- What is xenophobia? How does the term relate to the Covid-19 pandemic and the various decisions countries have made in dealing with the virus’s spread?
Xenophobia is the dislike/prejudice against people from other countries. This term relates to the Covid-19 pandemic because there has been a lot of dicrimination against people of the Eastern Asain community. People have over distanced themselves, been violent towards and even nicknamed the virus after a particular race (the wuhan virus).
- In what ways does fear factor into the personal accounts and political decision making that Serhan and McLaughlin report on?
In the beginning of the article it talks about a woman (I think) named Eunice wearing a mask as the virus got worse. As she started wearing her mask she noticed the people around her being rude and even making death threats. Fear factors in here because for doing something as simple as wearing a mask, she was now scared for life on top of being scared of the virus going around.
- How does Serhan & McLaughlin’s journalistic piece relate to Cadogan’s first-person narrative?
This piece relates to Cadogans pieces because it’s almost like Serhan and McLaughin are reporting on what Cadogan goes into detail about. They talk about instances where individuals feel uncomfortable being themselves from a bird’s eye view whereas in Cadogans writing we see what is going through the individual’s heads during those instances.
- What are your thoughts on travel bans (in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic)? Make your claim and then plant a skeptic or naysayer within the paragraph (name the skeptic, consider the extension of their counterargument, then show why you believe your claim is correct).
In my opinion I think that particular travel bans do help stop the spread of COVID. For example, if I live in Mass where there are not many COVID cases, it would make sense that the government may not want people entering from a place like Florida, where there has reportedly been higher numbers of positive cases. Now as soon as it becomes a factor of race over safety is where I would say it becomes wrong. Now this is the point where some people may argue that this virus is the fault of a certain race and because of that we should be aware of who we let into our country. I hear that opinion because perhaps the virus did begin in a particular place, but it is now killing people worldwide and I don’t think disease see’s race. Safety should be a priority, for anyone and everyone. So for the benefit of others getting tested before going somewhere new, getting vaccinated if you can and stopping travel within the places with higher cases could be beneficial to the safety of everyone.
