Transgenderism and Autism Discussion

I need to respond to a colleague by predicting whether my colleagues’ social issue will remain controversial or become irrelevant to similar popular culture elements in the future. For example, will race be expressed the same way in music in the future? Or, will social class be expressed differently on episodic story telling like television shows in the future?

colleague’s posting: The first artifact I chose today is the video game “Tell Me Why”, which is the first Xbox game or any major video game studio to feature a transgender protagonist according to Liao (2020). Unless you are hidden under a rock, you know that rights and awareness of the transgender population are truly relevant topic these days. Billard (2017) indicates that transgender issues have become a highly relevant issue with political contestation in the U.S. and also indicates that online news has changed the landscape of awareness of these issues and social media content engages in reciprocal agenda-setting with traditional news media. Basically, it brings more awareness to a topic which then gets discussed on more traditional news outlets like television, radio, or print news. “Tell Me Why” is definitely provoking change, normalizing transgender characters and bringing awareness and acceptance to the transgender community, showing they are no different than anyone else and have the same feelings, struggles, and triumphs as any other person according to Liao (2020). So, I think this shows that this issue is being discussed on many different platforms, digital, print, and news on social media, video games, movies, CNN, New York Times. I think society accepting or rejecting this artifact will lead to greater acceptance or greater contention on this subject. By accepting and normalizing transgenderism, we create a more accepting inclusive environment for everyone.

My second artifact is the movie “The Accountant” which gives us a look at an adult dealing with Autism and the personal and professional struggles he had. According to Iland, this Movie brings awareness to what an adult dealing with Autism may have to deal with and how it affected the lead characters personal and professional life. Autism has been in the news both print and digital with people trying to find out what causes it, bring awareness, and the big controversy of whether vaccines cause or create Autism. There is a lot of Autism Awareness campaigns on social media and medical journals as well as other news sources talk a lot about Autism. I can only think that this artifact provokes change in that it brings awareness to a truly relevant issue today. Jang, McKeever, McKeever, & Kim (2019) indicate that Twitter and Reddit are two avenues where the vaccine/autism debate is pushed heavily. I would say that Twitter and Reddit are two major social media entities that pervade our modern pop culture. Many people seem to get their information from these sources so whether the information is accurate can make a difference in how people view Autism or the link between vaccines and Autism. Certainly, if people believe this, they may be less likely to vaccinate their children, which may then cause a rise of childhood diseases like Polio or the Measles that we have seen decline in modern history. In this way I think pop culture can affect our communities and the news and how it is reported. I think again a movie like The Accountant that brings awareness to a relevant issue can bring about acceptance and perhaps make people more interested in ways to help people with autism fit in to our communities better or be accepted and not looked at like they have a problem.