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#里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
When examining biased media and government propaganda, it is also essential to consider whether or not the news service itself is a government mouthpiece, and also what degree of free press exists, if any, in the nation being reported on. Blanket censorship of the media is just as powerful a tool as propaganda in controlling the narrative to attempt to rewrite history in the way the government wants it to be retold. Thus, it is common to see both propaganda and censorship combined when used to cover up government ineptitude, corruption and malfeasance. #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
Can you always trust the authorities? The answer to this question is the same as the answer to the question “Can you always trust anyone?”. It may seem cynical or even a bit paranoid to question and be sceptical of everything you see and hear in the news, but the reality is that fake news and government disinformation campaigns make up a huge part of what is reported these days, and it behoves the intelligent reader to be more discerning in what they accept as fact, and also to choose their sources of information wisely. #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
In this week’s article, we have what appears at first glance to be a human-interest story written with the intention of tugging at the readers’ heartstrings. It ostensibly details the story of two immigrants to America – one naturalised and the other still seeking citizenship – and the fast-paced romance they enjoyed going sour, with the malicious mother “abducting” their child and withholding visiting rights to extort money from the father. It seems to portray the woman as an unashamed gold-digger who comes from a family that also wants to milk the rich foreign husband for all he is worth, and who is not afraid to hold their child hostage to extract as much money as possible, whilst also securing American citizenship for herself. The article details the trials and tribulations of the unfortunate father (now ex-husband) as he attempts to just see his daughter, while the malevolent and greedy seductress constantly issues new demands for cash and benefits, but never actually delivers on her promises to grant access to the child. #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
Ever wondered why the imagery commonly associated with Christmas, supposedly the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, involves evergreen trees, snow, reindeer and other distinctively northern European symbols, when Jesus is supposed to have been born in the Middle East, thousands of kilometres away from any of these objects? And how does Santa Claus fit into all of this bizarre mishmash of unrelated concepts? #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
Death and taxes – the only two unavoidable elements of human life – are closely tied in this week’s article about levying a ‘sin tax’ on meat. This is a follow-up to the news about lab-grown meat starting to enter production, and the related issue of whether or not meat should be considered a harmful luxury item and taxed accordingly. If you have never even considered the possibility of taxing meat consumption before, you should think carefully about the parallels with other unhealthy luxury substances that are drawn in this article. #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
Here is some good news for all those hypocrites who claim to care about the environment or support animal rights and yet still eat meat: lab-grown meat has been given regulatory approval in Singapore and could be about to enter mass production. After years of speculation as to when meat grown in a bioreactor would finally start replacing flesh from living creatures, the article portrays this development as a milestone in the meat industry because it is offering the potential for cruelty-free, drug-free, “cleaner” meat, although it is unclear what they mean by the last term. The cultivation of meat that does not require the mass imprisonment or murdering of animals – and perhaps only a little cruelty if biopsies are required to start every batch of meat – is certainly something worth celebrating and embracing. #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
Why is there still such a pervasive cultural stigma attached to people who choose to not get married, to not have children, or to live alone? As we saw in last week’s article, social norms around the world have already moved well beyond the outdated cultural expectations that are still being forced upon us by older generations, conservatives and even governments. In Taiwan, where many still wrongly believe that social changes seen in western countries have not yet become prevalent here, it is clear that increasing numbers of people are choosing, not just unmarried, childless lives, but also singledom, as you can see from the research findings presented in the Taipei Times article “More women in Taiwan are living alone, study finds”. #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
After last week's look at Taiwan's disdain for having babies and getting married, and its obsession with fur babies, let's now take a more global perspective to examine factors leading to changing trends in relationships; something that was conspicuously absent in the previous article. The author of this article has conducted research into different types of relationships already existing in western countries. She uses several examples to demonstrate how relationships and attitudes towards them have been evolving in recent decades, demonstrating a pattern which she speculates will continue to break up traditional concepts of cohabitation and other de facto arrangements. #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
Taiwan often receives international media attention for very different reasons from many other countries. This time the spotlight is on the continuously falling birth rate, but unlike Japan, which is often in the news for its similarly aging population and declining birth rate, the focus on Taiwan is related to the increasingly common phenomenon of keeping pets as surrogates for human offspring. Not only are animals being kept as substitutes for children, they are also being carted around in prams, dressed up in outfits, taken into restaurants, and also stuffed into handbags like the fashionable accessories they have become. #里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀
Although it is still too early to call the election results with any confidence, Donald Trump could not resist showing his true colours and claiming he already won, that there had been major fraud, and that he was going to get the Supreme Court to stop counting all votes. If ever you have needed a demonstration of why the world’s confidence in the USA has plummeted to a record low, here it is. If you cannot understand why so many people believe that the USA is unfit to continue being the world’s sole superpower, now you know. In a nation that is supposed to be a bastion and model of democracy, you have someone who believes that they are losing, trying to call foul and convince his followers that he has been cheated – not unlike many despotic dictators do when they are unable to accept that really they are hated by many people that they claim to represent. |
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