypes. The African-American people and other people of color are really not much different from anyone else.
Viewers of the show Cops are victims of the shows ideas, their perception of what happens in the show vs reality becomes altered and molded into what the show wants one to see. Ideas that one pick up from the show are things like cops always being the winners and the majority of criminal’s being uneducated drug addicts, which, majority of them happen to be African American. Although viewers may not realize the ideas that the show is planting in their heads, the viewers unknowingly receive the message. By using Gerber’s Cultivation theory, the process of how the show Cops reshapes conceptions of criminals and cops in reality to its viewers illustrates the effects that the show has on heavy and light users, how they become affected by the mean world syndrome, and the long term affects that the show has on its viewers.
Racism and discrimination continue to be a prevalent problem in American society. Although minorities have made significant strides toward autonomy and equality, the images in media, specifically television, continue to misrepresent and manipulate the public opinion of blacks. It is no longer a blatant practice upheld by the law and celebrated with hangings and beatings, but instead it is a subtle practice that is perceived in the entertainment and media industries. Whether it’s appearing in disparaging roles or being negatively portrayed in newscasts, blacks continue to be the victims of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the majority. The viscous cycle that is the unconscious racism of the media continues to not only be detrimental to the white consumers, who base what they know about blacks by what is represented in television, but also the black consumers, who grow up with a false sense of identity.
The Wire is a HBO series written and produced by David Simon. It is a crime series based in Baltimore, Maryland which first aired in 2002. The show highlights Baltimore’s war on drugs and the war between elected officials. The show begins with an inside look at different scenes within the season and then a quote from one of the characters. The Wire portrays the true crimes that are occurring in many societies today. The constant struggle between police officers and the drug dealers that run the streets in The Wire, is still a major problem. “Many urban communities are now besieged by illegal drugs. Fears of gang violence and muggings keep frightened residents at home” (Moore, 1). Because citizens are afraid, they will not testify against these criminals, making it even harder to convict them. The community in The Wire was afraid of testifying against the drug dealers because they feared for their life.
The exposure of drug use and its influence is distinct between the age groups of those in their early childhood, middle, adolescent and adult years. In the early years of childhood, it is essential to keep clear of anything related to drugs since it can affect an individual’s learning, mental health and behaviour throughout their lifetime. The period of adolescence is probably the most sensitive one as behaviour during these years is highly predictive of later drug abuse (Guo J, Hawkins JD, Hill KG, Abbott RD. Childhood and adolescent predictors of alcohol abuse and dependence in young adulthood. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2001;62(6):754-762.). This may be because they spend more time with their peers as well as being prone to hormonal changes, shift in sleep cycle and their cognitive maturation is still developing (Source: Tarter RE. Etiology of adolescent substance abuse: a developmental perspective. American Journal on Addictions 2002; 11:171-191.) The combination of factors highlights the importance of harm reduction at this time. Even though drugs and its abuse is most likely to be prevailed through an individual’s lifetime, their age, especially their early childhood experiences, significantly impacts this
During the past several years, there has been a renewed national concern about drug abuse, culminating in the current "war on drugs." In this review, we emphasize that even though child or teenage drug use is an individual behavior, it is embedded in a sociocultural context that strongly determines its character and manifestations. Our focus is on psychoactive substances both licit (cigarettes and alcohol) and illicit (e.g., cannabis and cocaine). We feel that it is critical to draw a distinction between use and abuse of drugs and to do so from a multidimensional perspective that includes aspects of the stimulus (drug), organism (individual), response, and consequences. Our selective review of substance use and abuse among children and adolescents covers epidemiology (patterns and extent of drug use), etiology (what generates substance use), prevention (how to limit drug use), treatment (interventions with drug users), and consequences (effects and outcomes of youthful drug use).
Drugs within our communities pose a severe threat to our society as a whole. The United States is full of people who are unsatisfied with their lives, jobs, finances, and relationships; furthermore, they turn to drugs. A lot of people “coat their problems with powder’, because they don’t know how to cope with the issues and stress that life throws at them. They consider drugs to be a “victimless crime”, and tend to think that they are not hurting anyone by doing them. They believe that it should be their choice in what they do with their body, and with their life.
In today’s society, teens are a common target of anti-drug campaigns and government advertisements. The goal of these campaigns is to make teens and young adults aware of the dangers associated with drug use. While these campaigns are generally effective, teens are still greatly tempted by the dangerous, exciting, and fast-paced world of club drugs. Despite the information they are constantly receiving from their teachers, parents, and government media, some teenagers will still adamantly pursue drugs in hopes of finding “a good time.”
Misconceptions created by media over sensational crimes also deal greatly with race, as much of the reported crime in recent news does. Sensational crimes reported in the news are exaggerated forms of reality, the worst situation that could possibly happen. The public assumes because this is what is presented to them that these crimes are happening as often as they do on the news, perhaps even more. The public assumes that because murder, even multiple murders, occur in every crime show episode that big cities must be full of killers and dead bodies are everywhere. It is not just news and media outlets reporting crime in the real world. Crime is everywhere, including fictitious items such as a best selling book, the top rated television show. Crime is not just on the front page of every paper, and every night on the six o’clock news, it is engrained in our entertainment as well. However, this blatant yellow journalism with the motto, “if it bleeds, it leads” was only created because the public is more interested in such stories of violence, gore, inhumanity, police triumph, and errors. The public wants to hear about what the real crime is to compare to the fictitious nature of shows, books, movies, and more. Such as previously stated, a serial killer is more interesting than a purse snatcher to the general public looking for entertainment. Small crimes, petty crimes, even unsuccessful crimes are not worthy of news coverage because it does not hold a candle to the elaborate schemes and gore of crime television. Sensational crimes like murders get more attention from the public but are much less likely to occur than the common domestic violence call. Dubbed “Tabloid Justice”, the act of reporting crimes for entertainment is prevalent, and often details are dissected and analyzed by all forms of media in a
Do Not Do Drugs!!!! Drugs are bad, drugs will ruin your life, only criminals’ use drugs, drug addicts are worthless—these are thoughts that are ingrained into American society, giving rise to the War on Drugs. Drugs are in every society and neighborhood in America, but the justice system keeps this hidden from view, disguising it through racial and social status profiling. The rate of incarcerations for non-violent crimes, mainly due to the War on Drugs that was implicated in the Nixon Era, has soared immensely over the last decade. The justice system, that was established to protect and serve the public society, emerged with the War on Drugs: an effort to control illicit drugs through incarcerating those for sales, distribution, and use
As Wilson defends children in the womb, the ones outside in the world viewing the drug abuse are also to be concerned about. Nadelmann assumes that children are only a small part of the minority who will end up harming themselves with drugs when in reality they are the most common victims of carless drug addicts. Children are taught in school to avoid using harmful drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, and with legalizing cocaine and marijuana there would have to be a new introduction of the effects of these drugs. “Unlike tobacco, cocaine will not give you cancer or emphysema, but it will lead you neglect your duties to family, job, and neigh...
The National Crime Prevention Councils explains that, “Teenagers often don 't see the link between their actions today and the consequences tomorrow. They also have a tendency to feel indestructible and immune to the problems that others experience” (NCPC, 2013, para. 5). Many people believe that a child’s parents are the line of defense at preventing the encounter of drugs. However, this is what has lead to so many teen experimentations. While the parents are not knowledgeable enough of what is new in today’s generation, teens are more easily able to get their hands on what they want. Therefore, the parents are not entirely to blame, although teens need more awareness other than a pep
Juveniles have been using drugs for as long as they’ve been available. High school drug use was the highest between 1975 and 1980 (2). A study by Lee Robins states that alcohol drinking levels and marijuana usage can be indicators to how likely juveniles are at risk for more serious drug usage (3). Historical statistics show that drug usage was higher in the past than it currently is. During the late 70’s, juvenile drug usage, in high school, peaked at its highest, at about 55% (2). This shows that drug
According to the poll conducted among schoolchildren in 2006, 45 percent of junior pupils have used drugs once in their life, 5-8 percent of schoolchildren regularly use drugs. Also most teenagers use “light” drugs like marijuana. The first reason of the drug abuse among teenagers might be changes in family circumstance. It can include parents’ lack of supervision. As (Barber1996) states, lack of family supervision over the child can be a cause of his/her drug abuse, meaning that if parents do not have proper correction, the child can be open to drug practice. Also, (Cassidy 1999) states that if parents give children an opportunity to do whatever they want especially in such critical teen age, it will...
For those of us located within the United States, we often take or granted the nornal day to day business operations. Though the United States has a mix of several distict cultures, most companies operate in the same manner. In fact, Americans often make the mistake of assuming that standard business models are the norm in other countries as well. For the corporate executive charged with creating an overseas operation, lack of local culture understanding and its influence on business methods will most likely result in greater start-up dificulties if not complete faliure.