Role of the Media in the Demonisation of the Bikers - Article Example

Role of the Media in the Demonisation of the Bikers Before understanding and putting into scrutiny the role, played by the media in the process of demonisation of the bikers, it is of considerable significance to become cognizant about the theoretical perspective of moral panic as had been long put into forefront by the eminent academician Stanley Cohen. According to Cohen, the term moral panic can be simply interpreted as a specific case of occurrence when “condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests” (Cohen, 2004, p.1). More grossly speaking, the term moral panic, with its core essence being kept intact, can be defined as a type of intensified feeling which is expressed by a huge number of common people about a particular group of people appearing as the elements with enough potential to threaten the basic social order at a particular given period of time. The moral panic, in actual sense, is a complex societal element that involves specific groups of people and a prominent presence of the media which are, in a complex manner, both directly and indirectly related to this particular sociological concept that practically prevails in the society. (McEnery, 2006, p.5) Whilst various groups that are professional in nature make claims for more access to resources according to their exclusive interest, ranging from educationists to the social workers and the police to probationary officers, are frequently in full preparation to provide for suitable evidences of a crisis, quite a few number of sections of the mass media, subjected to impending market pressures, have blatantly responded by irresponsibly presenting dramatic and intensive narratives that constitute forceful moral content. The result of the just mentioned action has been a nearly bewildering and complex succession of concerning moral panics. A deep argument is required that would discuss that “the ‘at risk’ character of modern society is magnified and takes the form of moral panics in Britain due to the undermining of the authority of traditional elites and the loss of deference on the part of the lower classes, allied to the centralized and ‘incestuous’ character of the mass media” (Thompson, 1998, p.7). In context of such sociological concept and in relation to the given topic, it is indeed imperative to know in a relatively informal manner the societal responses to the groups that potentially pose to be threatening and destabilizing the quotient of harmony, if any, within the structure of the society. (Franklin, 2008, p. 162) One such group is the group of bikers, or bike riders. Consequently, if the common people are aware of the riders, their general attitudes would definitely be more favourable, but if the common people are not aware of the riders, then there is a high scope that they will depend on to a substantial extent on the nature of the imagery from other available sources for gathering social knowledge (Mc-Donald-Walker, 2000, pp.34-35). In the complex and minutely detailed social circumstances of the contemporary society, wherein the people increasingly depend on the available information from various external sources for apparently genuine knowledge, rather than trusting the deeply rooted, face-to-face practical experience of the daily life, it, henceforth, becomes much easier to demonise the common people. Newspapers, without a single speck of doubt, are the most important media elements that have the maximum coverage of the population, i.e. the common mass and they are the single most important sources of print media. The internal changes that occur in the newspapers travel some distance to accounting for new kind of wave constituting perceived social problems, in lieu of that, they overtly offer productive fresh fields for the claim-makers. The resources that are available to the claim makers have increased, especially for those kinds of groups or individuals who are not in a proper position to have access to public opinion or governmental authorities. Resultantly, from a natural point of view, such phenomenon had prominent impact on the face of the real world. The panics induced by the various sources of the media continue to act in a pivotal role affecting the dimensions of the public policy, for instance, by forming, rather creating a pressure on the politicians and the bureaucracies, and constantly helping to exactly determine the different priorities of the concerned law enforcement agencies. In this context, revisiting the core essence of moral panic and the related factors including the element of media that have complex relationships with the phenomenon of moral panic is pertinent enough, in order to delve into deeper realms of the ongoing discussion. A particular condition, an episode, a person or a group of persons synthetically emerges to become prolifically defined as a potential threat to the prevalent societal values and related interests; the nature of it is presented in a manipulated and stereotypical fashion by the different sources of the mass media (for example newspapers, televisions etc); the existing moral barricades are monitored by the editors, exclusive bishop politicians and other people who are predominantly thinkers of the rightist genre; the socially accredited professionals pronounce in a detailed manner their particular diagnoses and relevant solutions; various ways of coping with certain problems are gradually evolved or more often firmly resorted to; the condition, after that, begins to disappears, in a subtle manner submerges or drastically deteriorates and hence becomes much more visible. In this respect, the particular argument of Cohen is that the media utilizes its power to convert specific groups, whose various activities they assess as deviant into scapegoats or rather folk devils with an objective to clearly highlight and accordingly amplify the anxieties regarding the deviant behaviour in the society as a whole (Gelder, 2005, pp.5-11). At this point it is pertinent to discuss concisely about the nature and precise dynamics via which the two well-known biker gangs operate in various parts of the world. The first one of them is known as the Hell’s Angels informally, and as the members of Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club officially. This Hell Angels Motorcycle Club was established on 17th March 1948 in Fontana/San Barnerdino area in the United States of America. In the age of 50s some more Hell Angels Charters were established. The members of this particular motorcycle club are called as the one-percenter bikers in the countries around the world and they have few typical characteristics that help common people identify them easily, as for example, the most prominent of them is they almost every time ride the prestigious Harley-Davidson motorcycles. There was a myth in America for decades that the initial members of this club had been the members of the Hell’s Angels Bomber B-17 group during the World War II. Very soon the media started to spread the rumour that these servicemen were alleged to be the drunks, military misfits and some substandard soldiers who were not able to return to a peaceful life after the war had been over. May be due to the aforesaid allegation this group is regarded by various concerned administrative and governmental bodies as one of the notorious outlaw motorcycle clubs which are, as complained by the authorities, involved with rampant hooliganism, drunk driving, even crimes of much greater intensity like drug trafficking, widespread violence, and extortion. In 1948 an editorial in Los Angeles Times gave a warning to the readers of these ‘mobile mounted hoodlums’ comparing those early California disturbances to guerrilla warfare. Moreover it added that Hollister motorcyclists had the habit of fighting, rioting and destruction unless the help of tear gas shattered them. (Reese, Grandy and Grant, 2001, p.189). On the other hand, the members of the club Hell’s Angels discard these accusations saying them baseless and telling that putting such stigmas on the club is nothing but a type of severe mischaracterization of their members. In this context, as quoted by Hunt (1998, p.165), “British Angels are usually seen as a pale imitation of their American counterpart”. According to them, the members of this club are nothing but a cohesive group of simple motorcycle enthusiasts who frequently organize different social events like group road trips, fundraisers, colourful motorcycle rallies and exciting parties. It is quite likely that the members of the group who claim to be just innocent fun-loving people who like to enjoy the charm of life through some kind of adventures like biking in the road would not like to face such kind of allegations against themselves. Another motorcycle club, whether we call it famous or notorious, is ‘The Bandidos Motor Cycle Club’ in the United States of America. It is also a motorcycle gang, which is characterized by a worldwide membership. The origin of this club is Texas. The club is supposed to have many charters, which are spread over many countries all over the world. According to the media and report by the police the bandidos are one of the two major and notorious outlaw motorcycle clubs, which operate in the United States of America. They are alleged to be the traffickers and distributers of cocaine and marijuana and they are also suspected by the crime department to be the producer, trafficker and distributor of methamphetamine all over the United States and Canada. The major areas of the operations of the bandidos are Pacific, South Eastern, South Western and the West Central regions of the United States. According to Thompson’s Hell’s Angels, one could “sense a weird thread running through it all. Thompson wasn’t just writing about outlaw motorcyclists and the big booming Harley-Davidsons we loved to ride; he was writing about those motorcycles as a particular medium for the very sorts of extreme experiences we were discovering” (Lyng, 2005, p. 76) The FBI and the American media portray the Bandidos to be the notorious criminals. But actually the matter of fact is that the media makes mistake many times. There is no doubt about the fact that in America the problem of gang wars is a major phenomenon. However, whenever such accidents take place and there is the intervention of the police and in this fight some people die then indiscriminatingly police want to portray the notorious image of the people as the bandido or a member of notorious Hells Angels. They are not willing to use the word suspect or victim. Not only that, the middle class families are so influenced by the exaggeration of the media they have a negative feelings towards the bikers clubs – “ the media portray the victims as ‘bandidos’, rarely using the word ‘suspect’” (Barker, 2005, p. 37) Concluding Remarks: Though we are discussing here whether the media is responsible for the demonization of the motorcycle gangs in the United States the matter of fact is that the motorcycle gangs are the continuous headache of the normal citizens and the federal government. But we have to be more rational. Marking all the bikers as criminals is not a very wise generalization. Rather we should behave more rationally so that justice is really done; not be biased by the publicity of media. Bikers are adventurous in nature and they look at the world form their viewpoints. However they need not always criminals. Sometimes they are huge risk takers which and their free spirit may be directed towards constructive purposes. We rather need to focus upon the origins of this kind of mind set and a tendency to disregard social norms and leading a fast life. Most often, it might be the mental frustration and failures in personal spheres, which lead them to find an outlet. More social work should be directed to meet this end and the media also need to uphold the causes behind such behaviours of the bikers. References 1) Barker, G.T. 2005, Dying to be men, London: Routledge 2) Cohen, S. 2004. Folk Devils and Moral Panics. London: Routledge 3) Franklin, B. 2008. Pulling Newspapers Apart: Analysing Print Journalism, London: Routledge 4) Gelder, K. 2005, The subcultures reader, London: Routledge 5) Hunt, L. 1998. British low culture: from safari suits to sexploitation, London: Routledge 6) Lyng, S. 2005. Edgework, London: Routledge 7) McEnery, T. 2006, Swearing in English: Bad Language, Purity and Power from 1586 to the Present, London: Routledge 8) Mc-Donald-Walker, S. 2000, Bikers, London: Berg Publishers 9) Reese, S.D. Grandy, O.H. and Grunt, A.E. 2001. Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World, London: Taylor & Francis 10) Thomson, K. 1998, Moral Panics, London: Routledge Read More