Frames of Reference, Constructed Reality, and Stereotyping...

I found last weeks class conversation to be pretty interesting, for it tied in with some things that I had learned quite sometime ago in "Intro to Sociology." Something that has stayed with me is the concept of "Constructed Reality" and the "Five Agents of Socialization." These five agents refer to the five main areas of influence that change and affect how we view the rest of the world; these include influences from the Media, Family, Friends, School, and Special Interest Groups. These all come together and help us create a sort of frame of reference for not only ourselves but for the rest of the world, called a constructed reality. Within the framework of our constructed reality we generate stereotypes, these help us sort of build a basis for understanding the rest of the world. So we can assume that through our experiences (and the theory of the five agents of socialization) we generate our stereotypes... so when someone in class mentions "Chinese-men" several things jump to mind. First of which is the Asian Bistro that opened up in the bottom floor of my building which holds a sign out front that says "We Open." Secondly probably is a flood of Jackie Chan movies sadly... I think its good to recognize that stereotypes shouldn't only be considered a bad thing, it's just our mind's way of being able to attempt to understand the world around us (through our experiences), prejudices born out of stereotypes are the bad stuff.

Anyways bringing it back to class conversation, I thought this whole "Cloned Meat" was a really odd concept. The ideals of "organic" meat and vegetables confused me for quite sometime... I grew up on a farm, a beef farm no less so I grew up on home grown meat and neighborhood's vegetables. So the thoughts of artificial this and artificial that had never really crossed my mind growing up, and is a relatively a new concept for me. The idea of cloned meat gives me mixed feelings... on one hand what's the big deal? It's essentially the same animal, over and over again and as long as these artificial additives aren't being added then what's the big deal? What bothers me is the ideal of not only cultural and ideological hegemony, but also with the food we eat too? Genetically and quite literally we'd be eating the same foods over and over again... just feels odd doesn't it? Yet I'm generating all of these opinions from my experiences and through the lens of my constructed reality...

So when I'm reading chapter 16 of Ron Smith's "Ethics in Journalism," and Smith discusses the ethical dilemmas between the business aspects of a news studio and it's responsibilities for keeping the public fully informed, I get really concerned... After thinking about I've just discussed with constructed reality, is it not essential that we receive the whole news and have it not filtered by monetary interests? The media has a definite influence in how we see ourselves and the world, and if it's been jaded so will our views... We deserve to hear the whole news, not the news picked for us to see... the good, the bad, the whole... and if sources are getting paid to do interviews, like Clay Aiken's interview with People Magazine, then we really have to question the legitimacy of the story or is someone out to just make a buck.