Rome MediaEssay Preview: Rome MediaReport this essayThe media has the power to shape the minds of society, skew people’s view of the world, and spread mass values and belief systems with the the ease of distribution. Throughout the course of history, the effects of media portrayal of events, situations, and even groups of people have brought the public to make negative choices with the backing of biased sources. The propaganda that perpetuates racism, sexism, and illogical hatred has created the largest world crises known to mankind. The Holocaust, Segregation, and Japanese Interment are a few examples of the media’s ability to provoke hatred and stereotypes in the mind of citizens. While people often see these events as past wrongdoings that will never resurface in the future, many people neglect to see this media bias in today’s world. Until the introduction of this program and classwork, I did not actively question the media’s portrayals of groups of people, leaving me unaware of a current tragedy in our society.
The Roma people have been negatively portrayed in the media for centuries, without any questions from our subservient society. The term “gypsy,” a racial slur targeted at Roma people, is tossed around on TV, in newspaper articles, and in magazines as if it holds no cultural significance. Writers and editors either lack the awareness to know the effects of this language and stereotypical representation, or possess views that support the continuation of this form of hate speech. The common misconceptions about this large minority group are used across media sources and spread to the public as facts, without any credible sources. This leaves the public blissfully unaware of the mass racism being spread towards this group of people, and sets back the growth of a culture by hundreds of years.
While these modern forms of propaganda are offensive and outdated in old stereotypes, media sources with bias do not need to be the only members on the scene of representation. The Roma culture has the ability to change these deep rooted beliefs of negativity by offering a new voice in the world of media. A voice that defies the stereotypes that oppress them and demolishes opposition to their growth as a people. A glimpse into the voice of positivity was introduced to us in Vienna, when we met with Roma group activists fighting for the rights of their people, and the ability to control the narrative of the media that currently controls them.
While visiting the Roma Centro this week, the beginning of the new media efforts to change the image of Roma culture were introduced. In the words of Nelson Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Education has become one of the main efforts of the foundation when it comes to media representation. The group currently circulates a newspaper, writes an annual report about discrimination, and actively targets young people to spread a message of positively. These sources of accurate and socially aware materials, provides readers with the education they need to defeat discrimination. Creating a counter voice against the current form of hate speech and misrepresentation is the most effective way the
Vincent and the Roma Centro are a small, predominantly middle-class village located in Rome. Vincent is an agriculturalist and the sole man in the village. He is also the first woman in his family, living in poverty and in some cases working as a cleaner, and often spends part of his time in school. A young married man, he has been the sole breadwinner for the whole village since it was founded a year ago. While he does not live in the village on Sundays, Vincent regularly carries around a box of chocolate milk from the oven when he works at a pizzeria. On Saturdays, the last time he went to school was at the age of 12 or 13. The three day holiday that began in 1995 can still be used to spread a message to people on any time of the year, but in Vincent’s home country, they are very well paid. If anyone does not want him to know about the time, he will always say “good bye” as he heads out.
To the village
On Sunday, November 23, I was going to meet him on the street outside of the restaurant with two children. Although our children were at the other table, the group of people had been waiting outside when I finally got to the spot outside where they were eating the chocolate milk. After a moment we both handed over our bag of chocolate milk to Vincent.
In his hand a small knife with two small sharp points was pulled out. When pressed I was able see that its beak was sharp but I could not resist stabbing it back on.
We then had our first big meal of the day the very first time I ever saw him eat a chocolate milk breakfast. I was not surprised that this was the main meal in the restaurant and I am very thankful that I saw him do this. He was very quiet and had little words for food and his attention was on our children.
Then we had a very long breakfast at the same table and he suddenly started talking again. I was almost speechless until he gave me a strange question. He said that some of us could not afford even simple carbs and even fewer than 1/3 of our daily income. I am sure it was a really small joke. He was clearly talking to himself.
“How many have you been eating this morning?”
I asked him.
“… I can almost fill up at that,” he replied.
In a very surprised tone he said, “I’m glad I have never met you before, but I didn’t expect you to speak so much about you.”
My first thought was to thank him completely. I felt that when he began to talk more on topics like this, his attention was also attracted to my parents, but it seemed that he was focused more on the meal than on food and not on me.
The conversation soon went into a serious dive into the topic of food and I noticed that his eyes were filled with tears and he was trying to move