Coming from first generation Chinese background, my parents have very different views of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that I do. They side mostly completely with Gaza and refer to the conflict as America AND Israel against Palestine. They are mostly influenced by the Chinese satellite TV (CCTV and Hong Kong TVB) due to their wariness of American media. This, in my view, has influenced their views about the latest Gaza war. Likes the Irish Protestants/Catholics, my parents and therefore the Chinese identify with the "Other" and the Americans (puppeting Israel) are the mighty, unjust giants.
I tried to find media sources by first seaching CCTV in English but none of the video links worked on multiple computers on campus. Trying Chinese news in English, I found an interesting news article titled "Elderly woman dies of heart attack as Israel strikes S Gaza" It was interesting to see this was made news given everything else going on at the time. Yet, at the same time, it says quite a bit about the personal experience and how to get people to empathize with people just like them. Elders are given a lot of respect in Chinese culture, to have some white, aggressive place attack your home and indirectly killing someone of importance is going to raise Chinese emotions. They say nothing about Israeli elderly women, as if they are doing well.
The sensationalism is noteworthy because it also indirectly "others" the Americans. By demonstrating the might of the Israelis on an 70 year old woman, they are showing a ruthless America soon to be after any country unlike them. Much like we characterize a homogenous Middle East and every country (except for Israel) there is out to get us and our space.
A sexual revolution -- women moving up in Iran
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To continue the focus on women from the reading, I found this article
posted on a non-profit news-source called Iran Focus**'s website. The
article itself...
15 years ago
I think this post, as well as the post about Ireland, are closely linked. Both convey a feeling of connection between groups of people who are not closely associated, like China and Palestine, and in the other post, Ireland and Palestine. Both groups, the Chinese and the Irish, seems to view Palestine as the victim of this conflict, and empathizes with the Palestinians over the Israelis.
ReplyDeleteI do not want to assume views that the Chinese or Irish do not have, but it seems to me that, like Jackie said, they associate Israel (and, in turn, America) as the "other." This reminds me of a reading we did early in the year, which talked about taking something foreign and making it familiar, even though it may be inaccurate. For example, saying Mohammad is like the Jesus of Islam. It seems to me that, in the case of the Irish, they see Israel as like the British, and subsequently identifies and sides with the Palestinians.
I think that I mentioned this in our in-class discussion, but I have family in Denmark, and from what I've heard they're not fans of Israel. I actually found a couple of English-language Danish blogs, and found that among polled Danes, support is equally split between Israel and Palestine. "http://blog.balder.org/?p=622" is an apparently pro-Palestinian blog and "http://viking-observer.blogspot.com/" is pro-Israeli, or at least anti-Muslim. Be forewarned -- these are a little racy.
ReplyDeleteThe Danes have an interesting historical connection with both sides of the conflict. After the Nazi invasion and subsequent occupation, Danes smuggled almost all of Denmark's jews out of the country. In protest to their treatment, the King of Denmark supposedly went on a bicycle ride through occupied Copenhagen wearing a Jewish star on his jacket.
On the other side, the occupation was a very traumatic event in Denmark. I feel that this makes many Danes feel a historical connection with the Palestinians.
I think Grace's point about associating with a particular victim group is very interesting. I definitely understand it in the Irish context, but I have to admit that I don't usually think of the Chinese as the victim in an oppressive relationship with another nation (at least currently). In fact, just as with Russia, I was surprised to find out that there was sympathy for the Palestinian cause in China if only because of the ongoing controversy about Tibet and Taiwan. In this case, China would fulfill more of the Israeli "oppressor/occupier role". I would posit that in the case of supporting Palestine, it may have more to do with the Chinese govt.'s desire to criticize America and other Western (Capitalist?) governments, perhaps to show them as hypocrites, without concern for the common man, and as morally fallible as any regime.
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