Book Review: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Anne Fadiman’s book is a medical non-fiction story which dramatizes the clash between a Hmong family against their American doctors in saving their 3 month old Hmong refugee girl, Lia Lee, who suffers from frequent bouts of epilepsy.

The Hmong, an ethnic group from Laos, were used as a proxy fighting force by America during the Secret War in Laos, and fought against the communist-nationalist Pathet Lao. When the communist emerged triumphant, the Hmong fled to countries like Thailand and the USA.

Fadiman coins the term “differently ethical” to explain the Hmong’s system of beliefs and how this system are worlds apart from the American system. This stark cultural difference becomes the source of miscommunication between Lia’s parents and her doctors, and ultimately contributes to Lia’s tragic suffering and future semi-vegetative state. For the Hmong, their distinct set of beliefs posed a major obstacle to the American medical professionals whom, at this time during the 70s, had little or no experience treating patients like the Hmong who were so deeply entrenched in superstition and rooted in customs considered primitive by Americans.

Through Lia’s case, Fadiman raises the need for better cross-cultural communication in the American medical community when treating immigrant patients. What was needed in Lia’s case and most other cases involving Hmong, in general, was cross-cultural exchange that went beyond simply displaying deep sincerity and sensitivity under the one’s cultural framework of understanding. The solution offered by Fadiman is to adopt another culture’s way of thinking and act according to that framework to engage a new demographic.

Taking Woodstock

“Taking Woodstock” hit the screen of Whittenberger Auditorium at the IMU last weekend and I decided to check the movie out primarily because of the film’s director Taiwanese-American Ang Lee.

In an interview with Stephen Colbert for the Comedy Central’s Colbert Report, Lee shared how he tried to promote Asian culture through the film. That nugget of information really fired me up to want to see the film. Initially, I had been a little hesitant to spend about 2 hours on what might be a film about getting high, sex, drugs, and rock’n'roll.

However, with assurance from Lee, I went to watch the film with eager anticipation trying to spot how he brought in Asian culture to this very American cultural event. I was disppointed to say the least when the only thing Asian presented was merely just references to Mao, traditional Indian dance, and the Korean war.

This being a Hollywood film about an important American cultural event, I probably should not have expected much…

Dumbing Down English

A New York Times essay by author Emily Parker titled “Is Technology Dumbing Down Japanese?” caught my fancy over the weekend. In the commentary, Parker writes about how communications technologies have changed the written Japanese for better or worse.

She highlights a viewpoint from author, Minae Mizumura, who claims in his book, “The Fall of Japanese in the Age of English,” that the written Japanese language has spiralled down in its quality due to the pervasiveness of English thanks to the Japanese education system that emphasizes the importance of this language at the expense of Japanese, and the Internet which is predominantly an English medium.

Parker then shares about the popularity of cellphone text novels which are embraced by Japanese women through this excerpt:

Some of the most dramatic transformations have been taking place on cellphones, where writers, often young women, type stories into their keypads and readers consume them on their screens. Sentences tend to be short, and love stories are popular. The phenomenon peaked in 2007, when five out of 10 of the year’s best-selling books were written on cellphones.

These novels rely on this hybrid Japanese language and the implication here is that this medium of storytelling might change the traditional form of novel.

In a contrasting viewpoint, however, Parker shows the viewpoint of Japanese novelist, Haruki Murakami, who says:

My personal view on the Japanese language (or any language) is, If it wants to change, let it change. Any language is alive just like a human being, just like you or me. And if it’s alive, it will change. Nobody can stop it.” There is no such thing as simplification of language, he added. “It just changes for better or worse (and nobody can tell if it is better or worse).”

She ends on a positive note that the way the Japanese language is being simplified might help for more people to comprehend the language, which is especially helpful in the future when Japan might see an influx of immigrants.

In my J201 class, we learn about writing for the Internet. In many ways, simplification – easy structures, short sentences – is the key to writing for the medium. And as more and more engage the Internet as a primary source for information, would written English adapt to this new simplified version so much so that quality goes out of the window?

I’m sure there are tons of scholarly papers on this issue, but in general I feel that simplification of the written language is a great thing. In this day and age, having a literate populace is great for productivity. You need a society that can read to energize the economy. By simplifying the language, China pulled billions out of illiteracy and ramp up its economy.

Nevertheless, like Murakami says, language is always evolving and it would be exciting to see how the Internet changes the writing as a whole.

Singapore: Blogging Nation

Jeff Yang noted in his column “Blogging Asia” for the SF Chronicle that if Singapore has an advantage over Hong Kong, it is that the country has better blogs and bloggers. Yang quotes Simon Masnick, an Aussie based in Hong Kong:

“Singapore and Hong Kong are well-known rivals. Usually, Hong Kong has the upper hand. But when it comes to blogging, Hong Kong is, let’s be honest, woefully behind Singapore. Singapore blogs have bigger readerships, are more diverse and more interesting.”

Indeed, ask most Singaporeans, and they would gripe that Hong Kong out-paces their city/state in categories such as the economy, public transportation, sea port, and the media.

But when it comes to the blogosphere, Singaporeans embrace their bloggers.

Singaporean blogs has some of the highest standards internationally. Blogs like mrbrown.com, Kway Teow Man, From a Singapore Angle, The Online Citizen, Techxav, Xiaxue, ClapBangKiss, Balderdash cover everything from politics, satire, technology, pop culture and sex, and have collected numerous Web accolades such as the Webby Awards, Asia Blog Awards, and others.

The blog that really first drew me to this medium was a blog by Gayle Goh, now a college student, who as a junior college (JC) student ran a political blog. In Singapore, due to the stifled air of political views in government-controlled mainstream media, this blog really opened my mind to what it really meant to live in a democracy. I think what made Goh’s blog so accessible to myself and other young Singaporeans was not only her superb writing, the fact that she was a student herself help many relate to her.

Similarly, the blogger who runs mrbrown.com, Lee Kin Mun, can be heralded as the Jon Steward of Singapore. His “mai hum” podcast poked fun at the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, and collectively made the nation laugh at their PAP leaders who are known to tirelessly crack down on criticism. If you have time for one blog, check mrbrown.com. It is the de-facto Singapore blog.