Stereotypes in Native American

NATIVE AMERICANS AND ALCOHOL
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(15, March, 2011)
Native Americans and Alcohol
I have believed that all Native Americans are alcoholic. By the time I was growing up, I used to watch the Television, and I would mostly see the Indians who were drunk at the background. In addition, this notion was instilled ion me by family members, who were working with American Indians. There was a time that my grandfather told me that, Indians starts smoking the peace pipe while still young, and that they usually spent better part if their time drinking. In addition, my mother who was working as a lawyer, used to tell me that, most cases that she has defended against most Indians are alcohol related. In addition, the Westerns and documentaries have also portrayed Natives as stereotypes, the wise elder, and the aggressive drunk. All these images are widely known in America. With all this information, I came to believe that all Native American Indians are alcoholic. However, I have known that such allegations are not true; this is based on the fact that, every group of individuals in America has individuals who are addicted to alcohol. Despite this notion, not all Native Americans are alcoholic.
1. A comprehensive review on the history and cultures of Indians in books that were then being used in schools, they found that there was no even a single book that could be considered reliable or accurate source of Native American history and culture as drunkards. Instead, most books were found to be containing wrong information that was even distorted as well as a lot of omissions. These books were also found to be derogatory Native American Indians. In most cases, references were made to them as “primitive, degrading, filthy, warlike, savage, hostile, fugitives, runaway slaves, riffraff, and bold”,. So believing that all Native American Indians drink, is a belief that has no foundation.
2. It is mass Media that has played bigger role in the promotion of Native American Indian stereotype that they drink too much from their young hood. This is especially the motion pictures and TVs. There are a very large number of films that have been produced that just shows another version of Native American Indians’ culture and history. They are often biased, distorted or even unflattering. “Films have also created and perpetuated many negative and culturally inaccurate images of Native Americans.” So due to the fact that, to most individuals in America, television and movies are the main source of information, they ends up developing negative stereotypes and attitude about Native American Indians. Media has played a very significant role in the internalization and e...