Author Archives: AnastasiaTsamos

In the Saudi Arabia episode of the Patriot Act, Hasan Minhaj discusses many common tropes about Islam. The episode focussed on how Saudi Arabia admitted to killing Washington post Journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, and how it inherently affected how Saudi Arabia was viewed by the United States.He even went as far to say that the portrayal of Khashoggi’s murder was “the most bizarre cover story since Blake Shelton won sexiest man alive”. The tropes include many tropes although Minhaj heavily discussed topics that portrayed Islam as uniquely sexist and Islam as a Monolithic religion. Minhaj’s use of comedy brings a sense of lightness to an otherwise not so easy discussion of acts racism and stereotyping against Muslims.

Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS), the Saudi crown prince, was seen by the Western World as a “reformer” of the Islamic world. MBS is known for lifting the ban against females being able to drive. Minhaj went on to show a video of a Saudi Arabian women rapping while driving her car after the ban was lifted—she was clearly happy about the change in legislation. The western world praised MBS for this because Islam has long been viewed as inherently sexist. Although the murder of Khashoggi quickly altered American opinion of MBS, as he was the one that ordered the killing.

It is often that Islam is portrayed as a monolithic religion, one that all believers think and act the same. This idea creates a generalization of millions as if they were one single individual with one opinion and one view on the world, although that is clearly not the case. Minhaj discussed that “Saudi Arabia is home to two of the holiest cities in the Islamic world, Mecca and Medina”. He referenced this as an issue of the portrayal of those who follow the religion, and how it is inherently harmful to Muslims. Minhaj went on to say that “Saudi Arabia was basically the boyband of 9/11, they didn’t write the songs, but they helped get the group together”. He was attempting to bring light to the control and power that Saudi Arabia has over how individuals view the religion, again in an extremely monolithic manner.

Minhaj, as a Muslim himself was able to discuss the tropes through an effective satirical approach. In my opinion, he was successful in depicting Saudi Arabia in the way that Muslims view the country, unlike how it is portrayed in Western media.

Throughout my experience at the Museum of Anthropology, the art pieces brought to light the many issues Indigenous people faced and still face today. As I walked through rows and rows of artwork, holding the devastating stories of oppression, but also the beautiful stories of culture, love, and family. The pieces that struck me the most was ‘Her First Day of School’ and ‘His First Day of School’ by Dionne Paul. The artworks depict the immense oppression against Aboriginal children within the era of residential schools in Canada. The artworks compare the residential school system with modern day schooling. Dionne Paul describes the first day of school as a day that is “typically synonymous with nervous yet proud parents sending their clean, well fed, well dressed children off to a safe learning environment to play and meet new friends and then return home”, although for Indigenous families “the first day of school was for many decades, was the opposite experience”.

Kramer would describe Paul as an artist warrior: she was “able to unsettle the museum visitor by disorienting their expectations. Myself, as a museum visitor, the artworks did disorient my expectation. In fact, many of the artworks within the museum did, although Paul’s piece in particular blew me away, in the sense that my mind couldn’t break away from the piece.

Looking into the eyes of the children within the piece, you see a happy child, smiling from ear to ear. But for the Indigenous children shown on the overlaid image, that was not the case. The two images represent the lives of thousands of Indigenous children and families, and the struggles they faced throughout Canadian history.

As I learned about the Egyptian revolution, it was apparent to me that social media played a great role in its successes. Manuel Castells article “The Egyptian Revolution” coincided with my beliefs that social media enables sociopolitical change. Being able to present ‘for’ the statement, allowed me to fight on the side I believed in. Going into the debate I felt strongly about my beliefs, although I was open to hearing what the other group was going to propose.

The Castells reading expressed how social Media sites like Facebook, twitter and YouTube have given Egyptians a platform to express their beliefs and, therefore, spark a conversation on political issues. It was social media that allowed information and news to spread quickly across Egypt, allowing for the number of revolutionaries to increase rapidly. Our group felt strongly that during the revolution, social media gave Egyptians the ability to hear news straight from the source, unlike mainstream media outlets in which news was often skewed to paint the revolutionaries in a negative light. We believed that social media gave Egyptians a voice that could not be silenced by the government.

After taking part in the debate, most of my opinions stayed the same. The side arguing ‘against’ did have some valid points on how many revolutions have occurred throughout history before social media was invented. Although, I acknowledge that many great social movements have occurred, I believe that social media ultimately enhances the traditional forms of protest that have been used in the past. Hearing form the side that read the Dean article, it was evident that the article differed from the Castells reading as it relied on the idea that social media is unreliable and possibly invalid because anyone can post on social media.

In conclusion, my opinions on whether ‘be it resolved social media enables sociopolitical change’ have not been altered after partaking in the debate.

Works cited:

Castells, Manuel. “The Egyptian Revolution” Networks of Outrage an Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age, 2015.

Back in October of 2012, a teenager from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia committed suicide due to her struggles with bullying and cyber-bullying. At the age of 12, Amanda Todd was taken advantage of when an older male persuaded her to flash her breasts on an online webcam group chat. Someone screenshotted it and sent it around to all of Amanda’s Facebook friends and her life took a turn for the worst. From then on she would continuously receive threats and hate comments both online and in person. Through these events, Amanda’s struggles with depression and anxiety skyrocketed. She moved around to many different towns and schools although the photo haunted her everywhere she went, the bullying never stopped. In September of 2012, Amanda posted a soon-to-be viral Youtube video titled “My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm” telling her story about her struggles with bullying. Soon after in October 10, 2012, Amanda Todd took her own life in her home.

Now in 2018 the chilling YouTube video has over 12 million views and was watched by people from all over the world. Her story sparked a conversation on bullying, specifically cyberbullying which was considered relatively new at the time. It brought light to something that was new and was never going away. Bullying had surpassed name-calling and stuffing kids in lockers. Social media gave individuals the ability to hate on someone anonymously and within the comfort of their own homes. It spread awareness on how to be safe, avoid predators online and it sparked a conversation amongst families within Canada and all over the world about cyberbullying and online safety.

Cyber-bullying has existed since the early 2000’s with the introduction of social media sites like myspace and Facebook. Although, it was an issue noticed by those affected by it and it was not viewed as a public issue. Social media is growing exponentially by the minute, making it easier for anyone to hide behind a screen and post or message something hurtful without thinking twice. Amanda’s story exposed an ongoing issue within the new social media world. It was a story that went viral throughout mainstream media and ironically social media. It made people realise the effects of bullying and how one mean comment or post could cause someone to do the unthinkable and end their own life. As a society we must end this online hate culture that is so prevalent throughout social media and continue to share stories like Amanda’s in order to spread awareness and prevent the horrific outcomes of cyberbullying.

Sources:

Leung Wency, and Dakshana Bascaramurty. “Amanda Todd Tragedy Highlights How Social Media Makes Bullying Inescapable.” The Globe and Mail, 12 Oct. 2012, www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/amanda-todd-tragedy-highlights-how-social-media-makes-bullying-inescapable/article4611068/.

“Timeline of the Amanda Todd Cyberbullying Case.” Www.vancouversun.com, 18 Apr. 2014, www.vancouversun.com/technology/Timeline Amanda Todd cyberbullying case/9750949/story.html.

TheSomebodytoknow. My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm, YouTube, 7 Sept. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOHXGNx-E7E&t=12s.

The phenomenon of Harry Potter has lasted long past its day. Last weekend I attended my little cousin’s birthday party and I was shocked to see my favourite childhood characters plastered over every plastic plate, cup, and of course the birthday cake. Now in 2018, 8-year old’s’ are still obsessing over Harry Potter, just like my 8-year old self did. J.K. Rowling’s book and later adapted film series has stood the test of time. The first novel was released 1997 and the last film was released in 2011. In the words of Henry Jenkins “if it doesn’t spread, its dead” (Jenkins et al. 1), and the Harry Porter franchise certainly is not dead. In a world where media is constantly changing—how is it that a series can stay relevant for over two decades?

(HDmoviecodes)                                                         (WordPress)

The franchise is and has been loved by people of all ages, whenever the newest film would come out, everyone would talk about it. As a high topic of conversation, the series following grew larger as the years went by. The ability for its success is confirmed by Jenkins idea of ‘stickiness’—“the need to create content that attracts audience attention and […] motivate them to share […] [it] with others” (Jenkins et al. 4). Jenkins idea of stickiness goes hand in hand with his idea of ‘spreadability’ in which it “values the activities of audience members to help generate interest in particular brands or franchises […] [and] assumes that anything worth hearing will circulate through […] all channels (Jenkins et al. 7). The series has resulted in online interactive sites like Pottermore, merchandise sales, amusement parks, video games, and stage performances, all in which contribute to the franchises success. There is no doubt the franchise has successfully circulated through all and every available channel. Even today, 7 years after the last film was released, the franchise is estimated to be worth a whopping $25 billion.

(American Holidays)

One cannot pin-point a single reason why the Harry Potter series ‘spread’ like butter or was a ‘sticky’ as sap. Although nobody can deny its ability to reach millions all over the world and that the love for the series will be passed down for many generations to come. The Harry Potter franchise has not and will never be considered ‘dead’.

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