May 20th 2021

In today's class, we watched a video clip and learned about how movies (mainly Hollywood) inflicts a negative image of Arabs. I learned how movies give incorrect images to people watching them by imagining it that if these Arabs were Japanese.  

Before this class, I was thinking that movie does not influence people thoughts much, that people would know that this is just a movie, and fewer people would connect to real life. However, watching the movie and listening to Mr. Paterson, my thought completely became the opposite. There were too many movies that depict Arab people as a "bad guy", even in the anime for children. Because of that, the image that Arab people are valiant and evil is embedded in many people. In reality, when I hear the words "Terrorists", I imagine Arab people. I do not watch movies much, but I think this is because many people around me have the image that Arab people are evil, and I was unconsciously having the same image as them. I felt that the stereotypes people have are embedded without any consciousness, because of the image that the world has, from a few decades ago. 

I was shocked by the data that 25% of the Hollywood movie portrays Arab people as a evil, and stupid character, which is the antagonistic of the main character. Also, I was simply surprised that Holliwoods show the US military as a hero, justice, and a cool guy. I was convinced that the government wants many people to have an interest in US military, and join it when they grow up. However, it was a little surprise for me that in Japanese dramas and movies, the country(military, governments, ministers etc)  are commonly depicted as the mastermind. Because of this, people has a bad image to Japanese governments and ministers. I thought it is the same thing as this, that many people would have a bad image to the Arab people. Especially in the point that there stereotypes are indoctrinated to the children, as the movie from Disney also portrayed the ara people as the evil character. 

When I watched further of the video clip at home, there were a part that the creator is wanting the Arab actor ( the actor who acts arab ) be violent and evil. I felt these stereotypes would not disappear for the long time, but we have to change it, to stop the discrimination. 

memo 

Selfe defense

threat level go down, we are not allowed to self defense

"We had to kill the children for self-defense, bombed the hospital fr health defense"

not to report unless you say this is data from Hamas that Americans think it is a group of terrorists. , and no one believes it. 

reed bad Arabs

Hollywood has a negative image of Arab. They make movies that portray arab is a bad people

Good image to Israel, nad it is reflected and portrayed in the movie

Alladin----- cutting of your ears if they do not like their face. 

arab is a country that does valid things

it is a kid movie

negative aspect of arab culture, cut girls hand because of feeding children. Gives negative image to people and children. 

The bad guy is Palestenian, but the actor is from india

25% of arabs are bad guy in the hollywood

if it was Japanese...

us marine is always the good guy, many people would think the military is cool, and a good person. People would prefer to join the military when they grow up. Hollywood portrays the military well, and Arab people bad. Predominantly owned by Jewish money. 

May 18th 2021

     In today's class, we first shared the paragraphs that we wrote in the last class, about Mr. Paterson's bag. I had a bias that the bag is good, and my pair Sayo had the bias that the bag is bad. We looked at each other's, and we found out that the paragraphs are completely different. Then, we watched many videos and news about what is happening now in Israel and Palestine. We saw videos about the girl　crying beside the bombed house, the interviews with people who lost the house by bombs, and we saw how the Israel children are taught about Palestine. 

     On the weekends, before having this class, I watched the news on the TV about Israel and Palestine, that Israel bombed Palestine's building. I saw in the video that the building is collapsing, and I was very shocked about it. However, in the time that I saw the video in the news, I only saw the fact that the building was collapsed, but my mind did not catch up to think about the people inside the building, the people living there, people watching it, and the people who lost their families and their precious ones. In the class, I felt behind this building collapse, there are many of the people's cry, shrieks, sorrow, anger. It is a natural thing, but it was quite unbelievable to me. The point that I was shocked the most was that the students in Israel are educated to discriminate against Palestinian people. I felt a sense of emptiness when one of the students said "When I see Palestine people I feel I want to kill them". I could not recognize the words, and the point that these words are being a "good" word in that community is too unnatural. I can not believe that these things are happening in this world, now, even while I am writing this blog post. I feel I am very powerless, and I am also frustrated that I can not do anything to help them. I thought that the reason many of the Japanese doesn't know about these things is not only because of the media, and I also think it is because people do not try to know this serious news. The information people choose has an offset, and they can not even reach the news that they should know, and keep accessing the empty news about the entertainment and more. Of course, the media should tell more news about this, but also, people should be conscious to gathering many kinds of information. 

memo

selfish 

children are told to discriminate against Jerusalem 

"They are being slaves" "I feel angry" 

to get the land

blowing up everything. 

pack the bags to live in 20 minutes

Gaza is a prizon

95% don't have regular access to clean water

memo

the most powerful five

are above the law, and it is unfair^^^^

they had the nuclear weapon the first, won ww2

May 13th 2021

     Today, we were first locked out of the classroom, and only Saitama people were allowed to go into the classroom. Even when we were able to get in by showing the ID card, we were not allowed to have a seat, and we should keep standing. To be honest, it was a little bit of fun experiencing this, but when I imagine this is happening in ordinary life, going to school, going shopping, going to the restaurant, it would be a painful life. I felt this is complete discrimination against the Palestine people, and it is infringing the right of them. This is a problem before the bias of the media, this is an issue that people should ameliorate as soon as they can. Through these classes, I got to know about the reality of Israel and Palestine, and it was a fulfilling time. 

      Also, we worked on making the paragraph about Mr. Paterson's bag, one for the perspective of criticizing it, and one for complimenting it. I am looking forward to reading other people's paragraphs and know the differences between the two perspectives. 

May 12th 2021

 Today, we talked about the bias of the media, picking up the topic of Israel and Palestine. I again realized my ignorance of what is happening, and how news topic has a bias. I found news from Japan that is completely on the Israel side. It was hiding the story before Palestine had a rocket attack on Israel. Also, it was using the word Israel 対抗(counter) and 反撃(counterattack) Palestine with a bomb to Palestine’s rocket attack (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/japanese/57066777.amp). 

 I thought that shouldn't happen, that media has the power to control people's image to the Palestine people. If the media call Palestine people terrorist, other people, mainly the outsider like us would have a negative impression on the Palestine people, and the composition that Israel is "good" and Palestine is "bad" be created. This is not a neutral way to report the news, and the media should not do that. I completely lost the reliability of the media, so I would like to have critical thinking when watching the news. 

May 11th 2021

Before I had these classes about Israel and Palestine, I never knew what was happening between Israel and Palestine. I just had a blurred image that there is a problem between Israel and Palestine. I thought this is a problem. Things happening in these countries are very important news that we need to know. However, in Japanese news media, not much news about Israel and Palestine is told. That is why I did not know what is happening in Israel and Palestine. Maybe, this news is hidden behind the news about Corona Virus, but it is a problem to not report anything. I thought we should not limit the source of information to few media, to have balanced knowledge, with less bias. 

April 28th 2021

 Today, we watched a video about milk with such medicine in it, and I got to know about the opaque of the media and the company. Because the company supports the media, the media can not outgo the negative news of the company that supports them. I felt this is a complete information manipulation, and it is very harmful to us. Originally, the media has a role to provide us the information that we should know. However, when that media concealed that information to people, people could never obtain any knowledge. The news that we saw in this class about milk was the news that people should know about it for their health, but they couldn't, at that time. Moreover, I feel this is happening every day, all around the world, maybe even now,  in Japan. If this is true, the media is not fulfilling their role and the credibility would deteriorate. I would like to be precarious when using media, not to be manipulated by them.