2 F2F Class Notes (Ally)

1. Consumerism vs nationalism
   Do you think buying products from another country(maybe a country not too friendly with China) is an example of “treason”? Are you betraying your country or just exercising your right to choose as a consumer? Does “made in China” or “made in the US” play a part in your purchasing decisions? Is it right for “keyboard warriors/man” to judge people who buy products from abroad?

*be sincere/in your content, you can be “unsafe”. But “safe” in your writing.

personal anecdote -> theme of story -> grand value

thesaurus “said” “good” “bad”

2. finish editing today’s speaking (R’s part)

posts that clearly said
state/claim

Q: What is a common stereotype that you’ve heard of? What do you think? Do you think judging people based on stereotypes is harmful to our society or is it natural? Compare the Chinese vs the Western society on this issue?

A: The SHnese have a prejudice against people from other part of China, especially people from Anhui, Henan… One day when I was on the subway, two women were fighting with each other, verbal attack, not physically involved… It’s because one of them had their phone.. she played videos on her phone without wearing an earphone, and then they argued… At first, it was only about the phone, the thing itself. then the target gradually shifted to the person. One of them dressed fashionably, and the other one looks pretty humble. So the fashionable lady started to speak Shanghainese to insult the other lady because she presumed the other one was from “countryside”, based on appearances. the other one still spoke in Mandarin, she said that “you shouldn’t have prejudice against us”… the fashionable lady started to completely lash out and said “go back to your countryside and start farming, you stupid migrants”. And some other Shnese people start to interfere, saying” don’t say words like that”, but she continued. At last, the other lady couldn’t bear it, and started to speak Sh…The fight quickly ends after they found out they were on the same side.

I don’t think either part gets hurt. I think it was other people sitting in that subway that get hurt, because not all of them were SHnese, including me. I felt like I was not welcomed in this city, it’s just this lady spit it out in the public. That idea is probably shared by other people in SH. I feel like some people share the same feeling with me, feeling extremely uncomfortable. In the end, everything is about ourselves. To conclude, the harm of stereotypes is that it divides us into different groups, and separates us. It wipes out any possibility of mutual understanding and it also kills the kindness that most people innately have.

Edited:

A: The SHnese have a prejudice against people from other part of China, especially people from Anhui, Henan… One day when I was on the subway, two women were fighting with each other, verbal attack, not physically involved… It’s because one of them had their phone.. she played videos on her phone without wearing an earphone/ on speakerphone very loudly, and then they argued… At first, it was only about the phone, the issue/matter at hand itself. then the target gradually shifted to the person across from them. One of them was dressed fashionably, and the other one looks pretty humble/plain. So the fashionable lady started to speak Shanghainese to insult the other lady because she presumed the other one was from “countryside”, based on appearances. the other one still spoke in Mandarin, she said that “you shouldn’t discriminate”… At this statement, the fashionable lady started to completely lash out and said “go back to your countryside and start farming, you stupid migrants”.At this statement, some other Shnese people start to interfere, saying” don’t say words like that”, but she continued. At last, the other lady couldn’t bear it, and started to speak Sh…The fight quickly ended after they found out they were on the same side/playing on the same team.

Raphael:

I don’t think either part gets hurt. I think it was other people sitting in that subway that got hurt, because not all of them were SHnese, including me. I felt like I was not welcomed in this city, it’s just this lady spit it out in the public. That idea is probably shared by other people in SH. I feel like some people share the same feeling with me, feeling extremely uncomfortable. Obviously, things like this could happen around us everyday, all the time. And I don’t want to be a “snowflake” and make everything about me, but in the end, that’s why stereotypes hurt the society so much. They are integrated into our everyday conversations and engagements, invisibly entrenched in our nature. Unless we identify them in our everyday life, the harm of stereotypes is going to continue to separate us.  It wipes out any possibility of mutual understanding and it also kills the kindness that most people innately have. It makes us worse people.

Ally:

I don’t think this incident was just about a personal attack on an irritating old lady. I think the lady’s words had an infectious/venomous effect; Being a newcomer to Sh myself, I felt like I was the one she was pointing her finger at. I realized that this is not some particular, one-time incident, it’s part of a bigger phenomenon; lots of local SHnese people probably had the same idea. They are just embarrassed to voice it. I don’t want to sound like a naive, self-conscious “snowflake” and make everything about me, but in the end, words and actions can go so much further and everything eventually does become about me.