Week 15: Final Essay: Learning different perceptions and understanding them

Learning different perceptions and understanding them

My past 3 years of university life has been limited to Korean culture since all of the people around me were Koreans who grew up in Korea. However participating in the current events class with students from various countries, I’ve felt that they have different principles compared to me and this gave me an interest in knowing the discrepancy in opinions about certain issues. As an extension to that thought, I chose three articles “Freckled Face Fad Has Some Opting For Tattoos”, “New study confirms New Zealand's 'ladette' problem drinkers”, and "Will Jordan abolish a law that protects rapists?" in order to think and learn about different opinions and deliberate on my conclusion.

The first article is titled “Freckled Face Fad Has Some Opting For Tattoos” from Kim Bum Jun’s blog and I chose it because the topic shows the difference in setting the standard of beauty, in this case, freckles, among people. As reported by CBS Miami, freckles can be made with cosmetic facial tattoos which start from a few hundred dollars on up, using semi-permanent ink which lasts six months to a year as freckles are rising as one of the hottest new beauty trends. Kim Bum Jun had said that he cannot understand why people want freckles on their face since they look unclean. I disagree with him because I believe all people have their standards of beauty and it is free to follow that thought. It is a choice, not a thing to decide whether it is right or wrong, to live with whatever you think looks nice on you. I do not prefer freckle facial tattoos because it does not meet my standards of beauty but I understand how it can look good on people. I chose Kim Bum Jun’s article “Freckled Face Fad Has Some Opting For Tattoos” as it illustrates the discrepancy of beauty in individuals.

The second article is titled “New study confirms New Zealand's 'ladette' problem drinkers” from Lee Yi Qing’s blog which I think is clearly showing the difference in the matter of perception in adjusting to the changing society. According to the article, a study from Massey University claims that a number of female problem drinkers, ones with extreme risk when drinking alcohol, are increasing and that it is probably due to change in women’s role in society and change in the law of allowing the sale of alcohol in supermarkets. Lee Yi Qing also thinks that heavy drinking is mostly recognized as men’s behavior and agrees that it happens due to change of women’s role. I also think that heavy drinking has been considered a men’s behavior because in most movies or in other media I had seldom seen women clink their glasses together. Drinking alcohol refers to relieving stress, mostly at work, and since more and more women work rather than staying at home, I think we can say that the role of women is changing and ladette problem is increasing due to work stress. Nevertheless, I don’t think heavy drinking makes the drinker a man. It’s just the current point of view of drinking so following the act doesn’t make the drinker masculine. The second article “New study confirms New Zealand's 'ladette' problem drinkers” contains different views of heavy drinking in today’s changing society.

The last article is named "Will Jordan abolish a law that protects rapists?" from Russlan Jaafreh’s blog and I think whether to punish or to not punish the rapist is worth having a dispute from a moral and cultural standpoint. According to the article, several feminists activists, organizations, and parliament members claim that abolishment is being proceeded in the penal code of the constitution which protect rapist instead of facing the consequences of their crime and quite naturally it has brought attention to women rights in the country but the law is yet to be officially discussed in the parliament and has caused disagreement between Parliament members regarding the status of the victims. Russlan Jaafreh was on the positive side in the abrogation and showed negative attitude to the law not punishing the rapist even when the victim chooses to marry him. I wholeheartedly agree with him as there should not be any excuses for crime. Their law exists because of cultural aspects but I think human rights and morality stands superior to social customs. The article "Will Jordan abolish a law that protects rapists?" includes the controversy of the abolishment of a law protecting criminals due to cultural issues which I think is adequate to discuss both in moral and cultural viewpoint.

The three articles “Freckled Face Fad Has Some Opting For Tattoos”, “New study confirms New Zealand's 'ladette' problem drinkers”, and "Will Jordan abolish a law that protects rapists?" deal with different aspects of beauty, manhood, and rights of the rapist. Reading these articles, I was able to expand my boundaries in accepting different thoughts by understanding their side of opinions.

References
1a: Kim, BumJun. "Week 6: Blog Post 2a: North America: U.S.A (Miami) : “Freckled Face Fad Has Some Opting For Tattoos”." Blog post. KimBumJun's Current Events Spring 2017. Blogger, 01 May 2017. Web. 08 June 2017. <http://kimbumjun2017ces.blogspot.kr/2017/05/week-6-blog-post-2a-north-america-usa.html>.
1b: "Freckled Face Fad Has Some Opting For Tattoos." CBS Miami. CBS Miami, 27 Apr. 2017. Web. 08 June 2017. <http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/04/27/freckle-face-tattoos/>.

2a: QING, LEE YI. "Week 8: Blog Post 2a: Oceania: New Zealand: New Study Confirms New Zealand's 'ladette' Problem Drinkers." Blog post. LEE YI QING Current Events Spring 2017. Blogger, 27 Apr. 2017. Web. 08 June 2017. <http://leeyiqing2017ces.blogspot.kr/2017/04/week-8-blog-post-2a-oceania-new-zealand.html>.
2b: Maude, Simon. "New Study Confirms New Zealand's 'ladette' Problem Drinkers." Stuff. FairFax Media Digital, 27 Apr. 2017. Web. 08 June 2017.

3a: Jaafreh, Russlan. "WEEK 5 : Blog Post 2a : Asia : Jordan : "Will Jordan Abolish a Law That Protects Rapists?"" Blog post. Russlan Jaafreh's Current Events Spring 2017. Blogger, 07 May 2017. Web. 08 June 2017. <http://russlanjaafreh2017ces.blogspot.kr/2017/05/week-5-blog-post-2a-asia-jordan-will.html>.
3b: Tahhan, Zena. "Will Jordan abolish a law that protects rapists?" Al Jazeera. N.p., 26 Apr. 2017. Web. 08 May 2017. <http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/jordan-abolish-law-protects-rapists-170426114305294.html>