World in Crisis: Social Issues Fueling Scandals, Riots, & Protests. Essay Example

The world today is barred by different kinds of issues ranging from sex scandals, police rape, and increased student protests among others. All these problems stem from past unsolved social issues facing countries in the globe today. For instance, increased student protests are likely to result from increased gun violence and lack of perceived care of the government in the students' affairs. Most of the problems that include sex scandals, police rape, and students' protests lead to various psychological factors that will be a primary focus in this paper. Further, social problems tend to have an underlying psychological concept. Majority of the issues faced within the society emanate from feelings of dominance especially in issues concerning police rape and brutality, while others could emanate from unsolved grievances among the people, which could yield to demonstrations and protests that may either be peaceful or violent. However, all these problems give rise to the question on the reasons as to why some problems still exist despite the change in era and times where democracy and equality have been on the rise and where every individual deserves a right to protection hence explaining why sex scandals, police rape, and increased protests among the students were selected for this study.

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Sex Scandals in Hollywood

On April 30 2018, Ashley Judd filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein for false accusations. Importantly, this was not the first allegation against Harvey who is a film producer. The lawsuit that Ashley filed against the producer opened up a legal battlefront where she claimed that her career withered since the producer spread lies about the actress in Hollywood after she rejected his sexual advances (Barnes, 2018). It is worth noting that it is usually rare for individuals to recover from the harm caused by smear campaigns and could have significant destruction on one's career.

Judd, at the time, had a director, Peter Jackson on her side. The director claimed that he removed the actress from the cast due to the perceived false information that Harvey Weinstein provided the film industry. However, before the lawsuit, Judd was not aware that something she did not know was holding her back from getting the work that she required that was continuing for decades (Barnes, 2018). Judd filed the suit in Los Angeles and involved claims that Harvey had told Mr Jackson that Judd was a nightmare that ought to be avoided at any cost. Mainly, this was realized in the year 2018 and shows that sexual scandals are common in Hollywood films and could hurt one's career adversely (Barnes, 2018). It is worth noting that sexual scandals in Hollywood are not a one-thing occurrence. Instead, they have happened over the years and the truth is likely to unfold later in life when one is interested in questioning why they are not progressing in their career further as it was the case for Ashley Judd.

Importantly, one can explain this sex scandal as an abuse of male dominance. The case shows how the old image of powerful individuals getting everything they desire. The film industry in Hollywood is structured in a way that promotes masculinity where women are considered as objects that one could toil with especially in cases where a female desire to be successful in their career (Landsberg, 2017). Mainly, this has psychological factors on a victim where chances exist that a female may be unable to make progressive advancements in their career hence prompting them to engage in different other activities such as drug consumption and crime (Landsberg, 2017).

Moreover, the media has a role to play in propagating news concerning sex scandals socially in Hollywood, which is the largest film production company in America. The news of Ashley Judd and Harvey were aired in almost all the media stations within and outside the country. By having a constant analysis of the media, one is likely to notice the fact that the channels would link Harvey Weinstein to different other pending and ongoing cases of sexual harassment when airing information about the alleged lawsuit that Judd filed against the producer. Mainly, one can see that the media knows the existence of sexual harassment in Hollywood, but little has been done to stop it hence explaining why this issue was selected for this study.

Police Rape

Further, on October 17 2018, a police officer in Maryland was arrested and charged with rape after raping and assaulting a woman during a traffic stop. The officer, Ryan Macklin, was taken to custody and suspended without any pay. His charges included rape, perverted practice, assault, and sex offense (Vera, 2018). The woman informed the law enforcement authorities that the officer attempted to caress her breasts before ordering her to move the car and park it behind a store. At the new parking location, Ryan forced the woman to perform oral sex and forced her to have sex with him. However, a witness called by the victim earlier interrupted the assault, which led Ryan to return to his car and leaving the scene. The witness' statements matched that of the woman. Also, some video evidence was used to back the claims of assault from a police officer. It is important to note that at the time of the assault, Ryan was on duty and was wearing the required police outfit. He drove a police car at the time as well.

Cases of police rape have been on the rise not only in the United States but also in the world as well. According to Howard (2017), the psychology behind understanding police rape is complex. As Howard (2017) asserts, social pressure and culture have a significant influence over people's behavior. The police officer is likely to have internalized the pervasive norm that flirting and foreplay could lead to intercourse explaining why the officers initially touched the woman's breasts and forced her to have oral sex. At this time, one can assume that the woman was reluctant. Since most people hate to go against the social norms, the reluctance of the woman may have promoted aggressive rape and assault since the officer is likely to have been angry with the woman rather than questioning his actions.

Also, the man in question was a police officer who thought that he had power over the woman. The police officer is likely to have had the perception that the woman was his subject and would lure her to satisfying his desires. Police rape, in most cases, is a psychological concept rather than a biological factor. The officer may have wanted to make it clear to the woman that in the situation, he was the boss and the woman ought to have behaved as required of her. Thus, this may have prompted the actions.

The media has a significant role in airing the issue of police rape in society. The channels are keen to conduct follow-ups on the charges placed against the officer and whether justice was served to the victim. In the CNN excerpt where the case described above of police rape was derived from, the author is keen to provide details of whether the officer would be granted bond or not. At the time, the officer's salary had been suspended and he was in custody without bond but a bond hearing had been set up for October 26 2018. The event was selected since the officer violated his power and forced a person he ought to protect to have sexual intercourse with him. The event is critical in showing the various issues facing society and the psychological concepts behind the problems given.

Increased Students Protests

Another issue in society is that of increased students' protests. On February 22 2018, angry and frustrated students protested to demand change from the National Rifle Association and Washington (Grinberg, 2018). The students, a week ago were running from gunfire witnessed at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. The gunfire led to the death of 17 people (Grinberg, 2018). For years, gun violence has been an issue facing people in the United States. For long, students have been victims of sufferings and negligent decisions made by the state and the federal government. In this instance, students had turned to become gun-control advocates. During the protests, the students questioned why they were the ones who had to speak out to the state and match on the streets to save innocent people.

Different classical theories seek to explain that people participate in protests to express their dissatisfaction and grievances that emanate from perceived injustice, deprivation, or frustration. Emotions have a significant role to play in causing increased protests. The students were devastated by the death of 17 of their own due to legislation that could otherwise be removed or amended to prevent such occurrences. However, debates on gun violence have been on the rise in America for a long time. The students cannot engage in lawmaking policies. Also, the people actively involved in the designation of such legislation were negligent and did not care about the effects of gun violence on innocent persons. The only way that the learners would have expressed their grief would be by protesting and holding demonstrations to prove the dissatisfaction with the law-making bodies.

Social psychologists have also used social justice theory to explain why protests arise. According to Stekelenburg and Klandermans (2013), the existing literature on social justice tends to distinguish between the various classes of justice judgments that include procedural and distributive. The distributive class is similar to deprivation and focuses on the fair nature of outcomes. Procedural justice, on the other hand, focuses on the fairness in the decision-making processes involved in policy making and the relationship aspect of the process. The students were more concerned about how they were treated other than the outcomes. It is worth noting that during the demonstrations, the students questioned whether the authorities and policy makers respected them and whether their motive was to protect or cause harm to them. In this case, procedural justice could be a powerful tool to explain the factors that have contributed to the increased protests among students. Importantly, the protest described is not the only student protested that has occurred since the year 2018 up-to-date. Instead, this is just one example to show the rising dissatisfaction among young people. Mainly, these questions on the steps taken by the authorities to protect young people and satisfy their growing needs and desires. Students' protests should not be an issue in the twenty-first century. Thus, this shows that policymakers and the administration are failing in their decisions. The media has had a significant role to play in portraying the rising number of students' protests and demonstrations to show the need for change in the measures and steps undertaken by the governing bodies.

Conclusion

Social issues have been common in the world today. The media that include social media and other media channels on the television report the problems facing the community on a daily basis. Since the year 2018 up-to-date, the media has aired issues of students;' protests, sexual scandals in Hollywood, and rising cases of police rape and brutality, which shows that these are some of the issues of concern that the administration should focus on. Importantly, among these events, there are underlying psychological concepts that include male power and dominance in the cases of police rape and sexual harassment and increased dissatisfaction and unsolved grievances that lead to protests as discussed in this paper.