Week 7 - Annika Altura

Week 7
Annika Altura
Section A01

This week's set of readings was all about censorship, and how administrations tend to censor free thought and free speech in favor of what might cause damage to the image of the board. I see this happening internally. In relation with mental health, censorship tends to take a toll when we censor ourselves for fear of the way that others might see us. The article "How Trigger Warnings Are Hurting Mental Health on Campus" published by the Atlantic exposes how certain warnings triggers specific parts of anxiety and how this is especially evident on campus, a space where students, and likely Asian Americans, are not able to process said anxieties. I was drawn to the list towards the end of the article, the list of common cognitive disorders. I believe that the pressure that Asian Americans put on themselves due to influencing forces such as a tiger mom, or the model minority may result in triggering anxieties. The entire list is rooted in schemes of failure and rejection, with phrases such as "those successes were easy, they don't matter" or, "I seem to fail at a lot of things." The inability to recognize achievements thus causes these anxieties and drives Asian American students to censor themselves under the wrongly preconceived notions that they as people nor their efforts aren't enough. I myself have experienced these and understand these experiences, and I realize that it is the core and the beginning that might have Asian Americans afraid to speak up.

Above is a diagram showing demographics in Hollywood, a study made by USC's Communication school. This just simply goes to show that Asian Americans don't have as much of a voice, and aren't taking into consideration as much as the other races. This kind of visual may influence other Asian Americans to think that they simply aren't to be seen.
My question is, what are the ramifications of Asian Americans speaking up more in the public?

References:

1. Cohen, Robby. (1985). Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving the Way for Campus Activism. OAH Magazine of History, 1(1), 16-18.

2. Hamamoto, D. (n.d.). Ethnic Cover: Inquiry Into Norman Yoshio Mineta and Post-Racial Profiling. In Servitors of Empire: Studies in the Dark Side of Asian America (pp. 201-223). Waterville , OR: Trine Day LLC.

3. Haidt, G. L., & Haidt, J. (2015, November 20). The Coddling of the American Mind. Retrieved May 14, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

Asian American men are reclaiming their masculinities on their own terms. (2017, March 09). Retrieved May 14, 2017, from http://www.verygoodlight.com/2017/01/19/asian-american-men/