Author: pu.139

Text Review: PARCHED

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In India under the caste system, the status of women is comparable to that of untouchables. The deep-rooted culture of male superiority and female inferiority influences the lives of ordinary people in the way of social unspoken rules. Women have always been in a position of being dominated and enslaved, and are regarded as tools for labor and men to vent their desires. Polygamy, child marriage, expensive dowries, and burial of husbands still exist in many places. Men can even kill women because they are dissatisfied with the lack of dowry or lack of dowry.

The story in the film takes place in a desolate and backward village in India. In the local culture, if a girl is an adult, she will be married to someone else. This situation can reduce the burden on the population at home. Just like the traditional thinking, a married daughter is like splashed water and cannot go home casually. This is also a manifestation of the low status of local women in India. It was against this cultural background that Champa returned to the village without authorization, which of course caused a lot of trouble to the people in the village. Faced with this problem, the village held a meeting to discuss countermeasures. At the meeting, the village elders demanded that Champa immediately return to his in-law’s house. What’s more desperate is that in the daily torture and mental torture of life, the oppressed women will unknowingly become insensitive, even Champa, who fled back to her natal home, cried to her mother about being gang raped and abused at her husband’s home. The confused mother still obeyed the instructions of the “Elders’ Corps” and cooperated with dragging her daughter into the car. She watched as her own flesh and blood was sent back to the hell on earth.

The whole movie reveals the tragic status of women in Indian society, such as “a woman who reads will become a bad wife” and “learn how to please your husband, otherwise you will not escape the destiny of being abandoned in the future.” This is a film showing the low status of Indian women, and it is also a film showing the escape of Indian women from the patriarchal society. In this movie, Rani and the other four finally gained freedom and happiness. The ending of the film also showed us the happy ending after the struggle. Any struggle is necessary and worthwhile. In fact, discrimination against women not only occurs in India, but also in many other regions.

Week 14 : Regarding the Pain of Others Analysis

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Susan Sontag’s “Regarding the Pain of Others” is a book focused on war photography. It explores the relationship between the suffering of the person reflected in the image and the viewer.When suffering all kinds of inhumanity, darkness, misery, life and death, all we do is slide the phone, turn on the TV, and click the mouse. While browsing the interpreted so-called news images, smacking the fragrant coffee, watching and sighing for a while, we continue our respective lives. All these have forced war photography to get closer to the vague images in exchange for a short stay of people’s attention, and this behavior itself also makes war photography and readers more indifferent.

War is the subject we are covering this week. When we hear the word “war”, we first think of inhumanity, darkness and death. In this article, the author described to us countless tragic war scenes, such as the American Civil War, which was the first large-scale war after the Industrial Revolution. Most of the 3.5 million people who participated in the war were volunteers. The war killed 750,000 soldiers, maimed 400,000 soldiers, and an unknown number of civilians were also affected. All these figures and bloody photos remind people of the importance of world peace.

But what this book wants to highlight is that as bystanders who have not experienced war, can we really perceive such pain? The pain of being photographed itself is inconsistent with reality, because even if it is not taken for the sake of art, photography itself is artistic. The photographer hopes that through such a tragic scene, people can see the pain of others and work hard to do something. But when it arouses people’s mercy, what he shows is not a real scene in itself. There are some photos that we will shudder every time we turn them over. If you have ever stared at some photos of torture, you must be able to leave in your mind the feeling of being in an extremely shocking state that is hard to erase. What we have for suffering is often more than pure pity, because how is pity felt? Why do we have mercy on certain things, all we can use is our own memory. (Susan 20)The suffering caused by war is beyond our comprehension, although we can see the scene of war through photos, so we call for world peace.

Work Cited:

Sontag, Susan. “’Regarding the Pain of Others’.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2003, www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/books/chapters/regarding-the-pain-of-others.html.

“Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 26 Aug. 2004, www.goodreads.com/book/show/52373.Regarding_the_Pain_of_Others.

Yo, Is This Asian Hate？

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“Yo, Is This Asian Hate?”

ShangyiPu & Tiantian Wang

Aril 4, 2021

 

Tiantian: It’s morning shift. I’m Tiantian Wang, from China. Today, I invited my good friend- Shangyi Pu -to my podcast!

Shangyi: Hi, guys! I’m Shangyi!

Tiantian: Have you read the newspaper ?

Shangyi: Of course! I read the news everyday.

Tiantian: Haha, I thought you only caring about entertainment events every day and never read news.

Shangyi: Come on, Tiantian! I’m also very concerned about current affairs news, okay?

Tiantian: Since you watch the news every day, you must be aware of a major event in the United States recently.

Shangyi: Wow, there are many dramas happening in the United States every day, but I think you must be talking about the Asian shooting in Atlanta. I’m sorry for the people who died in this incident.

Tiantian: That’s what I want to discuss today-“Asian hate”. Let’s go straight to our today’s topic-“Yo, Is This Asian Hate?”

Tiantian: During your two years of studying and living in the United States, have you and your friend ever been discriminated against ?

Shangyi: No. My normal life is on campus and on the way home. I didn’t feel any discrimination, including going to the market. But I have also heard that some Americans discriminate against foreigners before. I was worried before coming to the United States. Fortunately, I did not suffer from this.

Tiantian: I found that we all have the same experience. When I told my family and friends to come to the United States to study, they would say that they must protect yourself. My uncles and aunts are not only worried about discrimination, but also that they are very worried about the gun problem in the United States and have been telling me not to go out alone at night. Haha…！But when I arrived in the United States, I found that these problems were not as serious as we thought.

Shangyi: This is normal, because they have never been to the United States nor have a deep understanding of the United States, and their understanding of the U.S. is limited to the media.

Tiantian: I agree with you. Do you have a deep understanding of the Atlanta incident?

Shangyi: What I know is also the information conveyed through the media.

Tiantian: Okay, let me talk about it! On March 16, three shooting incidents occurred in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States. the first shooting occurred on the afternoon of March 16, 2021, when a massage parlor called “Young’s Asian Massage” in Cherokee County, northwest of Atlanta, was shot. Soon after, two more shooting incidents occurred in Atlanta. As of March 16, 2021, the shooting has caused a total of 8 deaths, of which 6 were Asian women. The US authorities stated that it is not yet clear about the motive of the attack and whether the victims were targeted because of their race.

Shangyi: So far, the US authorities have not given a reasonable explanation for this incident.

Tiantian: Do you think this incident has anything to do with race? When you face Americans at school, are they kind or discriminatory?

Shangyi: I don’t dare to define this thing easily, I’m afraid it will be “beaten”, haha. But after I learned about this, two types of people appeared. The first category is to fight against the injustices of Asians. They marched in the streets, gave speeches, and called on everyone to treat everyone peacefully and equally. The other category discriminates against Asians. They even launched the challenge of “slapped Asians” on the Internet. I have to say that this makes me very angry. Emm, I don’t feel very deeply about being in school, because I rarely talk to foreigners, and the general conversation is limited to learning. You know, they are generally kind.

Tiantian: I don’t think I felt any discrimination in school. When I was a freshman, the dormitory was divided into three Americans. I was very nervous at first, because I have never lived with people I don’t know well, let alone they are foreigners. I think this is a challenge for my life. When I first met them in the dormitory, they greeted me kindly. Of course I am still very nervous. After getting along, they didn’t stop talking to me because I was not proficient in spoken English, but listened carefully to what I wanted to express. They treat me very well, and we even go to the cafeteria to eat and play together.

Shangyi: Glad you met such good roommates！

Tiantian: Yeah, I know!

Shangyi: So have you communicated with them about the Atlanta shooting? What is their attitude towards this incident?

Tiantian: Yeah, we did! They sent messages to comfort me that many people are tolerant towards Asians, and they also dislike those who engage in racial discrimination. They also said that OSU is an inclusive school, as is Columbus, so I don’t have to worry about not going back to the United States. They said they wanted to see me and hang out with me so much!

Shangyi: They are really heartwarming, and I hope I can meet such a person.

Tiantian: Of course, you will!

Tiantian: You konw, US was originally a British colony. The original inhabitants of North America were Indians. However, a rift was created between the colony and Britain, and Britain continued to adopt a high-pressure policy towards North America, which caused strong dissatisfaction among residents in North America. From 1776 to 1783, the thirteen North American states won the War of Independence under the leadership of Washington. The United States was officially born and successively enacted a series of democratic political laws. Gradually become a completely independent nation-sovereign country.

Shangyi: I know these history. In my opinion, the United States is a country born of foreigners living here, and their ancestors should not even be counted as Americans. I don’t know why they discriminate against foreigners so badly.

Tiantian: Because of this incident, similar cases have occurred in many areas. As far as I know, on the subway in New York, an African-American assaulted an Asian. In the beginning, Asians were still able to resist, but later, the Asian man was knocked down and unable to fight back. What made me even more disappointed was that in the whole process, no passenger stepped forward to stop it, and everyone was indifferent.

Shangyi: In addition, it has happened in many areas, where the elderly and children were overthrown for no reason. These people also took a fancy to the inability of the elderly and children to fight back, and deliberately attacked them.

Tiantian: Do you think this type of discrimination problem will be resolved?

Shangyi: I think it is difficult to solve the problem of discrimination in the United States, whether it is discrimination against African Americans or Asians is almost impossible to eliminate. Some people have some deep-rooted ideas. They feel that these foreigners are invaders, occupying their country’s resources and wasting their country’s welfare. This kind of discrimination problem is difficult to eliminate even over time.

Tiantian: Yeah, I also think that the United States is a multi-ethnic country, because different customs are difficult to achieve true uniformity, let alone eliminate discrimination. Do you think there is any way to reduce discrimination?

Shangyi: I think there are many ways to reduce discrimination. As I said earlier, people in our country have prejudice against Americans because they don’t know enough about Americans. The same is true for Americans, because they do not know enough about a nation and have a lot of prejudice against this nation. I think this kind of education should start from school. For example, middle schools and universities should require students to learn a foreign national culture so that they can have the opportunity to learn about a nationality. When people learn more and more, this kind of discrimination can be alleviated.

Tiantian: Yes, I think there is also a government’s actions that are also very important. In the United States, much of this situation is due to government inaction. They are not dealing with these racial issues. If the country can come forward and declare that the United States is an inclusive country, it is a country where all ethnic groups are equal. I believe that this type of discrimination problem can be resolved greatly.

Shangyi : I very much agree with you, Tiantian. Furthermore, it is not terrible that things have happened. What is needed is that we all work with a positive attitude to change Current status. I think this is not only a need for the government to take action, but also hope that through everyone’s efforts, this discriminatory storm will pass as soon as possible, so as to minimize the occurrence of more misfortunes.

Tiantian: Okay, that’s all of our blog this week. Thanks to my good friend Shangyi for attending. Finally,I also want to call on everyone that the United States should be a multi-ethnic country where everyone is equal, and we should be more tolerant of other peoples! I also believe that through everyone’s efforts, everything will be okay!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/31/983273270/san-francisco-man-who-threatened-asian-woman-in-bakery-arrested-for-hate-crime

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/there-were-3-800-anti-asian-racist-incidents-mostly-against-n1261257

Gender discrimination In China

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Gender discrimination generally refers to disgust or discrimination based on the gender differences of others rather than the strengths and weaknesses of others, but it can also be used to refer to any differential treatment caused by gender. Sex discrimination is everywhere. Sometimes you may just say it casually, and even you don’t even realize that your verbal behavior is sexist. Firstly, in China, despite the progress made, gender inequality certainly exists. First of all, in the workplace, women are required to have higher requirements. In addition to the equivalent qualifications, the interviewer even asks some privacy questions during the interview. It is not difficult to find that while more and more women’s voices are being heard and issues are being discussed, more harm and discrimination against women are also emerging. We cannot help asking, is the status of women really high enough? Is there really too much discussion about gender?

In China, the patriarchal ideology has lasted for thousands of years. Although a lot of corrections have been made, many old traditions still remain, making the living environment of girls worse. The scary thing is that many parents nowadays say that men and women are the same, but the practice makes the girls feel chilling. At the critical moment, it must be the boy at home. What is the cause of patriarchy? In today’s society, the living environment of Chinese women is still not optimistic. Workplace prejudice, marriage customs, and parenting concepts all make girls a subsidiary of boys. In marriage, the daughter is married to the man’s home, rather than both parties marry and form a family fairly. Various factors make it impossible for girls to stand on the same level as boys. If there are boys in the family, parents will definitely take the boy’s question first. After all, it is a thought that has lasted for a thousand years, and patriarchy is in the hearts of many people, and it cannot be solved overnight. Many areas still aim to give birth to a boy. After the second child is opened, families with daughters will basically have a second child, and families with boys will consider a second child much less. According to national statistics, if you count the birth ratio of three or more births, you will find that there are not 100 boys born, but fewer than 68 girls were born in China.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585190903175647

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147596721000032\

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-10-02/25-years-of-gender-equality-in-China-Uf3mIZovWE/index.html