In this unit, we discussed the topic of representations of history and memory with respect to global issues around the world. Viewing the documentary: 13th, I discovered the hidden secret regarding the history of the United States. I think the most resonating scene is the comparison between the world map and the US and emphasizing the comparison by saying the 25% of the prisoners are in the US while the US just only stood as a small portion of the world. It emphasizes the severity of the US regarding security and the land of free.  The idea of racial discrimination and injustice toward people of color, then, is introduced through mass incarceration in the documentary. Inequality presented that against people of color is also highlighted through the evidence backed up by real-life examples and personal experiences which leads us to really discuss deeper into this continued racial discrimination process after the slavery era, just in another way.

We, then, have been introduced to the articles written by Michelle Alexander, specifically in the form of an op-ed. Michelle Alexander expresses her arguments about racial discrimination, violence, and corruption in the articles respectively.  I found the article named “Reckoning with Violence” the most attractive as it talks about how prison might not be the best way to sanction people with crime and preserve peace in the world. The article mentioned that the alternatives of prisons including mental therapies, restoration, and building bonds with communities are better choices than prison. Alexander believed that the way prison operates will only cause more tensions and hatred between people, ultimately worsening the situation regarding violence and peace.

If I were to write an op-ed, I would be writing about a current issue that is significantly affecting the way the world operates and is detrimentally doing so. With that in mind, I would like to write about injustice and discrimination specifically toward Asians and people wearing masks. It is a very serious issue as our health are depending on it. In many places, some tend to discriminate against people who wear masks and claim them to be wrong or sick. Most of the people being criticized through this are Asians and this has caused them to feel discriminated especially in Western countries, which they shouldn’t deserve to be treated like that by doing the right thing to protect not just his/herself health but the entire population. It is a severe issue because the way we combat the covid-19 pandemic is significantly important, and wearing masks is probably the best way to do so. Discriminating people wearing masks, then, become a serious issue that should get attention globally, and it would be a strong topic that I can write about with my op-ed especially relating this unit to the current event happening around the world.

In this unit, we see several activists promoting rights that they believe are either  undermined or neglected in the society. They use their voice both verbally and literally to make impact to convey ideas to audience about reasons and determination on their topics. For me, I would probably write about any related topics about injustice presents in this society which this can be in social classes, hierarchies, inferiority of certain groups and gender. I believe it is essential to voice up for those that face injustice when those injustice should never exist in the society. I hope to provide several real-life example that really happened in the past or still happening to emphasize the necessity of such changing is needed in this society.

The rhetorical appeals I will be using is probably pathos, which is appeals to emotions. I believe emotions is a huge part on tying audience’s attention to the targeted topics. If audience do really perceive the message with emotions, they will more likely to act on it and have the consciousness to wanting to solve it which their actions. The literary devices that I will use is anaphora, which is repeating the same word or phrase at the beginning of consecutive sentences. I think it is very strong to repeat the same idea over and over again to emphasize the main idea of the text. I will be looking deeper into this in the following week…

In this formative discussion, our group discuss the topic on the impact of examples on the way language and behaviors are shaped in society of that era. This topic can be fully demonstrated in the book Kindred especially on the scene when the n word is spoken from Rufus mouth with no intention to really humiliate the African Americans. He claims that his mom said that word every time unless she has a company; “Dana: “Your mother always call black people n….., Rufe?” Rufus: “Sure, except when she has company, why not?” (Butler 19). One idea that I contributed in this discussion I found intriguing has to relate to our perception of ethics. I raise a doubt or based on my curiosity that if we should condemn or question one’s language or behavior just because their ways of language or behavior are not appropriate or corresponded in our perception of our era and when they are just following the languages and behaviors that have already been modeled in their era. I believe the author creates this type of scene between the past and the present for a purpose especially when there is a significant contrast between the two era about how African American are treated. Our discussion always connects to the non-literary text written by Alexander which emphasizes the continued racial inequality present in society, which it becomes a norm where people thought it has been changed while that kind of perception is only an illusion; the reality of it has never changed at all.

Through reading the article of The Injustice of This Moment is Not an ‘Aberration’ by Michelle Alexander, I found an innovative perspective of viewing racial injustice in terms of the authority from politics. The point about people that uphold authority can manipulate the tendency of problems is fully demonstrated in the article in respect of the US presidents. Despite how the author stated her standpoint about the Republicans and the Democratic, she emphasizes that the action done or promoted regarding racial injustice is still all an illusion at the end. While we appear to have made progress, it is merely an appearance, there are so many systems in place that continue the systems of racial and social control which ultimately made “the nation trapped in a cycle of  racial reform, backlash, and re-formation of systems of racial and social control.

Often time, we tend to wanting to promote racial equality through the idea that “there are no differences between races” in order to enhance the similarity of human race. However, this set of idea may have caused the present crisis to be worsen. This type of mindset build up that so-called “illusion” of social justice, which causes the danger of losing the history of the person’d culture, race, ethnicity, and also the value of the individual. Therefore, we should be aware of such issue more carefully with thorough consequence simulated in this society.

Octavia Butler is the author of the book, Kindred. During her interview, she stated that she has a vivid imagination growing up as a strange kid and most of time, alone. Being a writer in the modern era, Butler aims to not just be a black woman science fiction writer, but being a writer that is not set back to any limitation. When writing the book, Kindred, Butler aims to wrote herself into the story and explore in-depth to the place where the scene is set up, Maryland. It is considered that this book is one of the accomplishment that she made that is most associated with her. The writing style she has, add up the genuine scene set up about the slavery during the 1800s.

Kindred is a novel written by Octavia E. Butler that set scene under the era when slavery wasn’t prohibited. From reading at the prologue and the first chapter “The River”, I found this novel mysterious as there are several surprising scenes especially in the first chapter. I am confused and surprised with the idea of vanishing and reappearing in just seconds as it does not appear naturally in reality. The two scenes presented during the event of vanishing and reappearing seem to demonstrate different aspect of the story. The scene with Kevin seem to be the reality and portray the mysterious part about the another scene which portray the encounter of the protagonist with a family that scared the author due to the threats of the gun and makes her feel insecure. The author claims that these two scenes are actually real and present and reject the idea of hallucination. Overall, the set up of the scene is very intriguing and makes the audience wants to explore further about the context of the story in the following chapters.

Reading onto “The Fire”, the overall context of the story starts to become more visible and clear. I become certain that the vanishing event is has to do with time traveling. The emerging scene in my mind is the “traumatic encounter” faced by Dana. It was a shocking moment for her to see someone being whipped to nearly death live. The sensation of that moment engraved a strong sense of fear in her inner world. The quote stated”I could literally smell his sweat, hear every ragged breath, every cry, every cut of the whip.”, which also demonstrate the cruelty of the traumatic encounter and ultimately stood as a critical point in the story in terms of mentally impact to Dana after the time traveling(Butler 33). The usage of anaphora also strengthen the overall idea of the fearful perception regarding the trauma.

In “The Fall”, Kevin is dragged into the past with Dana and experience different way of treatment because of its race as white, which is considered superior at that period of time. However, it did not make Kevin become egoistic. Both of them experience a sense of culture shock in terms of time especially in one scene about a group of slave children acting out a scene of a slave auction. While Kevin is being more optimistic about how the kids are just imitating what they seen in their lives, Dana acts more pathetic about it saying that: “They don’t have to understand. Even the games they play are preparing them for their future – and that future will come whether they understand it or not”(Butler 106).

As the time Dana stays in the past longer, she begins to influence others from her contemporary mindset, Rufus might be the one that got influenced the most. Without the presence of Dana, Rufus used to called the slaves with the “n” word. However, Dana corrects this insult to African American by giving an example to let Rufus knows the feeling of being insulted, which she asks Rufus that: “How do you feel when someone called you ‘trash’?”(Butler 95). Rufus changes his way to called the slaves and he changes his attitude towards the slaves, not with a strong superior tone anymore.

From my perspective, the topic that we have here about technological threats and triumphs has to do a lot with how human has incorporated innovative technology into our daily lives in which it is indirectly affecting other factors that coexisted in this world. It discusses the consequence of such technological advancement to be either a detrimental contribution or a successful checkpoint marking the continued progression of human civilization.

The science fiction novel, Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro presents technological development as a way that negatively affected society. By presenting the idea of human cloning and how the innovation of such a technique has impacted human’s perceptions of lives, which include their psychological alternation of lives, humans, then, tend to forget the principles that we uphold such as ethics, and become dissatisfied if this innovation is prohibited. This is probably due to that, within our soul, there is always that avarice in which humans tend to fulfill our own needs prior to others. This problem does not just occur in technological advancement but also in other global issues such as global warming and deforestation.

With that being said, I decided to write my essay on the topic of the conflict between human desire and ethics through rapid technological development and focuses specifically on the context provided in Never Let Me Go. Towards the end of the story, Ishiguro begins to reveal the damage or harm done by the innovation of human cloning in society by writing the novel in a dystopian genre. This raises the awareness of human’s intention of technological development and intends to inform the audience to be more cautious about our innovation of technology which can cause consequences that we are never aware of. By reading the novel, I explore further issues that I have never thought of before such as how the effect of technology. I have always thought that the continued advancement of technology in society is able to benefit humans in certain ways, however, I never thought of the effect it can cause from other aspects such as the environment and our perception of the world.

Furthermore, the experience to meet with Audrey Tang and the documentary of “The Social Dilemma” also gives me additional perspectives to view technological advancement in society. Audrey Tang is Taiwan’s Digital minister and believes that open government, social innovation, and youth engagement can be the determining factors to a country’s development and overall status. He has a unique perspective, especially on internet usage. While most people believe hacking is always bad, he points out some ideas about how people can actually benefit from hacking. Another concept that I learned from him is the attitude towards challenges. While having several innate difficulties and obstacles, he does not let his conditions limit his action towards challenges. I think this is an important mindset that can be applied when facing challenges in life. Also, for the documentary, although I did not watch the majority part, I found one concept really remarkable which is the direction and mindset towards the usage of social media. This topic is something I never thought of because I am so used to the existence of social media and the convenience it provides. It is new to me that social media is such an influential factor that some people utilize it to manipulate people’s perception towards the truth or specific incident, therefore, resulting in a chaotic society full of panicking and false messages.

In conclusion, this unit really allows me to think further into areas that I have never thought of. It also raises my awareness of the presence of continued technological advancement and the effect it can really impact on my life. I begin to ponder more on the more proper way of using technology, ultimately becoming a better person that does not let technology overpower myself and my values in society.