Writing Assignment 3
Lule claims that journalists form the narrative line of news articles around seven specific myths. From this, what problem could you raise to test the model’s descriptive adequacy?
An Acceptable Scapegoat
Jack Lule’s “Seven Master Myths in the News”[1] claims that there is always seven specific myths, not always all but at least one which govern the narrative line of news articles. These specific myths are “The Victim” (e.g. a victim from a robbery), “The Scapegoat” (e.g. same-sex marriage), “The Hero” (e.g. a world champion of a sport), “The Good Mother” (e.g. Mother Teresa), “The Trickster” (e.g. Osama Bin Laden), “The Other World” (e.g. western society, from the point of view of an African) and “The Flood” (e.g. Haiti earthquake in the early 2010).
Having said “The Scapegoat”, I would like to take this opportunity to further elaborate the meaning of “The Scapegoat” based upon the essay’s model. “The Scapegoat” would represent a figure who personifies “guilt and evil”. It is because they are seen as deviating from a community’s social values and sense of best practice. As such, “The Scapegoat” is regarded as a potential agent of change of the community’s values and beliefs. To prevent unfavorable changes, the scapegoat is publicly humiliated and either socially marginalized or expelled from the community. One more example would be beauty pageant in the Arabic world. Despite the fact that same-sex marriage and beauty pageant in the Arabic world would be regarded as “guilt and evil”, the population that embraces these ideas is gradually increasing and thus challenges the core values and beliefs of “The Scapegoat”. For simplicity, I would like to take homosexuality and same-sex marriage as the fundamental platform and thus study the acceptability of “The Scapegoat” in the community, which is in contrast with the core belief of “The Scapegoat” will be expelled from the community. These works are based upon the stories of legalization of the same-sex marriage in Washington D.C at the late 2000s from journalist Ian Urbina of The New York Times.
Why homosexuality and same-sex marriage considered “The Scapegoat”? It is because homosexuality is prohibited by one of the largest youth charity organization in US-the Boy Scouts[2], object by Congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats[3] and same-sex marriage is unacceptable by one of the largest religion in the world, the Roman Catholic.[4] To them, homosexuality and same-sex marriage are “guilt and evil”. Homosexuality in the Boy Scouts is prohibited because it is inconsistent with the tradition values which instill correct behavior in scouts and help all the individuals scouts to make correct decision over their lifetimes.[5] On the other hand, same-sex marriage is unacceptable in the Roman Catholic because same-sex marriage is not a “correct path toward holiness”.[6] It would ruin the holinesses of human being as well as the beliefs of the religion. Because the numbers of people who is either scouts or believes in Roman Catholic or both are large and object by the congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats, it is understandable that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are “The Scapegoat” in the community.
In 2000, a scout was barred from serving the public due to involve into a gay incident.[7] In 2003, the Boy Scouts chapter in Philadelphia dismissed a devoted member due to openly challenged the organization’s policy by announcing on television that he was gay.[8] We can see that “The Scapegoat” will be expelled from the community which will prevent similar incident from happening again in order to keep the values, beliefs and practice of the organization on the track.
However, as more and more people would like to “define” human rights are the fundamental civic right of freedom and equality, the Boy Scouts in Philadelphia is in hot water. On late 2007, as Philadelphia’s City Council endorsed the gay-right, it declared that it would stop the lease of the Beaux Arts building to the Boy Scout for $1 annually if the charity organization remains its stand.[9] Not long after the incident of the Boy Scouts in Philadelphia, the fight between the gay-right and the religion of the Roman Catholic has finally begun in the capital of the US. On October 6, 2009, the council of Washington D.C announced officially that they would consider same-sex marriage despite the protest of the Roman Catholic and the harsh criticism from the conservative Democrats and Congressional Republicans[10]. As the Roman Catholic cannot tolerate with same-sex marriage, the Catholic Charities which serves 68,000 local residents and received $8.2 million in city contract in 2008, would stop its social service program that help residents with health care, homelessness and adoption. It may even shut down the partnership with the city in these social services.[11] In addition, the Roman Catholic will not take part in same-sex marriage ceremony or give use of their church hall.[12]
On December 15, 2009, the Washington D.C Council approved same-sex marriage. Under the bill, all religions reserve the right to take part in same-sex marriage or not.[13] Ironically in fact, some religions support same-sex marriage as they embrace social equality and justice.[14] Some economists from Los Angeles claimed that same-sex marriage could even give the capital’s economics a boost as it would bring $5 million in tax revenue and create 700 jobs: based on the estimation that more than 14,000 same-sex couple, in three years, would sign the marriage registration form once same-sex marriage is legalized in the capital.[15] However the Roman Catholic remains their stand and refuses to accept the civic rights bill.
On March 3, 2010, the long awaited dream for the same-sex couple in the capital had finally come true. Gay and lesbian marriage is legal in Washington D.C. The Roman Catholic had declared to limit its health care benefits to avoid coverage of same-sex couples to against the new legislation.[16]
In conclusion, it was the perception of the civic right for human freedom and equality, the comparatively large number of population (28,000 in this case) who is homosexual and the economics’ prospect that embrace “The Scapegoat”. Although “The Scapegoat” perceived as “socially marginalized or expelled from the community”, it was not the case in the US in homosexuality and same-sex marriage. “The Scapegoat” will evolve in time and “grow” with other factors and elements. Indeed, it is very hard to judge “The Scapegoat” like same-sex marriage in a democratic society (due to the nature of the voting system). “The Scapegoat” might be wrong and has no room for tolerance today but it might become acceptable in the near future. Nevertheless, one thing we can be certain is that “The Scapegoat” does exist in journalism and journalists play an important role in judging “The Scapegoat” under their pen. Through their pen, they can convey the ideology to the community and influence the community and thus make “An Acceptable Scapegoat” possible.
Reference:
Lule, Jack. 2001. Seven Master Myths in the News. In Daily News, Eternal stories: The Mythological Role of Journalism, 11-26. The Guilford Press.
Urbina, Ian. December 6, 2007. Boy Scouts Lose Philadelphia Lease in Gay-Rights Fight. In The New York Times.
Urbina, Ian. October 6, 2009. Washington Council to Consider Same-Sex Marriage. In The New York Times.
Urbina, Ian. November 12, 2009. New Turn in Debate Over Law on Marriage. In The New York Times.
Urbina, Ian. December 15, 2009. D.C Council Approves Gay Marriage. In The New York Times.
Urbina, Ian. March 3, 2010. Gay Marriage Is Legal in U.S Capital. In The New York Times.
[1] Lule, Jack. 2001. Seven Master Myths in the News. In Daily News, Eternal stories: The Mythological Role of Journalism, 11-26. The Guilford Press.
[2]Urbina, Ian. December 6, 2007. Boy Scouts Lose Philadelphia Lease in Gay-Rights Fight. In The New York Times.
[3]Urbina, Ian. October 6, 2009. Washington Council to Consider Same-Sex Marriage. In The New York Times.
[4]Ibid.
[5]Urbina, Ian. December 6, 2007. Boy Scouts Lose Philadelphia Lease in Gay-Rights Fight. In The New York Times.
[6]Urbina, Ian. October 6, 2009. Washington Council to Consider Same-Sex Marriage. In The New York Times.
[7]Urbina, Ian. December 6, 2007. Boy Scouts Lose Philadelphia Lease in Gay-Rights Fight. In The New York Times.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10]Urbina, Ian. October 6, 2009. Washington Council to Consider Same-Sex Marriage. In The New York Times.
[11]Urbina, Ian. November 12, 2009. New Turn in Debate Over Law on Marriage. In The New York Times.
[12]Ibid.
[13]Urbina, Ian. December 15, 2009. D.C Council Approves Gay Marriage. In The New York Times.
[14]Ibid.
[15]Urbina, Ian. March 3, 2010. Gay Marriage Is Legal in U.S Capital. In The New York Times.
[16]Ibid.
