Saturday, October 4, 2014
Open thread - current events
Use this thread to bring up any event that happened this week that you feel is significant. Don't simply rehash the who, what, why, where and how of the event; but rather detail it first and then take a stance on it, or at least offer a potential solution to the issue.
Don't forget to use credible sources as links and/or to back up your opinion.
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This is my weekly post
ReplyDeleteIt seems society hasn't changed. Racism and Sexism are still big issues in the world we live in today. I'm not talking about amongst children and teenagers or the media but in a political sense. Toronto Mayoral candidate Olivia Chow is currently confronting these issues in her campaign1. I thought this topic was relevant because of our sexism and women's rights topic from a few weeks ago. I thought Sexism was long behind us and Women can do anything men can and more, but I guess I was wrong. As well as Racism, I thought that was something of the past but it's still happening now.
When I read that Chow is being discriminated by the public, it made me think of when U.S President Barrack Obama went through these same issues. Now after looking into it, I wonder if all campaign runners in any election if they are a different race, are they always going to be discriminated against. Chow has been told "to go back to China" (a man's words towards her at a debate one time) 2. She is being attacked because she is an immigrant, is that any reason to judge? No. The man who said this to her is probably an immigrant himself, because most of our decent makes us immigrants. Chow isn't the only one, in this campaign there is also Kristyn Wong-Tam another Chinese campaigner. Wong-Tam has also been discriminated against because of her gender and ethnicity but not only that, her sexual orientation too3. It's not only in Toronto; it's all over the world. I did some more research and was surprised to find the amount of racism currently in Canada.
Mo Salih a Black, Muslim 28 year old from London Ontario is trying to campaign for a council seat in East London4, from what I have said before you know where this is going. Salih says he is surprised by the amount of racism he has seen while campaigning. In one case he said that a fried chicken box and a watermelon were thrown at his campaign signs5. For those that don't know, Fried chicken and Watermelon are stereotypes of what a black man eat. This is most commonly in jokes and television shows. I thought the society we live in now was way above discriminating against someone because of their sex, race and sexual background but I guess I was wrong. I think when voters go out for future elections they should keep an open mind when voting next time around. Anyone can do anything.
-Jack
1http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/olivia-chow-confronts-racism-sexism-in-mayoral-campaign-1.2785984
2http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/olivia-chow-confronts-racism-sexism-in-mayoral-campaign-1.2785984
3http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/olivia-chow-confronts-racism-sexism-in-mayoral-campaign-1.2785984
4http://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/16/black-candidate-breaks-silence-on-campaign-racism-in-london
5http://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/16/black-candidate-breaks-silence-on-campaign-racism-in-london
I remember watching the news when President Obama got elected and there were multiple areas in the States where people had started putting up signs discriminating him because of his African-American descent. I even heard on the news that these people went so far as to call the other pro-Obama areas "n*gger lovers". It shocks and appals me to hear and see the hatred that some people can have for a complete stranger. Especially someone who has put in all of the time and hard work to get to this position of importance and authority, only to be consistently judged and hated for something as pathetic as his skin colour. It makes me sick.
DeleteInteresting post, Jack. You briefly touched on stereotypes that are used on television shows for comedic purposes. It's sad to see that in 2014, racist jokes are still considered appropriate and funny. Do you think that racism in television and film greatly perpetuates racism in society? If so, is there anything that we as viewers can do about it?
DeleteThis was an interesting post. It really got me thinking when you mentioned Obama and how he faced such adversity in his campaigns. Even faced with a strong opposition because if his race, he won the election in 2008 and has since proven a lot of his opponents that he is more than capable of handling his presidency. I wonder if adversity and discrimination will continue in the face of every new situation, where someone of a certain race, religion or otherwise attempts something that hasn't done before. Do you think that those who are discriminated against gain new support from proving stereotypes wrong? And do you think that if they keep proving people wrong that discrimination will eventually cease?
ReplyDeleteThis is my weekly post...
ReplyDeleteOn March 8, 2014, Malysia Airlines Flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had lost contact with air traffic controllers at around 1:30 am, over seas between Malaysia and Vietnam. The plane`s transponder, used for identifying the aircraft and giving details on location, speed, altitude etc, stopped transmitting this information and made it seem as though the plane had completely disapeared(Source 1). The search begun immediately with planes and ships from 14 different countries looking for the Boeing 777 in the South China Sea and south of Vietnam. After 7 weeks of intense searching the air effort to find the plane, ended in late April, which begun the underwater search(Source 1). `Pings`picked up by a radio beacon seemed very promising in assisting the search, but in May, the area where the signals were produced did not show any evidence(Source 2). The past 4 months since the search was post-poned, crews have been accurately mapping the ocean floor in the search zone. The transmissons between the plane and satellites were investigated and the search zone has been narrowed down to a 60 000 square kilometer patch of sea bed (Source 3).
The fact that the search for Flight 370 is still being investigated after nearly 6 months of hard searching, shows the initiative that the governments have in finding this plane. Perosnally, I wonder why it is such an important investigation that deserves to have such a huge mount of money being spent on the search.I think the main reason for such an intense search to take place is because of the mystery involved with the disappearance, as well as closure for the families who lost love ones due to this event. Stated in a video courtesy of CNN, `We need to know what happened, it is not an option not to know`Showing how intense their goals are in being succesful in the on-going investigation(Source 1). The one thing bothering me most about the search is the amount of money and time spent, with still no conclusive results. Based on the cost vehicles, search equipment, mapping and much more expensive barriers involved in the investigation, CNN says it is costing 21 million dollars a month to run the operation (Source 4).
When looking critically at the cost of the search, I am questioning whether the large amount of money is really worth how far we have come with the investigation, and if the reward is really worth it. In my opinion, there may be other larger issues that could be looked after with this kind of money, such as hunger, or providing support when dealing wiht poverty in third-world countries. Although, I do feel that providing closure, and giving an answer to the families of the 239 people on board is important, are the results really worth the time and money?
Source 1: http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/04/world/mh370-next-search-phase-begins/index.html?hpt=wo_c2
Source 2: http://globalnews.ca/news/1257096/flight-mh370-search-teams-fail-to-relocate-pings-that-could-be-from-black-box/
Source 3: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/malaysian-airlines-mh370-new-underwater-search-begins-1.2788252
Source 4: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2014/04/04/n-malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost.cnnmoney/index.html