Topic 5

Q: You have almost completed this semester, so, how do you view Critical Literacy now? If you have any comments and suggestions, please do so as it helps for the betterment of the course as a whole.

In my opinion, Critical Literacy give lots of knowledge and experience to me. In Critical Literacy, I learn Rules of 10 whereby I have to do lots of analysis and research on an article. This made me to improve in my researching skill as I have to study not only about the article, but also about the writer, which are, does the writer has the capability to write those kinds of articles and does he or she is credible enough to write on that kind of text.

I also gain the skill to think more thoroughly about a particular topic and situation. What is more important is that I learn to be patience and analysis more on a certain thing as in not to judge things too fast and without evidence to make a justification. This has made me a better person and makes me to think more thoroughly before I speak out my own opinion.

My personal opinion is that the technique and style of learning from my lecturer in this semester is very informative and beneficial as it helps me a lot to understand about this subject and to finish my assignments.

I would like to suggest that from the beginning, one of the exercises would be about movies that a bit interesting as the one that me and my class have watched before.

Topic 4

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Q: Proposition: Life is a mere illusion and just like the world is a stage as we use it as a stepping stone for a showcase of our talents. Provide at least two(2) premises or counter arguments for the proposition. Write in complete paragraph(s).

I agree with the question and the statement above. Life IS a mere illusion. Why? I have two reasons which are life is not like we thought it would be and life is cruel yet we still live on.

First and foremost, life is not like we thought it would be. When we were kids, we thought that life is like whats in the cartoon. Colorful bears jumping around on the clouds and can talk which easily a significance of happiness. As years come by, we grew up and we realize that to gain happiness is not as easy as what we known when we were a child. Moreover, when we were kids we are taught that smoking is dangerous and can result in death so we thought that our teachers, and friends when we were kids are as good as an angel. Yet, we were wrong. When we grew up, we come to realize that that is just what we thought but not the other people would think about as on that particular time, we are just an innocence kid that think that all the thing in this world is good like what our teacher taught us to be. This shows that what we thought when we were younger is just an illusion and not a reality that we live in.

Last but not least, life is cruel yet we still live on. When we were young, we imagine that all people think like what we think, speak the way we speak and act like we acted as older people keep saying that if you are being good, people will be good to you. Well, half of this statement is true I would say but not all of it. Why? Because, different people have different perception and the most cruel is that people change. We never know that even our good friend could be the one who stab us in the back when it comes to problems, jealousy and even money. In the end, we have to face the fact that living in this world there will always be things that have pros and cons, and good and evil. There will never be things in between as it is only our imagination and illusion. 

I view that life is like a stage plays, dramas and movies.

Allah is our creator as i would like to portray as the director of our story. You are the main actor and the scriptwriter of your life. Your life depends on what you write on your script and the way you act on your world stage. Everyone you met or will meet in the future could be strangers at first or until forever, your lover, your spouse, your friends, your enemies, acquaintances, boss and many more you just name it. -me

Topic 3

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“The latest incident about BFM newsreader being threatened with death, rape and being burnt alive by those I assume to be Malay-Muslim netizens brings forth serious questions for this country. Is this country safe for our children to live in? If a simple point is raised against such issue as Hudud or even such issue as democracy and clean elections can produce outburst of murder, rape and burning people alive, what does it say about our country, its citizens and our leadership?”…..Prof Dr. Mohamad Rasdi.

(Speak Up, theSun, March 26, 2015)

Q : How do you view about the statement?

In Malaysia, the country is well known to be a Muslim country as the majority of the citizen are Malay people and when we talk about Malay people, this group are commonly to be seen as Muslim. But, what people nowadays misunderstood is that, Malay people are mostly Muslim, but, it doesn't mean that the religion itself is belong to the race. What I am trying to state here is Malay might be a Muslim, but a Muslim is not only a Malaysian. So, about the statement above, it is true to say that why should a Malaysian especially a Muslim doing things such as threatening other Muslim or other people with death, rape and being burnt alive. 

Islam is a sign of peace. A religion that do not support in violence. This kind of act (threatening people) is not something that the religion should be blame on or even other Muslim around the world. This kind of behavior is from the individual itself. It is not that I'm promoting my own races as bad but, some of Malay people are acting bad by saying they are a true Muslim, Hudud is a law that must be used in Malaysia as a Muslim Country, but, the way they talk about it, the way they are condemning other people with different perspective or mind set is not the way it should be.

Yes it is true, the creator of the Hudud law itself is Allah s.w.t means that the law is beyond people's expertise and it is to be true without any doubt. But, these people who are calling themselves as Muslims are actually being hypocrite. If they do not accept the BFM newsreader choices of speech or her opinion, they should actually accept it first even though if its wrong and try to be a better Muslim by give a diligence response to her so that not even the newsreader would understand the Hudud law and concept but also could actually correcting her own perspective towards Hudud and other people who doesn't understand or even know about Hudud could accept it with a peace of mind. 

When the incident happened, other people especially those who are not a Muslim will find that the Hudud law is cruel and the act of threatening also will support more on the common statement by non-muslim out there that the Muslim are terrorist because of the act of small group of these pretending Muslim. 

The other point that was pointed out from the statement is that is this country, Malaysia is suitable for the next generation to live in? In my personal opinion it would be yes and no. Why? This is because, Malaysia is one of the country that already have Independence which means that the next generation could live in a peaceful environment. But, it could be vice versa when it comes to the citizen itself are becoming people who like to talk without any knowledge ( free will of speech), condemning any one who have different opinion.

In conclusion, the Malaysian citizen should be more brilliant when it comes accepting other people's opinion and if its differ, they should be more clever to give a counter argument.

TOPIC 2

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Women shouldn't be behind the wheel. But, some aspects are making them to be left out as stereotyping are usually targeted on women without we realize. Why did I come out with this kind of statement? Let's look back about women being successful in aspects of leadership, education, job's wage and position, and even being a women itself.

In Leadership,  i would like to give a situation about a woman who works as a CEO in a company. If the woman is a strict one, people will say that she don't have a heart of a true woman, evil witch, emotionless, iron lady and many more. But, when the woman are the other way around, they said that the woman are being too emotional and that she are not suitable to be a boss. See. It is never a win-win situation if women are being emotion or emotionless of being a leader. In fact, other people will add on that women are not born to be leaders and if that happens, the organization will face lots of problems. As stated in Forbes, “A woman who shows no emotion and keeps it hyper-professional is icy and unfeminine. For many women, it can be a no-win situation.” (Goudreau, 2011). For me, it is not the gender that influencing leadership. Anyone can be a leader as long as the person is capable enough to have the responsible. Being emotion or emotionless is a choice even for a man as a leader. This stereotyping of women are not born to be leaders are just people being gender biased.

Lets look at another aspect which is in education. Nowadays, we can see that the population of women dominated men in learning institution. According to Meyer (2014), 33% of women in America graduated and earn their college degree way more than men. Even so, the chances of women to pursue in their studies in higher education have always been monopolized. This is because, some institution are sponsoring in education for men way more than for women. The chances for a man to get scholarship are way greater than for a woman even though the woman has a degree compared to the man. Furthermore, even in Malaysia, for students who wanted to pursue in their studies, male students will be given more chances to enter the school rather than female students as the administer wanted more male students to fill in the quota. After a woman has a degree, masters or even PhD, that doesn't mean that they could get higher wages than man. Why? "Even when men and women have similar levels of education, men end up earning more over time." (Bidwell, 2014). Here again I showed you that the world is being gender biased.

Last but not least, stereotyping towards woman for merely being themselves. Seems not legit isn't it? Why I come out of this statement because, in Malaysia, women are considered as a vice, a helper, the number two and so on. People's mind set is that woman's place is meant to be in the kitchen, the house keeper, the caretaker of her children when she got married. Even though they have high education background, in the end even some of them will end as a housewife. In today's modern days that kind of mindset should be tarnished as woman in modern days today are capable more than just sitting around waiting for their husband to come home. Women in today's world also the one who could contribute not only to their own family especially in home economy but also to the world if only the society can accept it more thoroughly.

In conclusion, women shouldn't be behind the wheel as they are more capable enough even to stand and live on their own.


reference list:

1. Goudreau, J. (2011, October 4). The 10 Worst Stereotypes About Powerful Women. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/10/24/worst-stereotypes-powerful-women-christine-lagarde-hillary-clinton/

2. Meyer, A. (2014, March 31). Women Now 33% More Likely Than Men to Earn College Degrees. cnsnews.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/women-now-33-more-likely-men-earn-college-degrees

3. Bidwell, A. (2014, October 31). Women More Likely to Graduate College, but Still Earn Less Than Men. U.S.News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2014/10/31/women-more-likely-to-graduate-college-but-still-earn-less-than-men