Last week we discussed racism in American Culture Studies, this week we discussed classism and how it has been portrayed in the media. I wanted to discuss classism in the context of Hurricane Katrina. I had a class recently that dealt with racism, and one of the books that we were to read was entitle Taking Sides and one of the questions that were raised was, “Did Hurricane Katrina Expose Racism in New Orleans?” I chose the side of no because I felt the response to Katrina reflected a class issue more so than racism, and what lead me to that conclusion were the California wildfires of last year and how the response to that was very quick. The other reason I feel this way is because African Americans were not the only ones that were affected by the hurricane. Though true the majority of the individuals were black, still whites were affected during this event; in contrast, the wealthy neighborhoods in California received aid and help very quickly. Racism, I do not agree, classism is what I attribute the varying response rates to.
Now to focus on one point in our readings for this week concerning the working class of whites and how they are portrayed in the media. It has been noted before during our group discussion that the white trash portrayal is out there and it is real, but I wanted to focus on one line in the piece written by Angeline F. Price entitled working class whites. The quote is this: “The white trash portrayal represents the little devil on ones shoulder-embodying racism, ignorance, violence, filth, and base desires.” I have a friend the other week tell me a show that I like was white trash and I was shocked that she would tell me that, so my response to that was why does it have to be white trash, why can’t it just be trash if you feel that way about it. The television show we were talking about was Married With Children, and everything in that quote is reflected in the show, from an ignorant man, to sex, and violence are all portrayed in the show. So I have to say that her view of the show as white trash has come from the Medias perception of what white trash is. The media has created white trash, but to me trash is trash, there’s no such thing as white trash. Classism affects all of us.
1 comment:
Good response. Did you see the picture "White Trash Survival Kit" circulating the web after Katrina? It showed a white couple wading through the water with a board upon which was a host of "supplies" including a various assortment of beer, mustard and cheetos (according to the list that accompanies it). That picture also proves your point.
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