Think of a recent atrocity. Explain how some people might immediately attach a ‘ready-made meaning’ (see Class Notes) to such important historical events. What might some of these ‘ready-made meanings’ look like?
--MW
Mister Wu Steven Deon Wu English High School
Points of exploration: (see class notes) Think of a recent atrocity. Explain how some people might immediately attach a ‘ready-made meaning’ (see Class Notes) to such important historical events. What might some of these ‘ready-made meanings’ look like? --MW The article “East Asia’s nationalists are sparring over fantasy islands” (See Comments)
2 Comments
Claudius
9/10/2012 08:46:18 pm
In 2007, the Portugal's national referendum legalized non-therapeutic abortions, thus raising both outcries and supports. The immediate response springing from the old generation may be that the government now is supporting the act of murder as the nontherapeutic abortions will intentionally harm and take away other beings' lives. But, it appears very unehtical and undemocratic when the government bans on abortion, because it is stripping pregnant women's reproductive choice. In additon, with the continual flow of time, people will realize there are both rights and wrongs for a particular thing. It just depends on people's social and cultural environment and their intrepreation.
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Maria
9/30/2012 01:16:47 pm
In the article “East Asia’s nationalists are sparring over fantasy islands”, the author asserts that China and Japan are fighting over mere "few uninhabited rocks in the East China Sea (or Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands)" and that South Korea and Japan are fighting over mere "a couple of tiny islets in the Sea of Japan (or Dokdo)" by "manipulating the history of a devastating war." The author states that Dokdo Island has "little material value." This author must be not aware that Dokdo Island is, with very high possibility, pointed out to be as the source of "Gas Hydrate" - the critical source of energy - and that it is fishery basis of the East Sea. But I'm not trying to criticize the author's lacking knowledge here; in fact, I'm trying to point out his usage of "ready-made meaning" in this article. In this article, the author describes Japanese occupation of South Korea as "brutality," and as I'm a South Korean, whose grandparents have gone through the thirty five years of Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, I very well know that this historical event could not possibly be simplified in one term: "brutality." The literal meaning of "brutality" is: "the trait of extreme cruelty." What is an extreme cruelty? Everyone has different standard of what "extreme cruelty" is. The term "brutality" does not exist; it is neither visible nor tangible. It is so abstract, and its existence cannot be proved. And still, many viewers of this article will acknowledge the Japanese occupation of South Korea as "brutality" after reading this article. We often say that abortion is a brutal act, and that abusing animals is also a brutal act. Then, are Japanese occupation of South Korea, abortion and animal abuses all comparable? The author argues that the three countries are "manipulating" the history of war, but who is really manipulating this important historical event?
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