The Presentation of Substance Use in the Media - Research Paper Example

The presentation of substance use in the media has, from the very beginning been in the negative light because of the belief that substance users are the scum of the society. Substance users have been portrayed as being some of the most violent people in the world, often working towards getting money to acquire more of the drugs that they use. The western media seems to have been influenced by the long history of substance use that has been seen as being the worst thing in society and seems to have developed unconsciously into the minds of the producers of western media. This has created a mentality of us against them where those who work in the media depict substance users as being against the normal order of society and because of this, they should be put away. The various events which have taken place, especially in the twentieth century, have worked to strengthen this opinion of substance users, as seen where the latter are looked upon as being a violent people, whose addiction to the substances they use is a major source of conflict in the society. Most of the violent crimes and events that take place in the streets and homes in many cities are often blamed on the substance users, who are seen as having had a direct hand in these events. The fact that a majority of those who use substances are just regular people like any other people in the society seems not to have been put into consideration, as many of them have become victims of attacks from society as well as pity and dislike because of their addictions. It is a fact that the various forms of media often depict substance use shows it as being among the vilest and most piteous of the things that users do. These are examples of the inherent dislike and distortion about substance abuse that has long been established in the media and that the fact that these depictions are shown in public comes to influence how its audience views substance use. The media, especially the films, tend to depict substance use as a most vile action and those who use them to be so desperate for them that they would do anything to acquire it, even murder, and substance use has been made to seem to be the main cause for its users living a life with no set moral standards. This is not a true reflection of substance use and, because of the bias of the media against them, they have come to be portrayed in an extremely negative light where it is difficult to determine or differentiate between the substance users who have good intentions from those whose purpose is to create problems in the society. Substance use is one of the most debated subjects in the media today, but despite this being the case, many substance users are looked upon as being the weak link in society (Strasburger 191). They have also come to be depicted as being greedy for more drugs and as being willing to sell their souls for the sake of acquiring more of it, a depiction that goes against the fact that these people are basically addicts who consume these substances for various reasons. Substance users have come to be depicted in media, not only in film, but also in print and broadcast news in a negative light and this has ensured that the fight against substance abuse has become harder. This negative depiction of substance use as well as its users by the media has been adopted into popular culture, with these stereotypes having an impact not only on the mentality of the society, but also on the substance users themselves. Instead of working towards the ending of substance abuse through the development and propagation of better ways of dealing with it, the media has instead come to ingrain negative stereotypes further of substance use in the mentality of its audiences. This has created a situation where individuals who are substance users have to undergo instances of lower self-esteem within their own societies instead of gaining the support they need to kick their habits. In addition, such negative stereotypes often end up causing the injury of innocents, impact policies, and encourage divisiveness by accentuating the differences between substance users and those who do not at the expense of those human qualities that tie these people together. The negative stereotype concerning substance abuse has come to be used by the media as a way of making money since some media producers claim that they are only working towards satisfying public demand. The fact that it is the media which has worked towards creating these negative stereotypes of people who need help and that its continued use of them has caused the public to demand more, has created a situation where it has become difficult to end such negativity towards substance use. It has become so easy to sell the stereotypes of substance abuse to the extent of ensuring that the audience is not aware of the truth and lies that have been created concerning substance use. Most regular people are not aware that there is a different world outside of theirs, which functions in ways, which are dissimilar to theirs, and this is the reason why substance use is rampant in these societies. Because of this ignorance of substance usage in their own societies, and the fact that the use of such substances is rampant in the poorer sectors of the society has ensured that many people have come to believe the depictions of substance abuse made by their media. This depict the latter as being alien, violent strangers, intent upon causing as much chaos and disruption in society as possible. Such flawed characterizations more perfectly reproduce the bias of the media and image-makers than they do the realities of substance use in the modern world. The media portrayal of substance use can be considered to be unreliable because it has been found that people, who are substance users, are not necessarily from among only the poor in society. It has been found that the media’s depiction of this issue is not based on fact and the reality is completely different. The media depiction of substance use is something that has been made to seem to be rife with evil and that it is the worst possible thing that can happen to an individual. However, this assumption was found to be untrue, because of all the depictions concerning substance use, very few of them are actually true. Incidents such as these have confirmed that the media depictions are ineffective, due to the fact that its intended targets have been found to be innocent of what they have been accused. This means that the media information concerning substance use cannot be trusted since it is possible that most of the information given is not based on accurate research. The stereotypes made concerning substance abuse has caused such a negative attitude towards it and this has created a situation where instead of the users being provided with the help they need, they have ended up being shunned by the society. The negative attitude and stereotypes that has been fostered by the media has ensured that substance use is not addressed as it should be and it as instead comes to destroy the self-esteem of those substance users. This portrayal of substance use has to be changed if there is to be any headway in the fight against it and instead, ways should be found to help the users so that they can better be able to fight their addictions. Work Cited Strasburger, Victor C. “Children, Adolescents, Substance Abuse, and the Media.” Official Journal of the American Journal of Pediatrics 107 (1): 191. Read More