PeaceFlower1016

    Today, we learned about how the media, especially movies portray Arabs. But Mr. Paterson told us few things before we started. He told us about the story of Emily Wilder. She worked for the Associated Press, a company that gives topics to other big newspapers. However, Wilder was fired because when she was a university student, she was in a group that promoted "Justice for Palestine". The Associated Press said that she is biased so she shouldn't be working for the company. Mr. Paterson also told us that the head of the NY Times lives in the stolen land in "Israel". Then we watched the documentary "Reel Bad Arabs". Hollywood movies often use Arabs as the bad guys and project them as villains. For example, the Disney movie Aladdin starts off with the lyrics "They cut off their ear if they don't like your face it's barbaric but hey it's home". Also, even though they are of the same race, the villains have darker skin and stereoty...

    Today in our class we learned new shocking facts about what is going on in Palestine. I learned new facts about Palestine that I never heard of before. Palestine is very densely packed and 50% of the population is under 20 years old. This is due to bad healthcare and the fact that only 5 % of the population having access to clean water regularly. We learned in our last class that the Israeli soldiers control Palestinian roads but we also learned that the ports and all the access to the outside have been bombed by Israeli soldiers. And there are no roads that connect Gaza and the West Bank. Then we watched footage from Twitter that wasn't censored like the mainstream media. I learned some shocking facts about where Israel is bombing. Mr. Paterson also told us Facebook admitted to censoring Palestinian voices, Mark Zuckerburg the CEO of the company is Jewish.     The most memorable thing in today's class was when we watched videos from Twitter. I 've alre...

    Today, our class started in the hallway, at least mine was. When we tried to walk into the classroom, Mr. Paterson stopped us and asked if we lived in the Saitama prefecture. I live in Tokyo so I wasn't let in. I was very confused because I couldn't find the connection between where I lived and why I wasn't let in. Only a few people were allowed to go inside, I was very curious about what they were doing inside. I was a little jealous that they get to have a special experience. When Mr. Paterson came out to the hallway again, he told us we can get in unless we show our ID cards. Since I had mine with me I was let in, but Haoto forgot it in her locker so she was told that she had no permission to go in. I couldn't hear what Mr. Paterson told her but she was eventually let in. Mr. Paterson opened the door to let in few students at a time so the people in the back of the line took more time to get in. Even after the non-Saitama students were given permission to come in...

     Today Mr. Paterson showed us an article from BBC News. The title was “24 people killed including 9 children in Gaza as Israel strikes Hamas following rocket attacks”. The problem with this title is that usually people only read the headline and not the whole article, so with this wording people won’t know if Israeli children or Palestinian children were killed. If the viewer didn’t know the reality in Palestine, they may misinterpret the article. Then Mr. Paterson explained to us with a demonstration with Ayana. He took Ayana's computer and to get it back she punched him. However, his fellow journalists only reported the part where Ayana punched Mr. Paterson. With no context, readers will assume that Mr. Paterson is the victim because most people don't do their own research. Like this example, BBC News started with Ayana, Palestine, punching Mr. Paterson, Israel. They don't cover the "why", what happened before Palestine's rocket fire. I learned that the ...

Today Mr. Paterson showed us an article about Israel and Palestine from BBC News. From looking at this article, it taught us about how the media uses language to try to put a particular impression on the viewers. They used languages like “kidnapped the Israeli soldiers”, “detained the Palestinian citizens” for the Israeli soldiers to make an impression that the Palestinians are the “bad guys”. The phrasing that I find most surprising was “swept to power” because even though the Palestinian officials were democratically elected, BBC News used this term to make it look as if the officials are the villans I was also surprised that the mass media was not covering the war crimes that the Israeli government has done but covered how Palestine bombed Israel which had little damage to the country.  Mr. Paterson also showed us how the big traditional media uses techniques to try to portray a certain type of image. We were shown the front page of the London Evening Standard which was photosho...