Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Exploration Four: Madison

Part 1:
What struck me as the most important event during the Tiananmen Square protests was the way the armies went about clearing the square. I could never imagine the US handling a situation like that in the same way. Starting from around 10:30pm to 6:00am the next morning the armies were using APCs, expanding bullets, and even setting things on fire to try and stop the protesters; they were shooting at people on their apartment balcony’s, shooting at students, even the protesters that were fleeing and trying to get away got shot in the back. It boggles my mind how others can be treated, and learning that there are other ways, brutal ways, of handling situations. It is a good reminder to stay aware and mindful that not everyone has the same freedom and follows the same set of rules as we follow here in the US.

Part 2:


Tiananmen Square: I think this picture is effective because it goes to show that this protest was no joke, brutal, and that there were casualties. No one really knows for sure exactly how many casualties there were but some say a few hundred and others say a couple thousand. This picture shows that people were there ready to lay down their life for what they believed their country needed: a more democratic economy.



Hong Kong: I think this picture is very effective because it makes a statement basically saying: yes we know that you are capable of what happened at Tiananmen Square—WE KNOW—but bring it on cause we’re not going anywhere. I think this picture shows the hearts and feelings of the people towards their government. Looking at the photo, I get the feeling that they are ready to try to create change, be united—have a voice.

Part 3:
I used CNN and The New York Times. The story that I researched is about women in Saudi Arabia. The two articles I focused on were about how in Saudi Arabia it’s very gender segregated and for women to work there it isn’t a social norm like it is here in America. The women in Saudi Arabia are very intelligent.  Approximately fifty percent of the women there have a university degree. However, it isn’t part of their culture for them to translate their degree into a career. I also learned through the sources that women are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia. This story made me feel like I take our freedom for granted…sometimes I even complain about having to drive. Trying to imagine what our country would be like if women were banned from driving and not encouraged to work is just unimaginable. If I went to college and earned a degree and didn’t get an opportunity or the choice to work, that just wouldn’t be easy to understand or accept. These articles along with the Tiananmen and Hong Kong research has really just made me appreciate living in this country.


The CNN article focused it’s information primarily using one girl as the subject matter expert, her name is Almuzel, she’s a mechanical engineer and works for GE of Saudi Arabia. Almuzel shares with CNN that women in her country don’t get very many opportunities to work. Almuzel shares her thoughts on working with men in Saudi Arabia. This article also gives brief information on upcoming plans for more workplace opportunities for women. The NYT article gives a little more information on how women are getting jobs now, specifically through this network called Glowork. The NYT article provides slightly more detail by interviewing multiple Saudi Arabia women; all who share their input on the subject of working.  The NYT article gives, in my opinion, equal insight and same view points on information that the CNN article gives. The NYT article does emphasize more on how women are now finding jobs. The CNN article uses a video with Almuzel, to summarize everything in the article. The NYT article only used a single picture as means of a visual.  NYT used the women in the workplace to grab the reader’s attention, but the take away and underlying message from the article was slanted toward promoting the Glowork network.

CNN article- "A brave new era for Saudi Arabia's woman workers?"
NYT article- "Saudi Arabia Signals Openness to Women Seeking Work" 

6 comments:

  1. As i was reading your Exploration, your pictures caught my eye the most. The picture that interested me out of the gate was the Tiananmen Square one. I liked how you said,"people were there ready to lay down their life for what they believed their country needed: a more democratic economy." I thought that was really deep, and it really hit home. i enjoyed everything you wrote about.

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  2. I was also very upset with the fact that the government opened fire on helpless civilians. This is terrible and I am also very glad that something like this could never happen in America. I also used the same picture as you for the Hong Kong protests. My analysis of this picture is almost identical to yours which is very interesting.

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  3. I love the two pictures that you used from the Tiananmen Square and The Hong Kong protests because I used the exact same pictures form my writing as well. Just like you I felt these pictures showed how the people believed and really connected with one another in a huge way. Great job!

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  4. I really liked both the pictures that you used. Like you said, it seems unimaginable for us to think of something like that happening here in the U.S. Its crazy that the Chinese army would be so careless about their people, to start shooting at everyone and to try and control what images people around the world saw.

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  5. I agree with the first part of part 1. It's so hard to imagine the U.S handling a situation such as the one in China. It makes me feel blessed that we live in a country where we have a voice and have a democracy. I by no means believe that our politics are fair, but we are in a better state than other countries and that is something to be thankful for.

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  6. I liked your articles you chose. It really made me think about my freedom. If was not given the option to drive or have a job, I'm not sure how I would feel. I feel as though I need to know how to do drive. Being so restricted would be boring, I think I truly take my freedom of being a woman for granted.

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