The Only Thing We have to Fear is Fear Itself and a Translation Error
This week I learned how different Western countries are from each other. At work, we got two new interns who are from Australia. I was able to talk to them about their experiences in their country and the Australian legal system. What they said surprised me—I did not think that a country which had a similar history as the United States, being a British Colony, would be so different. An example of this is that they do not have any sort of Bill of Rights in their constitution, instead rights are given through their Acts. They also have a Parliamentary system which allows them to dispose of a disliked Prime Minister much more easily than the United States can dispose of a disliked President. Not only is this practice easier to do, but it is often used with Australia having four different Prime Ministers in the past five years. But it makes sense why it would be easier since in Australia you vote for the party and the party chooses the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, in the United States you vote for the President directly. If disposing of a United States President was easily done, it could disrupt democracy and go against the will of the people.
Another thing that was very different was that Australia consumes mostly American and British entertainment. When I mentioned how I had only seen one Australian TV show, Zumbo's Just Desserts, and it had shocked me to hear an Australian accent, they mentioned how it was surprising when they did not hear an American accent on a TV show. It seems as though in Australia there are few Australian TV shows and they mostly watch foreign ones. The interns mentioned how they love HBO, British comedies, and Parks and Recreation. They know more names of American actors than I do, which was surprising for me. I always knew that American entertainment was exported but I figured that it was similar to the United States where the majority of entertainment was domestic and we have some niche channels which are foreign. This was the first time I really understood the soft power of the United States. In China, there are many American movies in the cinemas, but there are also about the same number of Chinese movies. On TV, it is a majority of Chinese shows with American shows being shown every so often or people watching them online. In Australia this is the opposite, and learning that was very enlightening for me.
This week at work, I looked at corporal punishment in school and online addiction in the United States. It was very interesting how many states still allow corporal punishment in their laws and regulations. Although, this number is only about a fourth of U.S. states. What was even more surprising was that several of the states that allow corporal punishment protect the teachers and administrators who gave the punishment from any type of civil or criminal redress even if their actions went against the policies and regulations in the state. So, these teachers and administrators could cause injuries which land the student in the hospital, and the student would have no form of redress. For online addiction, the United States government has only started research on this topic in 2017 despite many scholars warning as early as the late 90's that online addiction was happening. Since online addiction is not considered an actual addiction in psychology, any treatment is done completely out of pocket. This can put financial strain on families who are already in a difficult situation with treatments costing tens of thousands of dollars per month. The treatment does not include traveling to the centers which are only in select areas because of the small amount of centers.
This week I learned a lot about Australia and America and how we are similar and different. I also learned about how corporal punishment in schools and online addiction is treated in the United States. The main thing I learned in China was how when I was lost and asked for directions in Chinese and they replied in Chinese I could end up even more lost if I did not translate correctly. I learned that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself and a translation error.
