Author: hilmer.10

Text Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

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The Martian by Andy Weir is a gripping novel about the struggles of an astronaut stranded on Mars. Within this reality, the protagonist— Mark Watney— is completely separated from humanity and lives in near complete isolation, his only connection to Earth being an old Mars rover that he configures into a messaging link to Earth. While Mark lacks interactions with others, Weir also portrays the multi-national efforts to rescue him back on Earth. Within these efforts reside politically motivated actions as seen between the American and Chinese governments as they merge their space programs’ respective work to be able to save the single stranded man. 

Although there has historically been a lot of tension between the American and Chinese governments, their space agencies— NASA and CSNA— scrap together a supply probe to allow for an attempt to rescue Mark. This collaboration is seen as reasonable as the agencies see it not as a collaboration between two hostile governments but rather scientists coming to aid one another in order to save a human being. With this in mind, we see that military might and governmental pressures/powers are surpassed by humanity’s need to push boundaries and explore the unknown. However, this raises an important question; what is the value of a human life? 

Throughout our day-to-day lives, there are hundreds of preventable deaths that can be countered through simple actions: the homeless person on the side of the street can be saved from starvation through simple generosity, gun deaths could be prevented through actually effective legislation, and suicides can be decreased through greater access to mental health resources. With all these issues plaguing millions across the world, why is it that the government may be more ready to spend trillions to save only one man? Weirs simple reasoning is the furthering of mankind’s understanding of our universe. Saving Mark is a decision banked on the fact that Mark’s experiences and knowledge will benefit humanity as a whole whereas saving large groups of other people through legislation reform doesn’t “benefit” humanity as a whole. This idea sets up a case of “Othering” where only those deemed important and beneficial to society are cared for and protected. Those deemed “unimportant” are expendable in the eyes of governments, a cruel and cold view of the world.

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase: Racism in Sports

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As a member of the Ohio State University’s men’s fencing team, I spend my time with a wide range of individuals on a daily basis. With teammates from across the world (All across the 50 states, Italy, Russia, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay, and more), I am constantly exposed to differing cultures and points of view. Included in these views are those of black athletes, some of whom are top competitors in my predominantly White/Asian sport. One thing I was not entirely aware of before coming to Ohio State, however, were the struggles that black athletes faced on the international and national stages. 

Speaking to my friend, Edriss, he brought to my attention the challenges he has had to overcome while trying to become a member of the Junior National Team. Competing in foreign countries such as Russia, he explained the deep-seated racism and prejudice in referees from foreign nations that plague his competitive experience, at times even having bouts thrown by the referee so that a white competitor would win. Yet he doesn’t just face these problems abroad. Within US national events, the USFA (United States Fencing Association) often brings in these “top referees” from other nations to assist in the officiating of matches, bringing the problem from overseas back home. 

Looking at other sports such as basketball, we can see racism seeped into refereeing culture and practice once again. In a report titled “Racial Discrimination Among NBA Referees,” Central State basketball coach Joseph Price and economist Justin Wolfers found that, “more personal fouls are awarded against players when they are officiated by an opposite-race officiating crew than when they are officiated by an own-race refereeing crew […which were] sufficiently large so that they affect the outcome of an appreciable number of games” (Price). Looking at these findings in a critical manner, we can see that racism is not just found through overseas sports referees but with Americans as well. In a competition of physicality, where the rules are supposed to be fair and applied equally to all players, it is disgusting to see the people enforcing these rules use their bias (whether conscious or not) to one side’s advantage.

The disparity seen between referees of the same/different race as players and number of personal fouls called on those players perfectly highlights the bias and labeling as “One” or “Other” groups that go on continually through our heads. With clear discrimination based on skin color within the NBA, light is shed on the fact that this bias is not isolated to any one sport. Even the NBA, with its high publicity and viewership, experiences racial bias in an era where it has become socially unacceptable to be prejudiced against others for the melanin in their skin. This begs the question of how far racial prejudice seeps into the refereeing of other sports such as football, soccer, or hockey on international stages. 

 

Works Cited

Price, Joseph, and Justin Wolfers. “RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AMONG NBA REFEREES.” The

 Oxford Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 123, no. 4, Nov. 2010, doi:https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2010.125.4.1859. 

 

Further Reading/Viewing

https://thethirdteam.co.uk/inequality-in-refereeing-racism/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2020.00048/full

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/09/944657317/champions-league-referees-remark-investigated-after-teams-walk-off-in-protest

 

 

Week #6 Context Presentation: Resistance to Imperialism and Cultural Differences Between the Igbo and British

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Chinua Achebe’s renowned story, Things Fall Apart, details the life of a Nigerian man (Okonkwo) and his small village in the late 1800s as they experience the effects British Imperialism, such as changes in culture and religious life. Achebe wrote his novel to highlight the “Nigerian side” of the story to disprove and shed light on the unbelievable bias and outlandishness of European depictions of African people and cultures throughout their imperialistic exploits.

Within his story, Achebe gives light to many culturally significant ceremonies and religious beliefs held by Okonkwo and his people. For example, the novel dives deeply into the spiritual lives of the Igbo people, citing their gods Chukwu (a Supreme God) and Chi (Personal God) on multiple occasions to highlight the great significance in moral and political life that these gods play. This is seen when the Oracle of the village tells Okonkwo that his adopted son, Ikemefuna, must be killed as it was the will of the Gods. After hearing this, Okonkwo accepts her words and kills Ikemefuna himself, using the words of his Gods as a justification of his actions (Achebe, Chapter 17).

This Igbo religion, where the Gods speak directly with the people as Divine entities and tells them what actions must be committed, clashes heavily with the British Christian faith brought to them. The British Imperialism seen within Achebe’s novel is one that mirrors other examples of British control across the world, which often end in religious clashes.  Such rebellion against colonizers and their religions was seen across Central America, as Hernan Cortes attempted to “cleanse” Native American religions. This was met with resistance as well, as seen when native Cholulans refused to burn and give up their idols to adopt Christianity after they had been massacred by Cortes’ hands.

Struggles faced by the Igbo people against Christianity and the agents of it are highlighted by Achebe through their burning down of a Christian church within Okonkwo’s village by the native people. With this, we can see the Igbo people rejecting British rule and their “true” God. It is important to recognize these struggles as throughout European literature, Nigerians and Africans in general were described as “savages” and “beasts” that lacked society and culture, when the exact opposite was the truth. These people simply wanted to preserve their way of life and the culture that  had guided them for generations from a tyrannical foreign power.

 

Sources:

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Publishing Group, 2019.

“Religious Conflicts in the Conquest of Mexico: AHA.” Religious Conflicts in the Conquest of Mexico | AHA, www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/the-history-of-the-americas/the-conquest-of-mexico/narrative-overviews/religious-conflicts-in-the-conquest-of-mexico.

“Tradition vs. Change in Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart.’” GRIN, www.grin.com/document/23478#:~:text=of%20the%20novel.-,1.,European%20portraits%20of%20native%20Africans.