Reddit reviews Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Critical Reader

> I'll agree that the paper's conclusion may not be perfectly represented in the video. However I do think that the conclusions outlined in the video are far closer to the reality of the data than the narrative typically pushed.

The reality of what data?

> Do you have any data that does show that a significant amount of minority gamers are adversely affected by current video game norms?

After years of arguing with Creationists on the Internet these types of questions always make me weary. I'm not sure how much of a gotcha that question was designed to be, but giving you the benefit of the doubht I woudl say that there is no single data set or research paper that demonstrates the adverse affect of unrepresentation of minorities in media, in the same way that there is no paper that proves evolution takes place. This is because the field in discussion is vast and science does not work in order to allow the easy winning of Internet debates.

So I would say to you the same thing I would say to a Creationist asking for me to demonstrate evolution happens, you need to immerse yourself in the research in this subject in order to gain a clear idea of the field.

If you are interested in that I would suggest introductionary books on media studies. A few that seem up to date and which include tons of resources would be

http://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Minorities-Media-Changing-Boundaries/dp/0335202705
http://www.amazon.com/Gender-Race-Class-Media-Critical/dp/1452259062

I have not read either of those, but from scanning them on Google Books they seem reasonable.

Now of course you may balk at the idea of spending $70 on a media studies text book or devoting that much time to the subject. That is fine. I may say to a Creationist that you have to understand biology to understand evolution, but I do not expect them to go away an enroll themselves in a B.Sc Biology until we can continue. Luckly they don't have to because lots of other people already have. And you can just listen to them.

In the same way that you can just trust that the thousands of biologists working in the area of evolutionary biology have already figured out that yes evolution takes place (despite all the Creationist objections), you can also trust that the thousands of media studies academics are just pulling this all out of their asses. I know it has become fashionable to laugh at subjects such as media studies as being "just-so" stories, but then if you feel that you can go and buy the text books and learn for yourself.

> And likewise, any data on a proposed solution that would correct the problem rather than just (and preferably not at all) stifle creativity and free choice?

I never understand this line of thinking. What do you mean by "stifle creativity and free choice?" What is creativity in this regard?

Taking the example of Friends, which vastly underrepresented the number of black Americans that one would typically find in any 20 meter section of New York, was it "creativity" that lead to this white washing of New York? Or just laziness or ignorance? I don't think it was some ones creative decision to pretend black people don't exist in New York.

If it was that is even worse than simple laziness, that is someone actively choosing to pretend black people don't exist. I fail to see how we are expected to be concerned that this "creativity" is stifled