Race and Media

Race and what it means to identify with a particular race is based on a number of characteristics, for example the color of your skin, the shape of your eyes, the texture of your hair or is it? In the DISCOVERY magazine there is an article called "Race Without Color" by Jared Diamond, the author relays that there are other valid ways to determine race. It seems to me that the "traditional" way of determining race is of no significance any longer. "Basing race on body chemistry makes no more sense than basing race on appearance". But what does that mean to the rest of us who are not scientist. Diamond makes an excellent point, that the "classification of humans is different only in that it shapes our views of other people, it fosters our subconscious differentiation between us and them to justify political and socioeconomic discrimination". It seems that this very ideology of different "races" has driven everything in the media, film and radio, as a society people look to the media for a sense of who they are and what it means to be a part of a specific race. So if this is where we get our identity from why isn't accurate and fair, it almost feels like an impossible task. The media conglomerates control everything from who is on TV to what they act like, perpetuating the very stereotypes that need to be destroyed.