Topic 5: My Overall View

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

Assalamualaikum, I am now in week 12 means that 3 weeks left before final right? Wow, how fast time has flied. Yes, I’m feeling the stress but it’s normal. How I handle it is more important as the need for me to handle the stress of embracing the adventurous Critical Literacy (COM 2533) subject!

                                                             

As I said in my first post, which is my first impression on this subject which is Critical literacy, well, my first impression of this subject more or less is true because certainly packed with others creative writes plus I need to critically think using steps that had been taught by Madam Za. For the expectation, certainly Critical Literacy has meet my expectation which is this subject can be a killer subject if I didn’t adapt the workload. What can I view now regarding this subject is it requires student to have a depth understanding on the steps to think critically especially, the RULE OF 10. I also learned that this subject requires students to be on the right track in every assessment and assignments given. To be fair, consultation is hugely important. Whenever you need help, just go consult with your lecture as for me is Madam Za. Hence, consult your lecture to achieve success in this subject.

I’m also learned that the attitude of procrastination had to be removed because the assignments in this subject only can be done precisely if the student commits into them on the given wide range of time because it requires consultation, practices and depth understanding of an article. Last minutes work means doom. Nothing to comment regarding this subject as the method of teaching of this subject suits with the difficult level on learning it. It just depends on the students itself either they want learn and get something out of this subject or not.

Last but not least, my advice on this subject is avoid from last minute piece of work and preparation by consulting your lecture is the key to achieve great marks, that sums it all. So, that’s all from me. Thank you to all especially to my beloved lecture, Madam Za.

Topic 4: Body, Mind, Spirit

The body is the greatest possession, the mind is the greatest treasure and the spirit is the greatest companion. How do you view above statement.

In on own point of view, the quote “The body is the greatest possession, the mind is the greatest treasure and the spirit is the greatest companion” simplifies about the three key components that we need in order for us to survive in this world.

First and foremost, “the body is the greatest possession”. What can I define based on this statement is our body is our right to take care of it. We can achieve anything in this life as long as we give “commitment” to our body. How we want to make ourselves look like and how the condition is, we have the right to manage it. As an example, a healthy body. A healthy body can be obtained if we commit to have a healthier lifestyle. Certainly having a healthy body will make our lives more meaningful as we’re healthy, certainly we can think more genuinely and the ability to think genuinely can make a person have a depth-understanding regarding his/her self which people call “having a depth self-actualization”. The ability to have a good self-actualization can makes one life more confidence. Through confidence, achievements can be obtained and successes certainly can lead to happier life. Isn’t that the case that we’re chasing right? HAPPINESS. So, a healthy body that arguably can lead to our ultimate live goals’ can be achieve through committing ourselves on our “greatest possession” which is our body.

Next, “the mind is the greatest treasure”. Yes, indeed the mind is the greatest treasure. Treasure can be defined through Google dictionary as a quantity of precious metals, gems, or other valuable objects kept carefully in hidden places. Same goes to our mind. Our minds contain incomparable precious metals or gems called knowledge. Through knowledge, anything can happen. Even the most precious gems in this world can only be obtained through knowledge right? This clearly shows that our mind is the “greatest treasure”. Then, our mind is kept safely and hidden without anyone thoroughly sees in one of our part of body called head. The mind itself symbolised as hidden as it contains uncountable knowledge that only the owner itself knows about it. Ultimately, we have to take care of our “greatest treasure” which is our MIND.

Last but not least, “spirit is the greatest companion”. Spirit can be defined as the nonphysical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character. As synonym, the soul. On the other hand companion means with whom one spends a lot of time or with whom one travels with. Through those definitions, I strongly agree with the statement “spirit is the greatest companion” because no matter where we travel or lived is, our spirit can define how we handle and survive our live is. For example, if a soldier determined to adapt high-spirited in his/her inner self in a chaotic situation of a war, certainly he/she can get benefits of it such as high-positive morale. Ultimately, my religion has taught me that the highest form of spirit is by devoting our lives to The Almighty, Allah SWT. As I practicing His religion, I can feel that Islam has continually “feed” my greatest companion which is my spirit.

Indeed, the body is the greatest possession, the mind is the greatest treasure and the spirit is the greatest companion

Topic 3: Money Can Buy Happiness

    “If money were the only criterion by which a child’s welfare can be gauged, then a baby bought for as much as RM40,000 on the black market would seem set for life. For money-rich but child-poor couples, it is a small price to pay to introduce a small life into their home. The cot is gilded, the blanket monogrammed, the college fund filled to the brim. All that’s wanting is a bun in the oven. And where there is a baby-for-sale racket, money can indeed buy happiness. And after all, why not?” (NST, March 3, 2013)'

            Provide at least two(2) premises or two (2) counter agreements for the statements based on your agreement.

Baby, a subject that portrays innocent, happiness and peacefulness but, there are some people that illegally having babies through buying them on the black market in order to pursuit their happiness on having a baby. Most of the buyers are money-rich but child-poor couples. From the statement of NST on March 3, 2013, it shows that through money, people can buy happiness. However, I disagree with the statement because money can’t buy everything especially tranquillity the lead to ultimate happiness.

 My first counter agreement of the statement is money is temporary. Nowadays, in this world especially our country are having economy crisis. For example, GST (Goods and Service Tax) that burdens most of the citizen in this country as it effects on the market price which clearly shows that money can be lost like the water flows. Then, raising a baby also could be costly. We need to continuously consider their needs such as food, education and cloths until they can find their needs independently and of course, it takes time. Hence, lots of money will be used along the process of raising a baby. What can I conclude for my first counter agreement is that the economy crisis which happens in our country lead to the high price market and high price market can make one savings are in loss. Surely with the temporary happiness of money that money-rich couples indulge can be disappeared right away if they are facing money crisis due to their high dependent on money. What will happen to the statement of “money can buy happiness”? Therefore, money can’t ensure ultimate happiness.

For my second counter argument is the child should stay with their biological family. From the statement of NST on March 3, 2013 that shows that couples can have babies through buying them at the black market certainly is not a good and not a right thing to agree with. A baby should be raised up by their actual family as the baby have their right on been rising up by their biological parents. They have their right to know their traits and backgrounds. What will happen to the babies once they have grown-up, knowing that they are just a “product” that bought from a black market? Surely they will be devastated. This strongly counter agreement of the statement that money can’t buy happiness. Furthermore, baby that bought from black market will facing lots of problems in their future such as for a baby girl, in Islam, they will need their exact father (same DNA) in other to get married. So, money can't buy happiness especially to the babies perhaps, will cause lots of problem to them.

To conclude, we need money to survive in this world but we must accept that money can’t buy everything including happiness in someone’s life. Money is temporary but, happiness is priceless. I end up this entry by a quote by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan which stated “Quran teach us that success (also can be happiness) has nothing to do with poverty neither failure has nothing to do with richness”.

Topic 2: Stereotype

Stereotyping is exaggerated generalizations associated with a categorizing system, they go beyond the facts at hand and make claims that usually have no valid basis. However, it is also something that most people find difficult to avoid from doing. What do you think?

Stereotype in Merriam-Webster dictionary can be defined as something conforming to a fixed or general pattern; especially :  a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.  For example, the stereotype of the woman as the carer which is an often unfair and untrue belief that many people have. In my own opinion, stereotyping is not a good practice in someone’s life yet, there’re so many reasons on how stereotyping could happen.

First and foremost, a stereotype happens due to our understanding and judgements towards a subject. These understanding and judgement we had obtained day by day since we were kid through Medias for example, television. Television has been a medium that leave a great impact in our live since we were kids. Through television we’ve been exposed with lots of things. I remember when I was a kid I have watched news that repeatedly report on the same incident in a whole week which is the about the “September 11 Attacks”. This news had leaved a mark on my mentality when I was a child because this incident symbolised about terrorism among the Muslims and I am a Muslim. Luckily, my parent had thought me that Muslim has nothing to do with terrorism and I am grateful and proud to be a Muslim. Still, I believe that this incident had cause ‘stereotype’ among the citizens that lives on this planet nowadays. Hence, Medias are one of the factors that cause stereotype.

Next is our first impression toward others. I can’t deny that first impression plays a huge role on judging someone else but, we have to remember that judgemental can occurs due to stereotypes. As I said before, we’re growing with lots of thing that can continuously change our mentality and understanding over someone or something even without noticing them and slowly we’re currently use those mentality and understanding in our first impression towards them. As an example of stereotyping that actually happened in this country is Chinese are likely to have successes in businesses than other races. This is what can I see in this country but CL’s lecturer, Madam Za had taught me that “what you see may not be the truth”.  This strong statement is very true in order to avoid stereotyping especially in things that we can see and freely to make judgment on it.

Stereotypes sometimes can leave a negative impact to the society. This negative impact is known as PREJUDICE. Prejudice can be defined as an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc. or a feeling of like or dislike for someone or something especially when it is not reasonable or logical. A good example of prejudice can be taken from the statement by Stephan Talty in 2003. He stated that” But today most black Americans not hampered by poverty or prejudice take for granted their right to study Italian, listen to Britney Spears or opera, play in the NHL, eat Thai food, live anywhere, work anywhere, play anywhere, read and think and say anything.” Through his statement, we can see that prejudice is bad and it occurs due to stereotype.

In my own opinion, I’m ultimately agreed with the statement that stereotyping is something that most people find difficult to avoid from doing. I believe that stereotyping is hard to avoid due to people’s norm in a community or society. We tend to believe that first impression determines overall attitudes and it is judge based on stereotyping without any further researches and details or we can say that without critically think about it. According to Dato Dr. Fadzilah Kamsah, he stated that people tend to have a stereotype on a new people that they have met, because, people are born with a judgemental attitude, based on a study on judgmental, people loves to judge anyone without knowing them personally (2010). Through his statement, we can say that stereotyping is common in someone’s life but we can avoid it through knowledge and studies.

To conclude, stereotyping tends to give negative impacts rather than positive impacts because it encourages people to develop ideas on judging over someone or something. We should acknowledge that medias can develop stereotyping especially mass media such as television. Then, stereotype also develops prejudice which is one of the bad effects of stereotyping. I am greatly support that stereotyping should be stopped because the world need to be fair with each other, not based on common views with short thought over something. For the last word, I am greatly support on this quote by Plato, “Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”