The author is also critical of the way the media presentation of drug use has fragmented the whole narrative of the problem of drug use among minorities. Anderson (184) argues that drugs, criminality, and young black men have become a media mantra, one that focuses on the barbarism and violence of young black males at the same time it excludes mention of the “economic and social dynamics that explain” the situation. The reality-based TV programs that follow law enforcement officials into these dens of barbarism do not provide any kind of information on the individuals living there, the social or economic conditions which motivate many of them to sell and/or use drugs, and the hopelessness that drives many minorities to become involved with drugs. Education and prevention are approaches seldom taken, instead, these reality based police shows glorify law enforcement and demonize young blacks “Public approval for the policies that exacerbate the problem of drug abuse and crime continues to be secured by the reality crime programs that champion law enforcement to the exclusion of any discussion of education and prevention” (Anderson 198).inant media interpretation” (Anderson 193). Anderson, R. K. Consumer Culture and TV Programming. Westview Press, 1995. Therefore, we can see that the media is guilt of many sins of omission and exclusion in its presentation of imagery regarding the war on drugs. Not only are media narratives often fictionalized, but they are biased against minorities, smack of racism, cloud the actual facts, and go so far as to even violate the constitutional rights of the suspects presented in the programming. Focault’s writings on society, surveillance, and prison include the argument that just the mere fact of |
