Media #5

http://nmmstream.net/lccr/housing2.mov
This commercial is about how a man calls an apartment complex realtor looking for an apartment advertised in a newspaper. He calls in different accents asking to rent the apartment, but is denied every time. The man then uses an educated, sophisticated white man accent and a traditional white man’s name. He is immediately offered the chance to come look at the apartment, but is shocked to notice he was denied every other time. The voice-over at the end of the commercial talks about if a person has been discriminated against while trying to get a new house, they should report it because it is illegal. It also gives information about where to call to report this violation.
Stigmas are placed on people who are thought to be different than the norm. Sometimes people are given stigmas even though they may not be true. Most stigmas are bad and do not benefit the person. Stigmas may prevent a person from getting the job they want, or in this case the apartment complex they are interested in renting. This relates to Rosenblum and Travis when they talk about stigmas. The authors state “those who are judged superior to virtue of their membership in some acceptable category are given more opportunity to prove their worth: those who are judged less worthy by virtue of membership in a stigmatized category have difficulty establishing their merit no matter what they do” (28). This quote goes along with what was said earlier. People are placed into certain groups because of who they appear to be on the outside. Stigmas can harm a person when they are trying to better themselves. Like in the commercial, the same man who used different accents was only given the opportunity to see the apartment when he used the traditional voice. It was the same man, but because he used a different voice, he was stigmatized to be someone bad. We as a society, look at people who are not like us as “outsiders” or potentially dangerous. Ever since September 11th we as a society have stigmatized more than we used to.
I personally feel that stigmas should be removed from people. Even though it is hard to not look at someone and judge them, we shouldn’t do it. It is better to get to know someone before we judge them because for all we know, they could end up being a great friend when at first we saw them as the enemy.