The first written mention of japan is in China’s history
books in the 1st century. Japan also just so happens to be the third
largest economy in the world after china and the united states. There is estimated 127.3 billion people, which is understandable
to why they come third on the richest country. The first website I looked at
was very informal, it was a form so anyone could write on it but it was useful
in the way that it criticised America from japans views. The majority of
japan do appreciate American, but the
people that do appreciate America are the younger generation as the older generation
can’t stand any other culture but there own. The thing with America and japan
is that the younger generation of Japanese want to have a lot of American culture
in there culture.The japaneese people have started to see Obama slip in specific
issues. For another country to care who is in charge of the united states is
very bizarre. The thing is they used to believe in Obama but in 2009 that was
when there hopes for Obama began to slip. The japaneese use to think that Obama
was a good choice but he failed to live up to there expectations which was why
he slipped a few points. Japan only had
74% confidence in his leadership which is good since in increased since
2008, but between 2008-2012 the country
lost faith in Obama. Japaneese have faith in obama’s international affairs
which majority countries do that isn’t America. Japan in china’s eyes in a
country that should hate America because in world war 2 they dropped atomic
bombs on them but japan is on friendly terms with America Politically and
socially which surprised china. The news
article is found in japan which is based on the war between America and japan
so it puts on a bad light for America as it’s a world war 2. Even though the government of japan may get on with american's politics only on a friendly basis the citzens of japan actually appreciate america which is why there mcdonalds trailers are mainstreaming in every country including countries that don't understand japanese.
Thursday, 10 October 2013
Where are this week's posts?
It is 12.45 on Thursday and so far only Alex has posted (well done). I know a have had a couple of emails about this but I must stress it is vital for you to complete your posts in advance of group meetings.
China's Views Of America
Blog
Week 3: What Does China Think Of America?
China is a country that is on the rise. Boasting
huge amounts of land and the world’s largest population it has also recently overtook
Japan as the world’s second biggest economy in the world. Many predict that it
will soon topple the United States as the world’s economic leader, and in fact
public opinion surveys show many mistakenly believe it already has, with pewglobal.org
claiming that a median of 41% of people in 21 countries named China as the
world’s leading economic power in comparison to the 37% that named the US. Since
China is going to play a huge role in shaping tomorrow’s world, I have chosen
to explore the views that Chinese people have of America.
I
begin with an article from chinadaily, an English-language newspaper published
in China. Throughout the piece the writer repeatedly criticizes aspects of President
Obama’s recent address at the United Nations General Assembly. He starts by
mocking the speech, sarcastically calling it ‘exceptional’, an allusion to
Obama’s rebuttal of Putin’s criticism of American society. He then proceeds to
question the judgment of Obama’s government in its use of drones and in deciding
to end the campaign in Afghanistan while Al-qaeda is still in existence. He
also criticizes Obama for the continued operation of Guantanamo Bay and for his
failure to come clean about the revelations by former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden in regards to spying activities conducted the government. Finally, he
claims the evidence and argument provided by Obama in response to the alleged
use of chemical weapons in Syria is flawed, and further mocks the U.S. by
referencing the use of an anthrax vial by Colin Powell at the 2003 UN Council
hearings on Iraq. To conclude, he criticizes Obama claim that it is ‘an insult
to human reason’ that other countries do not support his action for military
intervention in Syria, arguing that this statement itself is an insult to the
intelligence of people around the world.
I
believe that the criticisms leveled at Obama and the US government in the
article are valid to a significant degree on factual grounds alone. For
example, Obama promised during his first election campaign to close down
Guantanamo within a year of being elected, but he has essentially renegaded on
that promise, whilst the use of drones has resulted in large numbers of civilian
deaths. Furthermore the government’s inability to clarify its position on the
allegations of spy activities is very worrying, especially after recent events involving
the abuse of journalists at Heathrow. However there are some aspects of the
piece that are unfair, such as the criticism of the U.S. military’s retreat
from Afghanistan or the mockery of Obama, which is frankly uncalled for.
This piece
expresses the views of what we would call a professional or expert, but what
about those of people we may consider to be more normal or civilian. Two other sources which are unfortunately not of Chinese origin, can nonetheless provide valuable
insight into the views of the Chinese people. The general conclusion in regards
to U.S. foreign policy is that when questioned about U.S. influence abroad
their opinions are not positive. In fact, they criticize the U.S. as a bully
for its military intervention in other countries and ask why it feels the need
to try and rule over the world. The actions of the U.S. government were also
questioned on the topic of the debt it owed to China, with people asking why
the U.S. continues to borrow money from China despite many people there living
in poverty, and when they would pay them back. However, there was some praise
for the U.S. system, such as the right to free speech, democracy (though one
asked whether U.S. citizens really believed the country to be democratic) and
for its copyright system. One person also claimed the government “treats it people
so well” and “seldom if ever lies to its people”. The people of the U.S. were
generally praised as nice, friendly and helpful, whilst aspects of life there,
such as technology, charity, economy, jazz and architecture were also held in
high regard. With regards to the standard of living in America, people either
stated their belief that it was very good or questioned it.
Considering the actions
that took place during the Bush era and the continued presence of U.S. military
overseas I am inclined to say that the Chinese opinion on foreign policy is
valid. However, it can also be argued that expressions of opinions in China
need to be treated with great care because of the continued influence of the
state on media reporting within the country. Furthermore, the stated belief
that the government ‘seldom if ever lies to its people’ could not be further
from the truth considering the aforementioned spy allegations. The view that
Americans are generally nice people is valid, though we need to consider
whether those in China who believe this have actually met more than a few
Americans before coming to this conclusion. Likewise the view that the standard
of living in America is good may be valid, but needs to be treated with caution
as it is most likely that Chinese people, judging only from the limited sources
available to them, do not have an extensive knowledge of the country and as
such fail to recognize the struggles of those living in the poorest urban and
rural parts of the U.S.
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Strange map of America
STATE MOTTOES : THE 50 STATES
This 'strange' map is from the website http://strangemaps.wordpress.comThe United States share the motto 'In God we trust', this map represents each of the 50 states, which
have their own official mottoes (Emily Wick). I choose to look at this map for many different reasons.
First the colors of each states stand out, it really catch my attention. The map is composed of fifty separate linoleum block prints, they were individually printed,scanned and carved.
When I looked closer, I realized that each motto has a truly signification for each states. For example
Alabama ' We dare defend our rights', Alabama is known for many political rights and constitution: As Civil Right conflicts, Civil rights abuses, Civil Rights atrocities,plus for civil rights violation regarding black voter, etc..
America maps.
This
may not be an official picture from some official site or Google. I found this
picture on tumblr, someone use paint or some naft programme to use it but I
personally choose this picture because it represents the stereotypes of America.
But the stereotypes by there town. I picked this particular picture because
when I think of America I automatically stereotyped it to be obese or hipsters
and some of them to be surfer hippies because of how many of the towns are
shown by Tv shows or publicity. I never think of the towns to have politics
from the little towns like Springfield. The most obvious stereotype is
Las Vegas, it’s the most visited place for tourists but when people think of
Las Vegas they are brought automatically to casino's and with casino's come a lot
more negative stereotypes about America like strippers and murders.
But the biggest stereotype of America is
the obesity, because America has a problem with obesity we automatically
presume Americans are obese because of how many take away they have, there are
over 50,000 fast food restaurants and 25% of Americans consume fast food. So
with this many fast food restaurants how can we not presume that the majority
of Americans are in fact obese. Obesity is just one of the many problems that America
has to deal with as a stereotype. America has so many stereo types and there
are not all listed on this map because everyone’s opinion on America are very
different but these are just the main stereotypes. Since this map is showing not all the good
things about good stereotypes of America they are a few that should be put on
there like how generous the country is as a whole because they aid other countries, and send
over many soldiers to fight for other people’s battles. This is one of the
stereo types that people seem to forget when they are thinking of the star
obsessed or the obese country the good things about America that they do for
other countries. The second good
stereotype that people forget about America is the hardworking citizen’s, majority
of them work every day of there life to have what they have whether they like
the job or not.
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
A Map of the USA, a depressing thought!
It is highly expensive to cure a mood disorder through therapy at $75 dollars per 50 minute session(http://www.pricetherapist.com/RatesInsurance.en.html) so those who have depression will not accept treatment and it is thought many will not even bother to be diagnosed and will suffer alone. Most that go through depression find it cheaper to use anti-depressants which are significantly cheaper at $4 for 21 days worth (https://www.schnucks.com/pharmacy/save_on_generic_drugs.asp ) it shows that Americans prevent symptoms rather than curing them. We have to ask ourselves is this a representation of the struggles of American lifestyle and culture? Or a representation of the affects of the lack of healthcare and their abandonment to cure a disorder so simple to cure as Depression. Is America as patriotic as it is to cover up the fact that it is so bad? One of the main symptoms for Depression is denial after all...
'Direct Response Spending' Map of America
When I was given this task, I though it
might prove problematic to find a map that surprised me, because I thought I
knew a fair amount about the U.S. So when I happened to stumble across this particular
one about ‘direct response spending’, i.e. the use of a credit card after
seeing an advertisement, it was a god-send. To say I was surprised is a bit of
an understatement. I mean seriously, Wyoming, a state equivalent in size to the
UK, with a population of little more than half a million, has the highest
direct response transactions/spending in the whole of America! I would have
thought that people in the most urbanized states, mostly on the East Coast, like
New York and Massachusetts, would have
been most responsive to advertising because they are bombarded with it in
densely populated areas. So it was no surprise at first to see New Jersey (the most
densely populated state in the U.S.) coming in at 6th on the list.
But Wyoming was a surprise, as was Alaska. So how can this be explained? As I
began to read the information regarding this map and started to consider the
conditions people lived in, I found out that it might not be so strange to find
that states with such a low population density would have the highest figures
for direct spending. Instead, it actually made sense. In low population density
states, the shopping facilities on offer would pale in comparison with states
with big cities. People in these states are often quite isolated and would have
to spend hours driving just to get into town. As the spokesman for Litle and
Co. says, these are places ‘where brick-and-mortar retailers are fewer and further
between.’ So why would people there bother wasting time
driving to buy something, when they can just pick up the phone or go online and
order it as soon as they find something they fancy on the TV or a catalog? When
I realized this fact, the map made a whole lot more sense. Except for New
Jersey. This completely contradicts the argument I just made, and it is
difficult to know why. Together with Maryland, it is the only East Coast state
represented in the top 10, and the general point made by the map is that the
rate of ‘direct response spending’ tends to increase the further west you go.
So there must be special factors at work here, and I’d like to know what they
are.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)