VIP Class Notes (Raph)[R]

Vocabulary

Cleanse (v): 1- to make something completely clean. 2- to make someone or something morally clean or pure.
E.g.: Cleanse the cut thoroughly before you bandage it.
E.g.: ​Roman Catholics go to confession to be cleansed of their sins.

Ethnic cleansing (n): 1-the organized, often violent attempt by a particular cultural or racial group to completely remove from a country or area all members of a different group.
E.g.: The government has been accused of being complicit in the ethnic cleansing going on in the area.

Troll (v/n):to leave an insulting message on the internet in order to annoy someone, or the person who does that.
E.g.: He’s already getting trolled on social media for his comments after the game.

Sentiment (n): 1- a thought, opinion, or idea based on a feeling about a situation, or a way of thinking about something.
E.g.: Nationalist sentiment has increased in the area since the bombing.
E.g.: I don’t think she shares my sentiments.
E.g.: His son was overwhelmed by the sentiments of love and support in the cards and letters he received.

Sensationalism (n): 1- the act by newspapers, television, etc. of presenting information in a way that is shocking or exciting:
E.g.: The newspaper has been accused of sensationalism in its coverage of the murders.

Disproportionate (adj): 1- too large or too small in comparison to something else, or not deserving its importance or influence.
E.g.: There are a disproportionate number of girls in the class.
E.g.: The country’s great influence in the world is disproportionate to its relatively small size.

Humanitarian (n): 1- involved in or connected with improving people’s lives and reducing suffering. 2- 人道主义
E.g.: The prisoner has been released for humanitarian reasons.
E.g.: The United Nations is sending humanitarian aid (= food and supplies to help people) to the areas worst affected by the conflict.
E.g.: The well-known humanitarian, Joseph Rowntree, was concerned with the welfare of his employees.

Atrocity (n): 1- an extremely cruel, violent, or shocking act:
E.g.: They are on trial for committing atrocities against the civilian population.

Duality (n): 1- the state of combining two different things.
E.g.: His poems reveal the duality of his nature, the joy and hope, the fear and despair.

Meme (n): 1- an idea, image, video, etc. that is spread very quickly on the internet:
E.g.: Take a look at the top ten internet memes for this past year.

Plight (n): 1- an unpleasant condition, especially a serious, sad, or difficult one.
E.g.: We need to pay more attention the plight of the poor/homeless
E.g.: Few of us can be unmoved by the plight of the refugees.

Inflammatory (adj): 1- intended or likely to cause anger or hate.
E.g.: The men were using inflammatory language/making inflammatory remarks about the other team’s supporters.

Myanmar (n): 1- 缅甸

Bangladesh (n): 1- 孟加拉国

Pornography = porn

Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s role in ethnic cleansing in Myanmar: “It’s a real issue”
(Source: www.vox.com/2018/4/2/17183836/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-myanmar-rohingya-ethnic-cleansing-genocide)

Facebook’s fake news problems extends far beyond Russian trolls interfering in US elections. Overseas, false stories have turned into tools of political warfare — most notably in Myanmar, where government forces have carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, the country’s Muslim minority group.

In an interview with Vox’s Ezra Klein, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed Facebook’s role in fueling and inciting anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya sentiment. “The Myanmar issues have, I think, gotten a lot of focus inside the company,” Zuckerberg said. “And they’re real issues and we take this really seriously.”

He recalled one incident where Facebook detected that people were trying to spread “sensational messages” through Facebook Messenger to incite violence on both sides of the conflict. Zuckerberg acknowledged that, in such instances, it’s clear that people are using Facebook “to incite real-world harm.” But in this case, at least, the messages were detected and stopped from going through.

“This is certainly something that we’re paying a lot of attention to,” Zuckerberg continued. “It’s a real issue, and we want to make sure that all of the tools that we’re bringing to bear on eliminating hate speech, inciting violence, and basically protecting the integrity of civil discussions that we’re doing in places like Myanmar, as well as places like the US that do get a disproportionate amount of the attention.”

Why Facebook came under fire in Myanmar

Close to 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since last August in the wake of a government crackdown against the minority group. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson officially labeled the crisis an “ethnic cleansing” in November, but international community has been slow to act on the escalating humanitarian disaster.

The violence in Myanmar highlights the duality of social media in general, and Facebook in particular as a force for both good and ill. Activists and reporters use phones and social media to document atrocities, helping them to evade government censors.

But anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya memes and propaganda spread virulently through Facebook too, inciting violence and eroding support for the Rohingya’s plight. Public-facing accounts of verified government and military leaders — as well as the extremely influential accounts of nationalistic Buddhist monks — included false and inflammatory posts about the Rohingya, the New York Times reported in October.

Pronunciation

Perfect (adj): /ˈpɝː.fekt/

Perfect (v): /pɝː.ˈfekt/

Record (n): /ˈrek.ɚd/

Record (v): /rɪˈkɔːrd/

Ignorance: /ˈɪɡ.nɚ.əns/

Nefarious: /nəˈfer.i.əs/

Practices: /ˈpræk.tɪs.ɪs/

Algorithm: /ˈæl.ɡə.rɪ.ðəm/

Analytics: /ˌæn.əˈlɪt̬.ɪks/

Cleanse: /klenz/

Sensationalism: /senˈseɪ.ʃən.əl.ɪ.zəm/

Integrity: /ɪnˈteɡ.rə.t̬i/

Duality: /duːˈæl.ə.t̬i/

Humanitarian: /hjuːˌmæn.ɪˈteə.ri.ən/

Disproportionate: /ˌdɪs.prəˈpɔːr.ʃən.ət/

Bangladesh: /ˌbæŋ.ɡləˈdeʃ/

Meme: /miːm/

Plight: /plaɪt/
​
Inflammatory: /ɪnˈflæm.ə.tɔːr.i/