Discussion Board Post #1 :
Narrative Essay Ideas :
Essay #1 Narrative Essay :
There is nothing more peaceful than sitting on a riverside enjoying the gentle breeze. I still remember how I used to go to the riverside every afternoon just to hear the sounds of the waves in the river and get the fresh air. I grew up in a small town in Bangladesh. I had spent 14 years of my life there. When I was a kid, my mom always used to take me to the riverside and that is the reason every time I hear the sounds of waves, I get nostalgic. It is heartbreaking for me to mention but the river with which I have so many memories has been getting dried, smaller and also dirty with the passing years. It is not the same anymore. I can tell that that was not the only river that dried up over the years, it has happened to most of the rivers in Bangladesh due to lack of rain and pollution. I have experienced and seen major changes in that river over the years which made me find out the reasons behind these changes and it was nothing but pollution and deforestation.
When I was 7 years old, my dad used to take me and my cousins to the river in order to teach us swimming. The river was full of water and the water used to be so clean. Sometimes it used to rain and it was super fun swimming in the river while it’s raining. Fast forward to one year later when I was 8, me along with my family went on a boat ride to catch fish. Even at that time the river water was full and fresh. Few months later, the mayor of the city started to construct a river port and they cut down all the trees beside the river to make space for the river port. The river started to get polluted when the construction began but still it wasn’t too bad. They brought huge boats in order to make travel easier across the river. People who had been travelling by boat threw garbage in the river and with the passing time it got worse and worse. Eventually the river became dirty and full of plastics and poisonous stuff. Within a couple years, most of the parts of the river have dried up which have turned into a canal now. This is not the only river that dried up over time. Research has shown that about 158 rivers dried up in Bangladesh within 57 years.
There are some significant reasons which led the rivers to dry up. The rivers are being killed by pollution and there is decrease in water flow which has led to the rivers drying up. There are factories which throw their toxic metallic wastes into the river. Besides that dumping of medicinal waste and waste of river passengers have compounded the problem, making the water unusable for humans and livestock. Some toxic metallic substances were detected in some rivers which were harmful for the human body. The rivers are so polluted that the water is poisonous now. This pollution has affected the water flow causing the rivers to steadily dry up. If one river dries up, it has an impact on other rivers too since the rivers are spread out like a network all over the country and they are interconnected.
Another reason for these rivers to dry up is lack of rain caused by deforestation. Bangladesh is a very small country which is overpopulated. These people need places to live and they have no other choice than cutting down the trees in order to make shelter for them. Because of deforestation, the greenhouse gases are increasing. Greenhouse gases are the reason for lack of rain and an increase in temperature. Environmentalists said that lack of rain has reduced the flow of the rivers and it is linked to the climate change which will have a major impact as the human population grows.
As the rivers are drying up and getting polluted, it is affecting the people of rural areas badly. They are facing problems finding fresh water to drink. Even rowing across the river is now difficult because it smells so badly. Fishes are dying of the polluted water and because of that many fishermen are losing their jobs. Farmers use the river to water their crops and since the rivers are dried up, they are unable to grow crops which is hampering agriculture and eventually affecting the country’s economic system. Meanwhile, several river routes have been closed and water vehicle movement has been hampered by this. If this problem does not be solved quickly, people of Bangladesh will face major issues in the near future.
Government should really look after this issue and take necessary steps to prevent these rivers from drying. Tree plantation is the most effective way in the long run to prevent these rivers from dying. There should be more restrictions on the industrial factories for throwing the metallic wastes into the river. Passengers of river vehicles should be mindful about throwing garbage in the river. If everyone comes together and be mindful of their actions, they can save the rivers which are still full of water and fresh.
I have seen the beautiful river full of fresh water turning into a dry canal full of wastes. Since the river has died, there are no waves anymore and there is no sound of waves which used to make me feel mesmerized. The cold breeze beside the riverside which used to refresh my mind doesn’t exist anymore. Moreover, it is even so hard to stand there for a moment because of the bad smell of the polluted water. I wish I could prevent this from happening. But it is not possible for me to make any changes to the river beside which I grew up but I am definitely going to try to prevent the rest of the rivers of the country from drying. This one river definitely changed my perspective towards nature and made me aware that if we don’t be careful enough in protecting nature, it will harm the whole world in the long run. Raising awareness among people can be the first step in protecting nature and planting trees more and more is the best way to save nature and living beings.
Op-Ed Proposal
Op-Ed Draft #1 Feedback
Essay #2 Op-Ed :
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter- Nowadays every single person starting from teens to adults, who doesn’t use it? Every person likes to share their pictures or personal thoughts on these social networking sites in order to get some appreciation from other people. People used to use these social networking sites to communicate easily and to pass their free time or to just have some fun. But with the progressing world, the perspective has changed and now people use these sites as a competition about who got more followers and more likes. Eventually, Social media are harming the young generation. Even though social media has made communication a lot better, it is causing some serious problems too. Young adults and teens who grew up using social media are mostly affected by its harmful outcomes. The wrong use or over use of these applications are not only changing the perspective of society but also causing depression and anxiety among young adults.
By depending on social media way too much, it has been easier for people to get stressed over their own life when they see other people enjoying their life and they post things on social media about how interesting their life is. Some people get sad over this thinking how their life is so perfect while mine is full of stress and boring. The perfect flawless pictures of popular creators on social media are setting standards for young people who are not mature enough to understand the fact that there are no “Beauty Standards” that they have to follow. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. But when they come across these flawless pictures of others, some people get insecure about themselves and start thinking that they are not good enough. These insecurities lead them to depression and anxiety. The article “The Impact of Social Media On Society” explains that “The study conducted by psychologist Dr. Mark Becker, of Michigan State University, found a 70% increase in self reported depressive symptoms among the group using social media and a 42% increase in social anxiety.” This statement clearly shows the increase of depression and anxiety rate of a group of people who use social media. The reason why there is an increase in depression and anxiety among people who use social media is it’s much easier for people to spread hate, bully someone online or spread false news quickly which might affect someone’s mental health.
Some teens post their thoughts and problems on these social networking platforms which eventually doesn’t give them any solution rather causes more problems. The article named “The impact of Social Media On Society” also mentions, “One study proving the link between depression and social media, conducted by Professor Dr. Joanne Davila, her colleague, Lisa Starr, and Stony Brook University researchers discovered that, in a sample group of teenage girls, excessive Facebook usage caused the sample group to be at a higher risk for depression and anxiety.” This article explains that those teenagers who constantly share their thoughts or problems on social media experienced higher levels of anxiety than who did not. When people use social networking sites excessively, they tend to post every little issue that is going on in their personal life and when they do so there are chances of getting both positive and negative comments on these posts. It is human nature that those negative comments are going to take over their mind than the positive ones. As a result, when they start getting negative comments on an issue rather than getting any solution, the issue gets even worse and eventually it causes them more depression.
Social media has increased the rate of crime too. It has been a lot easier for people to bully someone online. Cyberbullying is a serious issue among this young generation. Criminals can easily harm someone using the information they provide on these social networking sites. Cyberbullying can cause mental health problems and can lead to suicide. There was a news published in The New York Times titled as “A Teenager Killed Himself After Being Outed as Bisexual. His Family Wants justice” mentioned that a student of Tennessee High school killed himself after being outed online as bisexual. He committed suicide after his text messages with a male classmate was exposed on social media. He was humiliated and before committing suicide, he wrote a last post on Instagram saying “I really hate how I can’t trust anyone because those I did were so fake.” The reason why he committed suicide was nothing but online bullying. As his personal messages got viral among his classmates, he felt humiliated to face his classmates again. His mother addressed a crowd at one of the vigils, “Just because you think it’s cute or funny to make somebody embarrassed or humiliate them, think again,” she said. “Because if somebody would have realized that, my son would not be dead.” It is true that one person’s mean joke can harm another person’s mental health to such a point that he might end up committing suicide. So people should be very aware before making any comment on someone else because your one comment may take away someone’s life.
Besides this, social media are also ruining personal relationships with family and real life friends. Teens and young adults are so focused on making new friends online that they end up lacking emotional connection with their parents, siblings or real life friends. Excessive use of social media are also distracting students from their career goals and making them lazy.
Using social media is not a negative thing. Social media is a great source for reconnecting with people all over the world. But teens and young adults need to be aware while using these social networking sites. Since it is very easy to manipulate someone online or spread false news within a short time, every person using these has to be very careful. Young adults need to pay attention to how much time they are spending on these social networking sites and they should try to avoid any negative vibes they are getting from these sites. Besides that, people should be mindful while using social media to protect their mental health and avoid committing suicides.
Work Cited Page
Amedie, Jacob, “The Impact of Social Media on Society” (2015). Pop Culture Intersections. 2.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/engl_176/2
Rueb, Emily S. “A Teenager Killed Himself After Being Outed as Bisexual. His Family Wants Justice.” The New York Times, 30 September 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/channing-smith-suicide-bisexual-tennessee.html.
Op-Ed Essay Feedback
Critical Analysis Research About Colorism :
Essay #3 Critical Analysis
What is beauty ? Does having lighter skin is considered to be beautiful or having an hourglass figure is what makes someone beautiful? Why do darker skinned people get compared to lighter skinned people and why do plus size people get compared to skinny people in order to be called beautiful? What are the things that a person has to have in order to be called pretty and who are the people that are going to decide if the other person is beautiful or not? What are the criteria that makes a person beautiful and makes another person ugly and who made those beauty standards? Even though this is an ongoing issue all over the world, it is mostly seen in brown communities where people are constantly being body shamed for not meeting their certain beauty standards. In south asian countries, people are only considered beautiful if they have lighter skin color. Those who have darker skin tone get suggested by other people that they should use skin lightening products so that they can be beautiful too with a lighter skin tone. This issue is not only surrounded within families or small communities but also it has been depicted in the media which has spread this beauty standard all over South Asia. People have made several skin lightening product’s ad-commercials which portray how people are not considered beautiful with a darker skin tone and how they are being deprived of many facilities only because of their darker skin color. One of the most famous skin lightening product’s ad-commercials that mostly raise the insecurities among the young generation from decades is called “Fair & Lovely.” Even though people were not aware enough about this issue in the past, this issue should be addressed in the present time in order to stop colorism.
In South Asia, colorism is a huge issue which is still going on where lighter skin color is equated with beauty. If you have lighter skin you are beautiful and if you have darker skin you are considered ugly. Not only this but also darker skin toned people get deprived of many opportunities and in these countries where marriage plays a very significant role in people’s lives, young women get told by their family and society that no one is going to marry them because of their skin color. Most young women and teenagers face this problem where they get suggested to use skin lightening products so that they can become beautiful and get appreciation from people too. Keeping these issues in mind, “Fair & Lovely” made their skin lightening cream and to promote their product, they have made many commercials which basically promotes colorism.
In a commercial of “Fair & Lovely,” there is a scene where a group of girls were practicing dancing for a show and the producer selected the girl who had lighter skin as the main dancer and told the girl who had darker skin to stay behind the curtain to read story during the show even though she was talented enough. The girl who had lighter skin suggested the dark skin toned girl to use this cream to get a fair looking skin in 30 days. Fast forward to the story, they show that after applying that cream the girl gets lighter skin and eventually everyone was attracted to her, considered her beautiful and appreciated her. In another commercial, there is a scene where a girl wasn’t getting hired anywhere because of her skin color. Her father was very sad about this and said he wishes he had a son. After listening to this the girl started to find ways to get fair looking skin so that she can be hired as an airhostess where she needs to look pretty in order to get that job and she would only be considered as pretty if she had a lighter skin tone. Eventually she uses Fair & Lovely, gets a fair looking skin and gets hired for the job of an airhostess. Like these two commercials, there are several commercials of Fair & Lovely which promoted colorism.
South Asian people are mostly obsessed with fair skin and Fair & Lovely is always about getting a fair skin tone. This brand has always promoted how darker skinned people find it hard to get a job or to match with a suitable person to get married. South Asian women want to use whitening cream so that they can be confident within their looks by looking fair. This brand has not only promoted colorism but also it has raised insecurities among young women and teens. In an article of annual review of sociology called “Skin Color And Colorism: Global research, Concepts And Measurements” they mention that “Moreover, for women in particular, lightness has been associated not just with the leisure class, but also with femininity, beauty, and purity in India, China, Indonesia, and Japan. For example, in Japan, whiteness has for centuries, if not more than a millennium, held symbolic meanings and associations with class privilege, spiritual purity, and feminine beauty.” This shows how someone’s skin color defines their purity and beauty. This issue of colorism has been spread all over the world through mass media while promoting skin-bleaching products as this article also explains that “A number of scholars point to the strength of the skin-bleaching industry as material evidence of a globalized preference for lighter skin. Whiteness and light skin are now worldwide commodities that can be obtained for the right price. Many scholars point to the role of globalization and mass media in helping to spread white/light supremacy throughout the world.”
Colorism not only makes people insecure about their own body but also affects their career too. Many industries look for fair looking women in order to promote their products. “These images of a “new global beauty” are either explicitly white or rooted in whiteness and are portrayed by entertainment and advertisement industries throughout the globe, from India’s Bollywood to Latin America’s telenovelas. Hunter also argues that “light skin tone is interpreted as beauty” and that beauty itself functions as a form of social capital that is traded for access to goods such as jobs, education, social networks, and romantic partners,” as mentioned in the article of “Skin Color And Colorism: Global research, Concepts And Measurements.” This article portrays how dark skin tone is seen as “Not Beautiful’’ and therefore they do not get the opportunity to get their desired jobs where they prioritize light skinned people. Not to be surprised but when it comes to marriage, most men prefer to have someone as their spouse who has a lighter skin and in the neighborhood where there is a shortage of marriageable men, darker skinned women are disadvantaged as mentioned in the article because the shortage allows the men to be more selective and obtain a lighter and higher-status spouse.
It is high time we addressed this issue of colorism. People should be aware about the fact that someone’s skin color doesn’t define their value. Women, especially women from South Asia should not be concerned if a man is going to marry her for having darker skin because her skin color doesn’t define her beauty or ability and she doesn’t need to use any skin-bleaching product such as Fair & Lovely to get lighter skin in order to please a man. I agree with the article “Colorism / Neo-Colorism” by Joel Snell when he mentioned “A person of color should not make their life a prison of expectations hoping to please the ‘man’.” People should be aware of the fact that it is other people who set beauty standards. And beauty standards keep changing with the passing time. There was a time when having thinner eyebrows and thinner lips were considered as beautiful and trendy, with the passing time we have come to 2021 where having bushy eyebrows and fuller lips are considered as pretty. Eventually women are getting lip fillers in order to match themselves with the current trend. But what I am trying to point out in mentioning this matter is that there are models who set beauty standards and beauty standards keep changing with the passing time but this does not define a person if they are beautiful or not. An example from the article “Colorism / Neo-colorism” is “a comparison of American and Chinese fashion magazines revealed widespread evidence of the tanning ideal in the United States but overwhelming preference for very fair models in China. Rondilla also notes the cross-cultural complexity of this practice. While Asian immigrants to the US tend to retain affinities for lighter skin, many Asian Americans engage in tanning based on a desire to reflect US standards of beauty or to acquire greater racial authenticity.” This quote proves my point that beauty standards vary from one culture to another. While American people who have pale skin try to get tanned because that is what the fashion industry desires. At the same time, Chinese people look for models who have fair looking skin because that is what their fashion industry wants.
People should start to feel comfortable with their own skin color and body structure. They should not question themselves based on someone else’s point of view on beauty. People should educate themselves that having darker skin tone doesn’t make anyone less valuable and primitive as well as having lighter skin doesn’t make a person more valuable. It is all about perspective. Especially if South Asian people start to change their perspective about beauty and embrace their own skin color, these skin lightening products are also going to be very careful while making commercials in such a way that it doesn’t promote colorism.
Work Cited Page
Commercial Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Aik4LKf8oM
Dixon, Angela, and Edward Telles. “Skin Color and Colorism: Global Research, Concepts, and Measurement.” Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 43:405–424, no. July 2017, 2017. CCNY, doi-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/10.1146/annurev-soc-060116-053315.
Snell, Joel. “COLORISM/NEO-COLORISM.” Education, vol. 138, no. 2, 2017, p. 205+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A518821850/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=28a71b8e. Accessed 23 May 2021.
