Conversion via Twitter

By; Adrian Chen

Connect one of your ideas about empathy in Jamison or your chosen reading (or both) to what you read in Chen.

“Conversion via Twitter” by Adrian Chen is about a centralized view of a religious group and one member who had developed a sense of empathy through a communication platform called Twitter. A member of Westboro, a religious group, was brought up by the church learning ideas centered around what “God wants.” One idea was that “God hated gay people. And the rest of the world hated them, too” which was engraved in her mind as a social norm. As social media grew the church decided to create a Twitter account to further promote its message. Megan the group member, then created a fake account to see if their message was being received by the public. By creating this account on Twitter changed her entire view of the church system. Megan was sheltered by this religious group and Twitter opened her eyes to how their “message from God” was doing nothing but harm. She then developed a sense of empathy and compassion for the victims that they were targeting. She saw life from a different point of view. This was similar to Jamison’s expericence when he attended a medical conference for an unknown disease. He saw how the vitims felt and practiced empathy in order to comprehend there life.

The Devil’s Bait

By Leslie Jamison

What’s your verdict on Morgellons disease; is it a “disease or delusion”?

Personally, I think that this is a real disease that hasn’t been discovered yet. Leslie Jamison the author of “The Devil’s Bait” wrote about an illness called Morgellons. Jamison went to a convention that created awareness for this potential disease. This virus creates a feeling of intense itching, and “bugs” under the skin. There are also little fiber-like strands that land on the skin that creates a sharp sensation when touched. These symptoms are unlike other diseases known by doctors around the world. I believe that is a real disease because of a story from a lady at the convention named Sandra. Jamison tells her story describing how she “pulls out her cell phone to show me a photo of something she coughed up… She thinks it’s a larva,” (Jamison). This evidence makes me believe that this disease is real and not imaginary. Sandra’s proclaimed theory about her condition is that the fibers are connecting to her body because “the organisms inside her are gathering materials to make their cocoons,” (Jamison) This would explain the symptom of the fibers on the skin. The direct evidence of the larva she coughed up would be evidence of the symptom of feeling of bugs under her skin. This is concrete evidence that the doctors and researchers should conduct more tests to help these people.

I plan to interview my friend and dorm neighbor, Jordyn. We were supposed to be in a triple rooming situation until UNE only allowed doubles, and we got separated. In this interview, I hope to learn something about my new friend as well as getting a new perspective on the word “assimilation”. A few questions I plan on asking my interviewee are: Have you ever been in a situation where you felt the need to assimilate? When was the first time you felt left out or different? How would you define the word “assimilation?” In your own definition is “assimilation” negative and/or positive? These questions will help me develop my 2nd paper and provide a second perspective on this complicated word.

What word are you planning to write your next paper about?

The word I have been thinking to write about is either covering or assimilation. I have a good understanding of both of these terms. I feel like I might choose the word covering because I have more articles I could use in my paper to help me explain the word. I might use the word assimilation because it is a more concrete concept but I will have a harder time trying to find the use of this word in the articles we have read so far. Either way, this paper will be a challenge for me because covering is a new word for me, and for assimilation, I don’t have as many ideas to write about.

What Does It Take to ‘Assimilate’ in America?
By Laila Lalami

Laila Lalami the author of “What Does It Take to ‘Assimilate’ in America?” starts the article with personal experience about the idea of assimilation. Her entire article is centered on the word assimilation. Lalami goes on in her article to explain how people of different races, religions, and backgrounds are supposed to assimilate to American culture. Lalami describes America as a “salad bowl, rather than melting pot: Each ingredient keeps its flavor, even as it mixes with others” (Lalami). When America uses the expression “melting pot” it references that we are all the same and that we are assimilating to the American way of life. Lalami then goes on to explain how immigrants are forced to blend in and remove parts of there own identity to be “normal” in society. After, Lalami explains another view of immigrants and assilation. She explains how some people will come to America and assimilate into the community in order to hide the fact that they are undocumented citizens. She shows that there are many ways a person can use the word assimilation in reference to America.