Social Class and Morality: Media Magnified Classism during Social Unrest Created by Lisa Michelle Cooper Mountain View College, Dallas County College District, this paper is an attempt to explore media coverage based upon social class and morality during periods of social unrest. Does media present the truth or a sensationalized version of these events based upon social class? Is it possible that an area considered affluent is depicted in a different light as an impoverished one?
Money equals power in America and the class system based upon wealth or lack of being one of the main wedges in our society. The rich look down on the poor and the media feeds into this by portraying the poor as statistics and numbers instead of people. This creates
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In biblical times, the book of James speaks on classism
“Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?” (King James Version James 2: 1-6)
There are several references to morality as the Bible is a gauge of good and evil in the lives of countless people. There are numerous passages that touch upon the subject as does Galatians:
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.(Galatians
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This equates to the Ethan Couch, a young man who as a teen killed four innocent people, being excused from punishment as a result of his “affluenza”. He was characterized in the media as a timid, frightened child who did an unacceptable thing. On the other side, is the video of Treyvon Martin, portrayed as a trouble maker while walking in his own neighborhood and suddenly losing his life. Why do so scores of people link social class and morality? Did media play a part in the perception of these two individuals? You be the