The Unnoticeable Widespread Stereotype (May 25th)

As a continuation of a long series of lectures, today's class was one of the most petrifying ones yet. In the sense that we were shown/able to establish the deep flaws of human beings. Mr.Paterson kicked off the class by scrolling through Twitter and exposing the level of mentality that some people have. One man had clearly stated that killing children, or maybe even the entirety of Gaza is absolutely harmless especially because that will result in constructing a "safe" future. These words and his ideology were simply inhumane. In other news, America changing its actions and providing help for citizens of Gaza and Palestinians is recently broadcasted in Japan. When I first saw the news, I was astonished by the sudden change in America’s direction but felt glad changes were happening. Notwithstanding, Mr.Paterson had explained how this news was not making a substantial change for Palestinians, because they are still "kicking their feet under the desk", implying no material change in circumstances has been made. 

For the majority of today's class, we watched a film denouncing the stereotypes that have continuously built up in the entertainment industry for decades. Antagonists/evil characters usually have darker skin and obtain Arab-like features. On top of that, the actors who act as Arabs are mostly Indian, European, or any other country. From this, I thought that if it isn't an Arab actor, they can deliberately act in a certain way to persistently deescalate the submissive image society has against Arabs. We watched innumerable examples of famous movies (that even someone who does not have good sense in movies like myself could recognize) and were shown scene after scene, movie after movie, about the extreme bias. I started to wonder why matters are so inequitable. Why does Hollywood inject and portray Arabs as slurs, incompetent, and people not worth living? As many questions popped into my head, Mr.Paterson explicated that Japanese people were treated like such back in the 1930s. Now that Japan and America have an infrangible relationship, Japan is slowly obtaining good characters. Despite the admiration Hollywood has gained from the entire globe, using its viewers to strategically recruit members of the military and unequivocally support Israel in killing innocent lives is a disgrace. On a related note, recently I am starting to realize the dirty, impure, and contaminated world but still refuse to believe that this is our only solution. I strongly believe that companies and industries that so many children look up to should persist in being righteous rather than drill biases into people's heads through entertainment. For one thing, Mr.Paterson's story about Iran and its democratic election being overpowered by a dictator disenchanted me. It reminded me of the circumstances in Palestine and Myanmar. History repeating itself, and nothing done about it is devastating. 

After class, as told, I watched the last half of the film via YouTube. An interesting concept I came across was "islamophobia". Muslims are perceived as threatening people and this stereotype has been developed through the images we see in our local news televisions and cinemas. Unquestionably, words are powerful. Newspaper articles and the media have strong influences on society. Notwithstanding, films are an ever more powerful tool for communication in executing a defined image of something. In the film, it was said that "we have been vilifying all things Arab for over a century", and I think a century is enough time to project and ingrain a perpetual negative image of a certain race. Moreover, tragic events that have been implemented by Arab terrorists are broadcasted across the world. Nevertheless, there are dangerous Japanese people and their terrible actions often do not impact the rest of the entire population. The deliberately and cautiously fabricated stereotype being so widespread, to the point it is almost unnoticeable is what petrifies me the most. This paranoia runs deep in many cultures and if humans become creatures that are not able to realize terrible stereotypes inherent in our generations, that is a real danger. Not being able to feel any compassion if innocent Arab lives are taken away, is a serious warning.  In order to have a critical mindset, education is one of the key tools we are lucky to have in this country and I now feel a strong responsibility to utilize it properly. 

I only deeply comprehended these issues through Mr.Paterson's class. He has nurtured my awareness and against such prejudice and invigorated me in educating myself on global issues, outside of class. I think everyone has a bias, including myself, my classmates, my teachers, and my parents. So maneuvering through society to claim a belief I am zealous about, then advocating or doing what I think I can do for society.