Author: chong.119

Text Review – “Reign” (Brandon Chong)

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For this assignment, I have chosen to review the TV series “Reign”. This series takes focus around the French court and the other European powers of the 1600’s. More specifically, the series revolves around the Queen of Scotland at the time, Mary, Queen of Scots and her romantic life. With most of the attention towards her personal life, this show was characterized as fictional. However, when you watch the diplomatic conflicts that she faces, you are taken into the very real life of a 16th century queen battling the threat of foreign invasion, internal scrutiny and much more.

Mary’s power over Scotland was inherited from birth since their was no male heir from her father but she further solidified her place as a European power for marrying the king of France, Francis II. With their two year marriage short-lived due to Francis’ death, Mary’s power and identity were constantly questioned. Viewers are reminded early in the series of the time period present and the lack of equality between men and woman that existed then. We are reminded that men of royal blood held supreme power and the women’s power ultimately stemmed from theirs. Knowing this, you can see how Mary’s authority as a single, motherless queen was under the pressure of the whole world at the time.

Through the entirety of our class, we have discussed examples that show inequalities between people at all levels, from individual interactions to worldwide inequalities. This show yet again exemplifies an inequality that, in the scope of the entirety of the human existence, has very recently been addressed. The show not only shines light on the inequality at the level of royalty but also shows glimpses into the life of the common woman. These woman are looked at as objects and slaves with the way they are treated by almost all men of the time. I rejoice in the fact that we are long passed this period of male to female inequality, but we always have to keep in mind where we have evolved from as a society and need to recognize the ripple effects that this inequalities have in our modern society.

DSI Showcase

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In this diary of systemic injustices, I will be talking partially about the problems within our health-care system in the United States of America but having a main focus on big pharmaceutical companies and the role they play in healthcare. For background, the United States healthcare system runs majorly on private health-care companies that are responsible for paying and collecting health benefits/money from their customers. There are other options to this privatized health care system we have here as there are at least thirty-two other countries that provide universal health care for all of their citizens.

Talking with one of my diabetic friends, he was extremely happy the last few months as his the price of his insulin had gone down as an indirect result of the corona virus. Since the virus has worsened, the company Eli Lily has lowered its insulin cap for out-of-pocket payments to $35 where the average American on the federal health care system pay about $700 yearly on insulin with price ranges usually higher.

These conversations that I’ve had with not only my friend but also my grandmother and uncle had me thinking about just how much these big pharmaceutical companies are profiting off of sick Americans. With these companies being privatized in our healthcare system, they are not only able to monopolize but also raise prices of life saving medicines. They are able to do this as they want because they know people will pay any price in order to save their life. I just find the fact that they not only profit off of these means but are also looking to increase that profit at the cost of human lives appalling. There are even theories of these big pharmaceutical companies coming out with medicines to make diseases affect people or longer periods of time in order to keep them buying their medications for longer periods of time, but that’s just a theory……

Context research presentation: ethnocentrism in America

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Context+Research+Presentation

Ethnocentrism in American Culture

Ethnocentrism is the evaluation or judgment of other cultures based on how it compares to one’s cultural norms (Matresse, 1). Though ethnocentrism is seen throughout the world, I’m sure by just stating what it is, everyone’s mind can already think of stereotypes and ethnocentric thoughts observed here in the United States. The reason behind me picking the topic around American culture is solely for the reason that this is where I have grown up and seen the most examples of this topic. Being able to look at previous civilizations and groupings of peoples, an “Us vs them” or herd type mentality was beneficial for societies to dehumanize others for gain and advance their own society (Riley,1 ). This however is not needed in our modern society, cohabitation and being able to work together as a whole has proven to be beneficial for all. 

When really looking at my own past experiences of ethnocentrism in society, I think of excluding/being excluded from cliques at school, whether it be “the popular group” or a lunch table, we see smaller examples of ethnocentrism all around. On a larger scale shown in my second source, we see ethnocentrism at a level as big as our political system. There are certain political parties that base some of their policies around the demonizing of other cultures or ways of life (Santori, 1). Unfortunately, ethnocentrism is still extremely apparent in political parties and seems to be something we should be based by this point in society.

From the readings this week, we see examples of ethnocentrism as Judith Ortiz Cofer talks about how pregnant women would talk about their babies coming out “Prieto” (slang for “dark” or “black”) (Cofer, 435). This negative view of darker pigmentation comes from their societal view of it not being a norm for those Puerto Ricans of the time period and looking at it as a disadvantage for their child. Many examples like this were found in the readings from this last week and is what led me to choose this topic for our context research presentation.

Bibliography

Matresse, Cathy. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism. Lumen Learning. 2nd ed, Lumen, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-sociology/chapter/ethnocentrism-and-xenocentricism/. Accessed 5 Sep. 2020.  

Santori, Christopher. Ethnocentrism in the US. The Penn State University. 1st ed, PSU, 19 Jan. 2017, https://sites.psu.edu/global/2017/01/19/ethnocentrism-in-the-us/. Accessed 5 Sep. 2020.

Riley, Alexander. Multiculturalism is Ethnocentrism. American Mind. 1st ed, A Publication of the Claremont Institute, 19 October 2019, https://americanmind.org/essays/multiculturalism-is-ethnocentrism/. Accessed 5 Sep. 2020.

Cofer, Judith Ortiz. The Story of My Body. True Woman and real men. 1st ed,  https://osu.instructure.com/courses/85555/pages/recap-week-2?module_item_id=4571445. Accessed 5 Sep. 2020.