"Electronic Disturbance" and "Truth is a Virus" (Week 10 Entry 1) 6/06/17

“Electronic Disturbance: An Interview” Ricardo Dominguez “Truth is a Virus: Meme Warfare and the Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)” Andrew Boyd

Electronic Disturbance talks about the power of the internet, like a virus. He also uses examples of how the Zapatista’s used electronic force in 1994. In

Truth is a Virus aside from being the title of the article it also kind of implants a thought. In a way personally this title reminds me of “ignorance is bliss” as well as Inception in which the basic idea in the movie is implanting an idea into one’s head. These two things come together in such a mantra because not only is truth implanted, but it also reminds us that once the truth spreads there really is no going back. Another thing explored, something in this generation is very familiar, are “memes.” I would personally describe memes as images that are often captioned with a different or ironic take on the situation shown in the photo. Obviously at UC Davis a common example of this is the pepper spray meme. When such images meet politics, it becomes equivalent to this 21^st century digital politic cartoon. Boyd uses Billionaires for Bush as an example. As he contemplates their use of memes he talks about the double edge of irony. In a way that’s essentially what makes memes funny. It has that literal sense but also that double entendre, in many cases a subversive implied meaning. He relates this to a virus, that has the outer shell, as well as the inner code that is injected into other cells. To complete the analogy memes have the outer shell which is the visual itself, as well as hidden implied meanings posed through methods such as sarcasm. The way memes can be rapidly spread parallels a virus, and thus this inner code, hidden truth is dispersed. Such as in Sandip Roy’s article, it is also important to acknowledge that the virtual must meet with the real structures of organization to truly be effective. Towards the end Boyd recounts “Truth cannot live on meme alone” and that memes are powerful methods and the truth throughout the years has spread through like viruses, albeit in different shapes and forms.

“Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” (Week 9 Entry 2) 6/01/17

“Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” Nam Le

            This reading was unique in that it was a short story rather than the articles we’ve been reading. Through this story several ideas are explored, and one was the generational divide faced between Nam and his father. The writer describes his job, his past, and his relationship. However, when it comes to his father he is rather vague about his relationship with his father. We get the sense that they are very distant, and he brings up a few anecdotes from the past as well as the differences they had through the years. Along with this he also talks about Linda and their relationship. Although he and his father have undergone many differences, he struggles to explain, and in part Linda is unable to understand (possibly due to their different cultures), that despite all of this he is still Nam’s father.

As he’s walking with a friend at night, his friend encourages him to write about Vietnam, to write about his people. We can kind of view this with some criticism as many people tell people of color and different backgrounds to write about their culture. As he walks with his father, who seems to simply want to spend time with him, he recalls the stories of immense struggle and hardship that his father had recounted many years ago. When he arrives home he decides that he will write about his people, specifically of his father’s hardships. When his father comes upon his story he mentions that threre are many mistakes. Curious Nam asks to hear more taking notes as his father recounts his stories. After redrafting the story, the father takes his story and burns it in the end. Nam talks about not knowing at the time, the reasons or motivation his father had in doing so and only feeling anger for what had been done, but he does state that he eventually came to know. In many examples we’ve encountered it becomes very difficult to really understand what other generations have felt. Parents of these generations because of hardship and simply wanting the best for their children hold them to high standards and pressures. On the other side of the fence, the children and their generation don’t necessarily understand the past hardships as well as feel like their parents don’t understand this new culture. It is often through these points of view that we encounter such generational divides, especially within Asian American communities.