Final Project: Cultural Killers

The biggest issue I have with discrimination and stereotyping is how effective our culture is with swaying a particular view on a person. You see this all the time when you see black people, Asians, and Mexicans. We all know the stereotypes, Mexicans just cut laws, Asians are really smart and know karate, and black people rob and can’t be trusted. You also see it with jobs and social standings. CEO’s are white males, janitors are foreigners, Marines are the toughest guys around, and every cop has a handle-bar mustache on his upper lip. But why do we do this? How in the world did we come to these universal stereotypes of different races, sexes, and standings? We expect men to have 6-pack abs, and be these tough jock-type “American” boys as they are growing up and we expect women to be pretty and proper and weigh about 115 pounds, without an ounce of fat on their bodies. But what happens when they are not that? As society we look down on people more and more the further they get away from our societal “norms”. We constantly embrace similarities and turn down any differences. We humiliate them with words and actions, and we go out of our ways to put them down. And this is all because they are not like us.

What happens when these out casts fight back? What happens when they are fed up with being pushed aside? Day in and day out we see news feeds about school shootings, suicides, and eating disorders, and we all say it to ourselves; why would anyone do such a thing? Why would someone kill themselves or other “innocent” people? Why do people starve themselves or throw up after every meal? The answer is obvious. They are fed up with society making them feel down on the way they look or act. They are angry with the way they are, not because they don’t like it, but because society and our culture forces them to believe they are freaks, geeks, and all sorts of negative things.

I read a GQ article that spoke of 3 ex-marines who have become suicidal due to these kinds of pressures. The article talked about how the marine corp. tries to break the men during training and build them up to be better men. However, these men have suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and feel as if they have failed as marines. They believe they failed because “when you earn the title Marine, the expectations of toughness are inherited” (Dobie, 174). These men suffered a disease and felt as if it was their own fault for failing because they were not tough enough. This caused the 3 marines to attempt suicide on multiple occasions.

How sad is this world? How pathetic are we that we need to bash others to feel good about ourselves? My project is about the struggles we face, especially that women face due to societal impacts. The presentation is a music video showing suffering, primarily to women. However, the second half of the presentation shows how we have come a long way and how there is help out there for all types of people. The music plays along to the purpose of the presentation, Adam Lambert – Mad World, is the first song to help touch on how messed up this world can be, and Matisyahu – One Day, is the second song to help emphasize that one day all this hate may be diminished and we may go on living peaceful lives.