Stereotypes and Chinese Zodiacs - Coursework Example

Unlike the traditional Western concept of time, the Chinese regard time as a repetitive cycle that revolves around 60 years, such that a certain time would generally reappear after 60 years. The Chinese distinguish the time through the use of animals (and one mythical creature), naming years and hours as these animals.

The selection of these animals, and the arrangement thereof, came from an old legend from the Chinese dynasty, possibly around the Zhan Guo period. Legend tells of Buddha or the Jade Emperor calling for all animals to race across a raging river. The rat, thinking smartly, overcame its disability to swim by hopping and free-riding on the strongest animal in the race: the buffalo. Just before the buffalo was to cross the finish line, the rat jumped off ahead of the buffalo and landed first. The tiger, being strong as it is, was the next to arrive. As the rabbit came near the finish line, hoping his way from stone to stone, it slipped and landed on a floating log, which the rabbit used to float to the finish line. The dragon, which everybody thought would finish first, came after the rabbit, giving the alibi that it had to help the townspeople and the rabbit in crossing the finish line. The next to approach the finish line was the horse, but the snake, just like the rat, subtly hid on the horse’s hooves. Just before the horse crossed the finish line, the snake sprang from where it was hiding and scared the horse. It thus rushed to the finish line, followed by the startled horse. The sheep, the monkey, and the rooster helping each other cross the river finished the race through the raft and garnered the 8th, 9th, and 10th spots, respectively. The dog, who was actually a good swimmer, finished second to the last, saying that he had been tempted to take a bath, and take a bath is what he did. The emperor was about to close the race when from a distance, he heard “oink”. Being lazy, the pig stopped in the middle of the race and ate a banquet before falling asleep. As soon as the pig woke up, it finished the race and was the last of the animals to arrive. The order of the animals that came is as follows: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Serpent, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig, thus the sequence of the zodiac.

The Chinese culture is truly rich. Being one of the oldest and long-lasting civilizations in the world, the contribution of the Chinese to the world is innumerable. Chinese astrology and zodiacs are one such contribution, a contribution that, though originated more than 2000 years, exists today.

Kev Jumba and his Stereotype Weblogs

The stereotype has, in a way, always been around in human civilization. Cultural differences and migration have often bred feelings of hatred and distance from a person not belonging to the “in-group”. Oftentimes, these feelings have matured and developed over time, incorporating the feeling into the system of the society and imprinting in the minds of everyone in the in-group that the deviant individual or group of individuals stand for their race, nation, ethnic group, and other human collectivities, creating a fertile ground for Xenophobia or Ethnocentric tendencies.

Kev Jumba, on his YouTube channel, tried to address such a problem regarding stereotype in a country so rampant about it: the United States of America. His overall experience of being laughed at or being looked at with disgust in the eyes of the majority has pushed him to rant about the topic.

His approach, being comical, has somehow reduced the message of the rant into a matter of leisure. Though in a way, it attracts more viewers, and thus expanded audiences, it puts the matter of stereotyping, which is as serious as it affects the psychological welfare of the deviant out-group, into something that losses its seriousness. He did try to approach the topic with sensitivity, touching on the different stereotypes of the different races and illustrating that they are not the only out-group with such differences in American society.

Kev Jumba is just one of the innumerable persons that belong to the out-group in the American country. More and more people suffer from discrimination because they are Chinese, Asian, Malay, Arabs, Muslim, Blacks, African, Latinos, etc. As more and more individuals migrate between borders of the state, discrimination, and stereotyping become more and more rampant, and thus more and more people like Kev Jumba will spring out to call the world into the right order: the calling of human equality; that all men, women, and children are equal.