Elif Shafak 1: The politics of fiction

TED 2010

Elif Shafak 1: The politics of fiction (transcript)

Summary

We must enjoy fiction stories more without thinking identities of not only writers but also you and politics.

Fiction stories have a lot of magic to connect all humanity and help our imaginations.

We don’t find identities of writers in fiction stories but we feel the connection of the characters in them beyond each identity.

In the TED talk, the speaker is a Turkish writer. She just wanted to love and celebrate fiction she wrote for what it is, however, she was prosecuted because of her fiction stories. It could be admitted for fiction stories to be entitled to political opinions though we ruin them.

We will produce stereotypes ourselves. We tend to form clusters based on similarity and we create walls. Surrounding something with thick walls is drying up inside. Something is an acne, a blemish or even the human soul.

Due to the place we are in is the small circle, if we keep staying there, our imagination shrinks, hearts dwindle, and humanness might wither.

Something that is strange and elusive is important for us.

Writers can write fiction more freely and we can feel them more widely.

Words in this itory

entitled /  qualify, give (someone) a legal right or a just claim to receive or do something.

dwindle /dwin・dle/dwíndl/ diminish, decrease, reduce, lessen, shrink

humanness /  manhood, humanity

wither / dry up, wilt, droop, go limp, fade

demolish /  knock down, pull down, tear down, bring down, destroy

dismantle /  take apart, pull apart, pull to pieces

Trump calls Japan ‘crucial ally’ after arriving for first leg of Asia tour

The Japan times

Trump calls Japan ‘crucial ally’ after arriving for first leg of Asia tour (article)

Summary

U.S.President Donald Trump visited Japan on Sunday to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Koreans.

Trump is going to South Korea, China,The Philippines, and Vietnam after visiting Japan.

Asian countries are facing problems that are North Korea crisis and territorial disputes with Chain in the South China Sea.

However, provoking North Korea is more dangerous, China won’ listen to anything, and only two countries are getting closer will lead other countries to jealousy.

Additionally, when leader is not present, big accidents sometimes occur.

Even the order of visiting become a problem.

Countries don't have compassion but it continues teaching children.

I don't think that it teaches country’s history. I think that all countries overcome their history and we're have to cooperate for our better future beyond it.

Words in this story

ally /al・ly /əlάɪ, ˈælɑɪ/ friend, supporter

troops / army,

bilateral / having or relating to two sides; affecting both sides.

Pearl Harbor

This week, US President Donald Trump visited Japan. Due to that, I somehow remember one movie. It's is not "Home Alone" which he appeared, I didn't watch it all. though.  I watched only the part he appear on Youtube. Hahaha.  Do you know that?

I saw a picture on the internet news before he and his wife come to Japan.
In the picture, Melania Trump was tossing white flowers.
I understood the place instantly. That place is Pearl Harbor.
I thought that it was really better to visit there before Japan because I've heard that they've never been to both areas.
However, it reminds me of the movie "Pearl Harbor".
I knew it from my English teachers. She liked it as a love story though I was shocked.  It’s because no Japanese people taught me the movie. I thought that it’s really tough for Japanese people, thus we have to have a conversation about it. 

I am sorry if the movies are not your taste.
Thank you always for listening to my stories.

Carlos Bautista : The awful logic of land mines - and an app that helps people avoid them

TED 2017

Carlos Bautista : The awful logic of land mines - and an app that helps people avoid them (transcript)

Summary

We wouldn't be able to imagine that there are many places where landmines are still buried.

Conflicts had ended and we thought  landmines were ridden and people are forgetting because they are not there.  

However, only in 2015, landmines were increasing due to wars in some countries.

Although the places are countryside, landmines sometimes explode because people start returning to their lands when wars ended.

Hidden landmines are going to start exploding often on the usual citizens.

The number of  person has been killed is increasing more than the injured soldier.

Ironically. landmines were designed not only to kill but also to maim their targets.

When the speaker knew that many countries have been affected by landmines and by wars, he decided to create an app to help people avoid them. He hopes that all lands and all people can live safely without landmines.

Words in this story
maim /verb/ wound or injure (someone) so that part of the body is permanently damaged.  injure, wound.

Sally Kohn 2: Don't like clickbait? Don't click

TED 2014

Sally Kohn 2: Don't like clickbait? Don't click (transcript)

Summary

We have to know that we have more responsibility for our clicks

Our clicking is a public act. It’ not a private act.

Even, clicking something that we don't like makes it worse. It encourages the tyranny of the nasty.

We should be careful in clicking and use it in a good purpose.

Don't just stand by the sidelines when we see someone getting hurt and stop clicking on the lacking value stories.

We have to choose the news site we can truly trust ourselves seriously because our clicks are important because media is always dangerous. Media makes us mad deliberately.

Words in this story

encourages /verb/ɛnkɝ́ɪdʒɪz/ give support, confidence, or hope to (someone). tyranny /noun/ oppression, despotism nasty /adj/ filthy, dirty

exaggerate /verb/ represent (something) as being larger, greater, better, or worse than it really is. overstate, overemphasize.

bait /beɪt/ bite /bάɪt/

Sally Kohn 1 : Les’t try emotional correctness

TED

Sally Kohn 1 : Les’t try emotional correctness (transcript)

Summary

This speech is really true.

Even if you're politically correct, rejecting or looking down on someone who doesn't agree with you is emotionally wrong.  

We always spend so much time saying bad things about others but we don't spend enough time talking through our disagreements.

We have to find compassion for others that we want them to have for us.

Just not to have an instinctive dislike of someone, let's manage to form a connection.

We have to start the conversations to understand and change each other.

First, we should have emotional correctness as a human being.

Words in this story

emotion /noun/ a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.

emotionally /adverb/  emotional /adj/

instinctive /adj/ relating to or prompted by instinct; apparently unconscious or automatic.

Snowden

Today' s topic is a movie too.
I knew about this story from TED talk and I knew that it became a movie recently.
The title is Snowden.
It seemed to be released at the beginning of this year.
Did you know it?
This is not a fiction. Edward Joseph Snowden was working at CIA and he is said to expose information of NSA.

In one TED talk, (Edward Snowden: Here's how we take back the Internet)
he said that he only gave all of his information back to the American people.

However, in another TED talk, (Richard Ledgett : The NSA responds to Edward Snowden’s TED talk)
the NSA told that Snowden was a whistleblower who hurt legitimate whistleblowing activities.

I think that this is a poor excuse. I'm very worried whether the movie isn't just unfair. I'm going to watch it from now.