Selena Zhong 5/8/20 Period 2 - Blog #3

Selena Zhong

5/8/20

Period 2

Blog #3 - Blogger 33

1. Write about what you learned in your online English lessons.

Before reading the article “A Zombie is a Slave Forever” as a part of the May 1st Lesson for the Day A schedule, I had thought that zombies were a result of a wish for perfect immortality gone wrong, or was synonymous with a relentless plague of sorts.  I learned from the article that the idea of zombies first came from a strategy used by Haitian slave owners to use the slaves’ West African/Voodoo spiritual beliefs to keep them in line.  They spread fear amongst the slaves that committing suicide would not allow the slaves to return to heavenly Africa like they had hoped for in death/the afterlife, but instead turn them into eternal mindless laboring zombies (forever trapped as slaves under their cruel masters).  Overall, though, the main message that has gone unchanged to this day about the modern zombie is that you should never want to become one because then you would no longer be in control of your own being and suffer forever (monstrous urges to kill/eat humans, etc.).  Nowadays, zombies hide in plain sight of society in the form of repetitive workers who seem more like emotionless machines than vibrant free people (underpaid menial workers, certain citizens of authoritarian entities, even people who are “slaves” to their obsessions like to their jobs/phones or social media, etc.).

2. What are you learning about your world/community based on the reactions?

According to the Worldometer, there are now almost 3.9 million cases of COVID-19 globally with nearly 270,000 deaths and 1.3 million recovered (as of May 7, 2020).  Since mid to late April, China has begun reopening businesses and returning to normalcy by restarting schools, gradually allowing people to return to work, etc.  However, numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases in other parts of the world elsewhere are only rising, with the United States and its epicenter New York at the top (1.28 million nationwide and 319K in N.Y. with 178K in NYC alone).  As cases increase in the U.S. and other Western countries, social problems have also begun to come up about disagreements regarding social distancing, demands to reopen the economy, blame for the coronavirus, etc. 

For myself, I have seen the news about discrimination and violence against the Asian-American community and many other minority groups, especially those that are still working (because they’re essential workers) during this pandemic.  Asian-Americans have been receiving a lot of hate and racist crimes like their businesses being vandalized/robbed or individuals being assaulted in public spaces because fear drive people to blame the minority for bringing/spreading COVID-19 to entire communities, etc.  If that wasn’t enough, now there is speculation by media and others that China (the first country with recorded coronavirus cases) was hiding key info about the virus from foreign countries, thus implying malicious intentions.  Anti-lockdown protesters in states like Colorado and Michigan have also been targetting nurses and healthcare workers (who counterprotest) because of some claim that the death toll and seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic is all a lie and not enough to allow infringement on their personal freedoms and livelihoods.   Many protesters against stay-at-home orders issued by the state governments seem to be avid Trump supporters, white supremacists, and those for the 2nd amendment (right to bear arms/guns).  Overall, all of the news related to the coronavirus now seem grim and negative to me as I see people turning against one another due to different beliefs regarding how to deal with the pandemic.  Republicans versus Democrats is still an ongoing political battle with the presidential election of 2020 still scheduled for November (and with Trump’s recent inactions to address the coronavirus such as supporting the anti-lockdown protesters, indirectly suggesting people intake disinfectant chemicals to get immunity to the virus, etc., dissatisfaction with him or strong relentless support for him are dividing the country).  Basically, even in this time of crisis, I see that people are still quite vocal about their feelings on certain issues and everyone has different opinions that some are willing to use extreme force to make happen (Ex. a security guard at a Michigan Family Dollar store shot because he refused service to a customer who was not wearing a mask OR Ex. McDonald’s employees shot & hurt in Oklahoma City after telling a customer to leave due to coronavirus restrictions).  Shaking my head at all this….

3. Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.

Being a young Asian American teenager who is about to turn 18 (and who is currently living in heavily coronavirus-affected NYC), I am not very optimistic about future prospects.  I sometimes fear that my parents who are the only ones in my household who go out to buy groceries or essential items/work will become infected & fall deathly ill or face discrimination from strangers outside despite us living in NYC my entire life.  It has already been nearly 2 months since schools have closed down and I’ve last stepped outside of my house (and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this).  I’ve committed to my chosen college already, but right now I don’t even know if I can even go experience college life I had always hoped for anymore.  Although the occasional news or videos I see on Youtube about people giving back to one another or supporting/applauding healthcare workers and each other (acts of kindness in this time of need) do cheer me up, the reality is that a vaccine for the coronavirus, probably the greatest and most absolute solution the problems we are seeing now, won’t be ready for administering until mid-2021 (18-24 months from now as predicted by experts).  Everyone is surely thinking the same thing as me right now: How the heck are we going to hold on and keep our sanities until then?!