Grammar Blog Busters

19/05/2023

Asian Stereotype:
Why are Asians so Good at Maths and Science?

This stereotype is statistically valid as many but not all Asians fare better than other races and communities in mathematics and science. Universities and schools in Asia have proven their scientific prowess time and again by being amongst the top when it comes to mathematics and science.

Teaching methods used in Asia are quite different from those used in the West. Schools follow a rigid, streamlined curriculum that gives more importance to sciences and quantitative mastery.

Students are expected to do well in all subjects but if they were to score low in a subject, it must only be a non-science subject such as English or History. Punishments are a normal means of shaping students into excellent students.

Cultural differences

Asian communities are more collectivistic than those in the West. Children are brought up with a mentality of upholding the name of the family by excelling academically and career-wise. Asians are also brought up with a different mentality regarding hard work. If you aren’t good at science, whether you enjoy it or not, you must put in time and study until you top your class.

Although Asian seems like have better math results than other countries, this stereotype is certainly not applicable to all Asians and Asian communities as a whole but stands true to characterize a significant portion of Asians. The factors mentioned above have shown most reason to make Asians good at maths and science when compared to other students.

By Gordon Wong (253 Words)

19/05/2023

"Positive" Stereotypes That Are Actually Harmful

When it comes to stereotypes, not all of them are considered negative. Some stereotypes are even seen as "positive," but they can still have damaging effects.

Stereotypes of all kinds lump an individual into a group. When you find a stereotype applied to you, it removes some of your individuality. That happens whether the stereotype used was positive or negative. It is frustrating to realize that someone views you just as a member of a group and not as an individual. And in many situations, that leads you to dislike the person who made the comment.

It is fascinating, though, that when you feel more interconnected with others (as you do when you are primed to think of yourself in interdependent terms), the depersonalization caused by hearing a stereotype aimed at you does not lead to the same dislike of the speaker.

By Gordon Wong (148 Words)

19/05/2023

Stereotypes in Advertising

The laziest sort of stereotyping occurs when the main characters travel to another area or country. These representations are too cringeworthy or too offensive to provide you with examples. However, check out this advertisement for Jaguar which relies on national stereotypes.

The car manufacturer plays with British stereotypes, representing the people as well-dressed and emotionally repressed tea-drinkers with an incredible desire for power. The stereotype is framed as a positive representation and the advert positions the audience to admire the actors. Jaguar is a luxury brand, so it is no surprise they are appealing to their target audience’s sense of wealth.

The cumulative effect of these sort of narrow representations can have a significant impact on how we see the world, positioning the audience to take a particular view of a group of people or an event. But not all men are incompetent fathers and not all blondes are dumb. The UK has a wonderfully diverse range of accents and not everyone drinks a good cup tea.

By Gordon Wong (170 Words)

Jaguar Top Car - Welcome To The Top!http://grupotopcar.com.br/jaguar.html

10/05/2023

Are ABCs the same as normal Asians?

An ABC is an Asian who born in the US. Having their childhood outside Aisa means that we are not sharing the same rules from society. The things they see, the views they see, the culture they are in touch with are all not the same as us. Even their inside are Asians, they can never be a 'complete' Asian anymore. Let's take the movie, Crazy Rich Asians as an example, the reason why Eleanor told Nick not to marry Rachel is because of her identity, an Asian American. Rachel grew up in America, she had her childhood education and many other living habits based on the US culture. If I was Eleanor, I think I would do the same thing to Nick, because there will be lots of concerns from this Asian American. Once an Asian, especially when he or she is young, got out of Asia and live in some other places for at least a year. He or she will be affected by the local culture in a very deep way. So ABCs are not the same as normal Asians anymore, I'm not saying that I don't like to be with them, but they are not a 'complete' Asian.

Bosco
202 words

08/05/2023

Media affects more than you can think.

According to the Cultivation theory, people who are exposed to mass media for long periods are more likely to perceive the world as it is presented by the media they consume. I believe media shapes people's attitudes and views about the world around, even if those messages are fraud to reality.

For examples, in January 2020, a screenshot of WeChat claimed that after smoking ci******es, v**e oil covers the surface of the lungs, which can prevent covid 19 from entering human cells. Well, this is obviously wrong isn't it?
Believe or not, there are people who actually believe that this message is true and starts smoking to prevent getting covid which is ridiculous.

This is just one of the many examples of fake news around the world. I think through this little example is enough to show that the power of media's affection can be powerful yet scary. How people will blindly trust these news without taking a deeper understanding of it first.

170 words
Hugo

06/05/2023

What are sexualized ads? Are they harmful?

Males or females being sexualized in ads is a phenomenon that has gained attention in recent years. Historically, advertisements have predominantly featured women as objects of sexual desire, but there has been a shift towards featuring men in a similar fashion. This trend is reflective of changing attitudes towards gender and sexuality, as well as the increasing diversity of advertising audiences.

One reason for the rise of male sexualization in advertising is the growing acceptance of non-traditional gender roles. As society becomes more accepting of diverse gender identities and expressions, advertisers are seeking to appeal to a wider range of consumers. This includes featuring men in traditionally feminine poses and clothing, as well as highlighting their physical attributes in ways that were once reserved for women.

It is important to note that male sexualization in advertising is not without its critics. Some argue that it reinforces harmful stereotypes about masculinity and objectifies men in much the same way that women have been objectified for decades. Others point out that it can be difficult to strike a balance between celebrating diversity and fetishizing certain body types or identities. No matter which side, it can only bring harm to both. I suggest companies to decrease the sexualization level to prevent harming both males and females.

Joseph
213 words

29/04/2023

Does gaming really make teens violent? NO LA COME ON

This question has existed for a while now on the internet, it has always been controversial and consider a stereotype towards all gaming teenagers. While there have been cases of violent behavior exhibited by some individuals who play video games, it is not accurate to say that gaming causes violence. A meta-analysis of 24 studies conducted by researchers at Villanova University in 2016 also found no evidence to support the idea that playing violent video games leads to increased aggression in teens. The researchers concluded that "the results strongly suggest that exposure to violent video games is not a causal risk factor for aggression." So why is this a "thing" on the internet? Simply because people see violent or inappropriate scenes in games, such as "Grand Theft Auto 5" "God of War" or any fps games. But the truth is most teenagers are able to distinguish between fantasy and reality and understand that the violence depicted in video games is not real. it is important to understand that correlation does not equal causation. Just because there may be a correlation between playing violent video games and aggressive behavior in teenagers, it does not necessarily mean that one causes the other. There are many other factors that could contribute to aggressive behavior, such as family environment, social influences, and mental health issues. Therefore, stop letting the internet influence stereotypical thoughts.

Joseph
229 words

28/04/2023

Don't be affected by the stereotypes of electric cars

Many people, especially Hong Kong citizens, started to drive electric cars during their daily. There were lots of reports saying electric cars can protect the environment in a new way. These kinds of stereotypes made people blindly believe in those data. But actually, it is not fully correct. According to the a Taiwan report from 'Business Next', the process of manufacturing an electric car produce a three times of poisonous gas comparing to the traditional gas running cars. Also, the production of batteries that runs the vehicle is another problem. The production requires different heavy metals like nickel, cobalt and lithium, these are all the raw materials of producing the battery. The report has concluded that the mineral raw materials used for a single electric car is sixth times more than a traditional gas running vehicle. This is why stereotypes are not fully trustable, don't believe too much on electric cars will really save our planet.

Bosco
165 words

25/04/2023

Blackwashing in films isn't showing equality.

Blackwashing means casting black people like African American to portray White or Asian characters in films, similar to whitewashing.

Disney has been blackwashing their films in recent years, from tv shows to movies, changing many of their original white characters into black, trying to be diverse in the film industry and to promote the civil rights movement of black people.

But it seems their attempt only making it worse. Many people were against blackwashing, saying it destroyed the childhood of their favorite Disney character. For example, The Little Mermaid movie and the Peter Pan and Wendy show on Disney+ have viewers dissecting even before it has been watched. The reason people hate these films is that Disney deliberately emphasizes the black race, turning Peter Pan and Tinkerbell into black characters just doesn't make sense, the whole race-switching seems pure forcing without an acceptable explanation, and this doesn't help to bring race equally to black people, instead, making people believe Disney is white-hating because turning all the white character into black as some sort of counterattack to black hating. And who's going to be the biggest victim out of this? Black people, of course.

198 words
Hugo

14/04/2023

Typecasting is a double-edged sword to actors and actresses.

Typecasting is one of the stereotypes, refering to actors and actress who performing for similar roles over and over again or being recognized as just a single role.

In media, if a actor or actress wants to become famous overnight, being typecasted would be the easiest way, take an example from big stars in Hollywood, Daniel Radcliff, he was rose to fame with role of Harry Potter, gained millions of fans.

But can you name other roles of him other than Harry? That is the problem of typecasting. Fame comes with a price,like most of the films he's done since Harry ended are just fodder, even though he tried so hard to act roles that are completely different from Harry like Igor Hunchback from Frankenstein. People still sees him as Harry.

It's difficult to grow and try new things after being typecasted, thats why actors and actress worry about being typecast because they don't want to be locked into only playing a particular character type.

Therefore, I tend to believe typecasting can be both good and bad for actors/actresses.

Hugo
186 words

14/04/2023

Don't put too much focus on gendered advertisements

Gendered advertising is a term of concept that depict and reinforce stereotypical gender roles. A 2017 report by the British Advertising Standards Authority mentioned that gender stereotypes have the potential to cause harm by having assumptions about men and women that might negatively create limitations of how they see themselves and how others see them. An example of common gendered advertisement will be blue clothes for men, while pink clothes for women. Or selling games by using male voice and selling dolls by using female voice. These kind of advertisements are surely strengthening the object's attention that the sellers wanted, but it also contains a phenomenon of not welcome the other types of consumers to purchase. This problem leads the stereotype of genderising become stronger and stronger. There is not a must of male can't play a doll and female can't play games. We should stop focusing on gendered advertisements before having a conclusion of the elements above are true.

160 words
Bosco

13/04/2023

Stop believing in Asian Americans stereotypes

The stereotype of the Asian American is a common term in the United States of America or world wide. I remember a twitter post of an asian female user being discriminated, she was called a "slave" since she's an Asian. I find this confusing and disturbing, this lead to the critical problem of how the American media is portraying Asian American women as submissive, quiet, and being sexually objectivfied. Asian American women or men are oftenly seen as sexually unattractive or having no desire in romance.The american media and movie industry will be responsible for enlarging the stereotype. Jeff Adachi argues that Asian American men are usually absent, but when they do appear, they are almost never portrayed as having any sexual desire. The dialogs from the American movie industry is portraying Asian american women as false image to represent all the Asian Americans, yet the media continues with the enlargement of such false claims. This problem lead to Asian Americans being stereotyped into the American ideal image of an Asian. Eventhough the stereotypical movies about Asian Americans are in the past, the problem is lasting even now with no sign if stopping. If this continues, more Asian Americans will be affected by racism or sexism issues. People should stop believing everything on the media, or allow the media to take control of your decision to blindly follow trends and false beliefs.

232 words
Joseph