Jessica Hung Cen, Period 7, 10/4/21

Jessica Hung Cen

Period 7

10/5/21

Modern Mythology 2022


What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

The issues of inequity, oppression, and the abuse of power are a continuity throughout history. Regarding these issues, I’ve always felt conflicted about them. The humane part of me, who holds the belief that people should be equal, rejects the idea that those in power have excess resources that they are unable to use. Yet, a clear structure on power and hierarchy is necessary for society to function. Thus, the logical side of me accepts that these issues will remain a continuity for the rest of human history. After all, we have seen various examples of “equality” fail. The most prominent among them is the practice of communism. In theory, it sounds like a wonderful idea. The government allocates equal resources to everyone, thus eliminating a hierarchy based on wealth. However, corruption always occurs. Perhaps due to the nature of human greed, people will never settle for “enough”. In macroeconomic terms, there are limited resources for unlimited wants. Thus, the very idea of equality is rejected by human nature. Despite this, I believe that it is still our individual duty to make the world as fair as we possibly can. We may not be able to change the existing system, but each individual choice of ours affects others as well. We can choose to not abuse the power we hold over others so that, at the very least, we do not become the villains we seek to avoid.

How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

In my day-to-day life, I’ve witnessed and experienced various examples of power imbalances and inequity. As an Asian American, I’ve been subjected to unfair expectations given to me by both my peers as well as authority figures. Due to the “model minority” myth which claims that Asians are smarter, it felt that excellence was required of me while mediocrity was the standard for others. In middle school, my classmates often commented on my grades and acted shocked whenever my test score was below a 99. As a result, I felt increased pressure to do well and when I didn’t, a sense of shame engulfed me. At the time, it felt like a compliment since others believed that I could score perfectly on every test. Now, I realize that it was something that stunted my growth, as I could not make mistakes that I could learn from. Due to this experience, I’ve come to the realization that sometimes, inequality does not have to be something grand. Inequality is not always the wealth gap between the top 1% and people below the poverty line or the gap between geniuses and hard workers. Sometimes, inequality is present in the biased perceptions others may have of you and how they decide to treat you as a result. This may manifest itself as backhanded compliments, as it did for me. The speaker may not even be aware of the biases they hold. Therefore, I learned to read in between the lines as well as examine how my words may sound to someone else, in case I also hold a bias against others.