Saudi Arabia changed the official version of the death of Washington post journalist Jamal Khashoggi several times. After weeks of denial, Saudi finally admitted that Khashoggi dead inside their consulate in Turkey. The cover-up of the truth aroused public indignation that people are angry, including Hasan Minhaj who’s the host of the television show Patriot Act. By telling the murder case of Jamal Khashoggi, Minhaj analyzed the role of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. He joked that “this is the most unbelievable story since Blake Shelton won sexiest man alive”, which clearly showed his attitudes towards the cover-up story that it’s incredible and absurd to protect MBS by covering up the truth. Thus, I believe MBS played a really significant role in the main cause of the murder and the subsequent incidents.

Minhaj engaged with several common tropes about Islam. First of all, when talking about Saudi Arabia and 9/11, Minhaj uses the trope that “they didn’t write the song, but they have got the group together” to show the extremism of Saudi. Muslims are commonly described as extremists, while Minhaj mentioned that “Saudi Arabia is only 2% of the entire Muslims population”. Consequently, I would call it “overgeneralization” that people judge the whole Islam with a one-sided stereotype. “whenever Saudi does something wrong, Muslims around the world have to live with the consequences”, said by Minhaj.

Secondly, the U.S still use the offensive word “negro blood” on the official military document to describe Saudi Arabian which was a direct and powerful way to show the common trope about Islam. Muslims are still discriminated by countries like America.

Moreover, Muslims usually give the world an impression of sexism which is a cliché stereotype. Sexual discrimination can be told through the rap video that women can finally legally driving cars. In the rap video, the woman happily sang the rap as the end of the female driving ban, “she sits in the car, she sits on the car, she stands in the sunroof, she does everything but drives that car”, ridiculed by Minhaj. This is a trope about gender issues exist in Islam.

The whole show hosted by Hasan Minhaj had a humorous atmosphere. It is definitely an effective way to respond to these ironic tropes by using comedies which turns  Islam topics more attractive. The topics of Islam are supposed to be sensitive that people are unwilling to talk about them. By telling the common tropes of Islam in a humorous way, Minhaj raises the public awareness of common tropes of Islam in Saudi Arabia. The most amazing thing about Minhaj’s show is that he told a serious problem in an entertaining way.

Peter Morin’s ‘This Song is a Museum’ (1977) is exhibited in a glass case with top light in Multiversity Gallery in the Museum of Anthropology. This artwork consists of five drums and a drumstick, which are placed in picturesque disorder. The drumstick is heavily decorated by shiny beads on its shaft and covered with a white fur on the top.  It is noticeable that the fur at the top is dipped in black paint. The drums are made of elk-skin with different shapes include round and octagonal. Various patterns are painted on them. Apparently, Morin turns the drumstick into a brush and the drums into the canvas. The splash patterns of the black paint show the strength of playing the drums. Meanwhile, it tells the artist’s emotion. I saw peaceful, excitement, brightness and mild in his work through various shapes of the paint.  He reflects the pattern of life of Tahltan, which is a First Nations people group inhabiting British Columbia.

There’s a dagger of Tahltan which was strictly used for war is exhibited on the right side of the glass case. Meanwhile, clothing is also exhibited. These elements of defense, costumes and so forth constitute a more comprehensive culture of Tahltan. Artifacts which are made of black or white marble with exquisite craftsmanship are found on the left side of Morin’s work. They are labeled as representations of Inuit culture. While they share similarities with Morin’s ‘This Song is a Museum’ which is an artwork of Tahltan culture. Most of these artifacts are figures or sculptures of entertainment, such as sculptures of musical bands and chessboards. Both Inuit and Tahltan culture shows the awareness of aesthetic as well as entertainment of indigenous people. The museum curators claim that Morin’s artwork is a symbol of rich culture and a strong economic foundation. To provide evidence for it, the curators display other Tahltan exhibitions around ‘This Song is a Museum’ and shows their indigenous identity.

As a viewer, I was wondering how to formalize intangible things. A song is intangible, what makes a song? Morin gives me the idea that musical instruments are typical representations of a song. “The drums are a record of indigenous knowledge” explains by Morin. He mixes the indigenous elements into his artwork which is an outstanding example of indigenous identity. Most viewers don’t have the knowledge about the aboriginal people—Tahltan. Not everybody is familiar with the history or anthropology. However, we are familiar with the mundane musical instruments displayed in Morin’s artwork. He turns something abstract into something we familiar with.

Castells reveals the role that social media played in the Egyptian revolution, which leads to the question—does social media enables sociopolitical change? After reading his piece, I believed that social media played a vital role in the Egyptian revolution because his powerful examples showed that social media indeed had a catalytic effect on sociopolitical change. Castells mainly focused on social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. and reveals the impact of these social media platforms had on sociopolitical change was spreading information. In other words, it increased people’s awareness of the event. However, I was in the AGAINST side and I was doing the CLOSING STATEMENT. What I supposed to do is listen carefully to what my group stated and what my opposing group’s opinion and make a conclusion. Thus, what I had to do was to read his article again from a different perspective. Finally, we found the pieces of evidence that Castells claims that the revolution was never incommunicable after the government shut down the Internet (64). Consequently, our group focused on the truth that there were still sociopolitical changes without social media in the early stage by giving the example of Tiananmen Square revolution in China which happened in an era without social media. However, the key to the debate is listening to what our opposing group’s argument and it turned out that the examples we used weren’t persuasive enough. Thus, the debate truly changed my point of view after listening to others’ opinions.

By listening to other group debate, we know that Dean stands on an opposite point of view and gives rise to another controversial question that “does social media inhibits sociopolitical change?”. Thus, the main difference between Castells and Dean is obvious that their viewpoints on social media are opposite that Dean focuses on the invalidity of the voices people made online. From my perspective, the relationship between social media and sociopolitical change depends on various standpoints and the two articles from Castells and Dean are the best evidence to prove it.

Overall, the debate gave everyone in the class a chance to speak out. Compared with other activities we had in class like group discussion, almost everyone participated in the debate. Last but not least, the debate was a reflection of teamwork that it offered us opportunities to learn how to cooperate with others.

works cited

Castells, Manuel. “The Egyptian Revolution.” Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age(2015): 54-94.

Several weeks ago, a piece of news went viral. A school girl killed her friend and mutilated her body because of jealousy. The reason was simple, the poor victim had a gorgeous appearance and she was more popular among peers, especially on social media. The murderer, her friend, couldn’t take it anymore, and not only killed her, but went out of her way to make sure nobody would mistake her for “beautiful” anymore.

Jealousy exists everywhere, and has so for as long as humanity has existed… it’s on the list of “seven deadly sins” for a reason!

Regarding social media, the comparison phenomenon caused by jealousy is ubiquitous as well. People tend to show their best moments on social media, they update their posts in order to collect likes and comments which can be seen as a way of craving attention. It’s undeniable that you are proud to get praised or comments from online friends. Then it turns out that the collection of likes and comments is more like a competition, which can be seen as a new social dynamic, a new form of social power. Let me give you some examples for the new dynamic. Have you ever glanced over your home page of social media software repetitively to see how many likes and comments you’ve got? It might be too exaggerating to compare this mundane phenomenon with returning to the crime scene, but you will feel a similar sense of satisfaction if you got a mountain of likes and comments. Have you ever felt jealous…even for a moment, of those who get more likes than you?  Are they better than you? I’m sure that everyone has experienced this feeling, it’s natural. It totally can be understood that everyone gets jealous sometimes and our access to social media has allowed this jealous seed to grow into a full on tree. If the victim of this terrible murder didn’t cast such a powerful shadow with her social media, would she have even been targeted in the first place? I think not.

Can you remember what we were before? Decades ago, there was no social media software like Facebook or Instagram. Instead of over-indulging ourselves for empty fame, people were down-to-earth, which meant there was less comparison and jealousy. It’s not that it didn’t happen; we just weren’t presented with as many opportunities for it to happen. This “newness” can be proof that the generation gap is like an impassible barrier, the last generation are confused with the new phenomenon caused by advanced technology, while the new generation has never known life without it. On one hand it bridges the distance of the world, but it alienates people as well. When you go to a fancy restaurant, what would you do? You care less about the taste and pay more attention on how it looks like. You want everyone to know you are having dinner at a fashionable place. You’re engaged with social media and post photos online, and then you talk less to people around you. You become less connected with people you are supposed to be experiencing the dinner with.

Wake up, people! I appeal to everyone, put down your phones just for a while and talk with others. Don’t disguise yourselves with the mask of social media. Don’t make comparisons with fake information. Don’t leave the best moments on Facebook and Instagram, while hiding a darker reality.