Yoohyun Park/Production Coordinator
You can’t always get what you want
By: Ana Mamula, Staff Writer
As I was scrolling through my “for you” page on TikTok last summer, bored out of my mind in quarantine, I remember seeing the same things: crystals, spirituality and how to manifest properly. I remember my generation taking spirituality by the reins and running with it.
I personally noted the spread of misinformation on the practice itself, causing many people to have a false perception of the notion as a whole.
One of the notions that individuals carry is that spirituality cures all; you can receive anything you want, you can be who you want and you can attract whatever you want. And this all is sparked with manifesting. Apparently, you can just write down your wishes three times on a piece of paper or click your shoes together three times and poof! Your wishes come true!
That's not how it works.
I will be going through what you need to know about manifesting and the actual truths regarding this notion.
First off, what is manifesting, you may ask? Spiritual manifesting is when you're flowing, not forcing. It's different from goal-setting because it's like you're co-creating with the universe. You have a special relationship with the universe and you are working alongside it to grow into the individual you wish to become and do what you wish to do.
You have a special relationship with the universe and you are working alongside it to grow into the individual you wish to become and do what you wish to do.
ANA MAMULA, STAFF WRITER
When it comes to manifesting, it is important to understand life itself and how your mindset truly affects everything.
When we go through life, we all go through both good and difficult periods of time. When a rough patch arises, it is easy to feel as though such patches alone comprise one’s reality, which can negatively impact one’s mindset. But what individuals do not understand is you are the creator of your reality.
So, if you believe you are the creator of your reality and you create the good, you have to take responsibility for all — the good and the bad.
And once you take that responsibility, you can change the outcome.
Now, why is learning about life, the good, the bad and outcomes so important? Because those who fail at manifestation, those who do not do the research, are oblivious to understanding the mutual agreement you have with the universe.
Because those who fail at manifestation, those who do not do the research, are oblivious to understanding the mutual agreement you have with the universe.
ANA MAMULA, STAFF WRITER
You cannot ask for good if you are looking over the bad. If you shift the power of the good and bad to things other than yourself, you are not learning, growing, accepting or changing. That is the importance of life.
Your feelings are closely dependent on how positively you dream about your future. To implement your wishes, you need energy — energy that comes from manifesting properly.
Those who still want to turn the other way when hearing you have to go through the bad to receive the good need to understand we were not put on this earth for it to be easy. You came here to be challenged, grow and learn.
Because the hard truth is that even when you receive what you manifested, you’re still going to have challenges and obstacles.
To succeed in your spiritual journey, it’s crucial to stop tip-toeing through life and remember who you are. Start looking at your past and how far you have come. Look at all of your accomplishments, look at all of those times when you would complain about the difficulties and think about how you overcame them.
Think about how strong you have gotten. Think about what you have learned. And then you will receive what you want, you will become who you want to be and you will attract who you want to attract.
Yoohyun Park/Production Coordinator
From 19th century paintings to contemporary animations, Middle Easterners are over-sexualized
By: Kimia Tahaei, Staff Writer
Have you ever thought about the roots of stereotypes? Why are Middle Eastern women continuously depicted as sexual? Why is the culture of Easterners so heavily fetishized and exoticized?
Palestinian-American cultural critic Edward Saïd gives a thorough explanation of this phenomenon in his renowned book, Orientalism.
Saïd argues that European colonizers provided distorted information regarding the Middle East, which led to a false production of "knowledge" — "knowledge" that instilled the erroneous belief that the West (also known as the Occident) was superior to the East (also known as the Orient).
To spread their fictitious "knowledge" far and wide, the West decided to use art as a means of propaganda. At this point in history, European artists created numerous artworks with the primary purpose of advancing their political ideologies — European superiority.
At this point in history, European artists created numerous artworks with the primary purpose of advancing their political ideologies — European superiority.
KIMIA TAHAEI, STAFF WRITER
Due to the West's misrepresentation of the Orient, Middle Easterners are paying a steep price, even today.
As Saïd repeatedly states throughout his book, Orientalism and whoever followed its principles did so with intentions of falsely exhibiting the East. To better understand how Middle Easterners are suffering the consequences of these former European paintings, we first have to understand the depths of this flawed misrepresentation.
To begin, Middle Eastern women were persistently sexualized. Gérôme, a French pioneer of the Orientalism movement, fetishized Middle Eastern women and portrayed them as exotic in his paintings. He did so by frequently illustrating them as nude or semi-nude and often participating in provocative acts.
Not only did he fetishize women, but he also managed to hypersexualize integral elements of Middle Eastern culture, like belly dancing. I find it particularly frustrating how Middle Eastern women have to suffer stigmatization daily because of a French painter's Occidental fantasies of the East.
Due to his lack of knowledge on Middle Eastern culture, he fabricated a mass amount of false "knowledge" that led to fundamental components of the culture getting fetishized — this "knowledge" portrayed Middle Eastern women as exotic commodities and intrinsically sexual beings.
This stereotyping has led to the hyper-sexualization of Middle Eastern women in books, films and even Disney movies.
Beyond Hollywood’s exotic depictions of “sexy belly dancers,” such stereotyping can even be seen in innocent children's movies.
For instance, Princess Jasmine, a 16-year-old, was represented as erotic and was overly sexualized in the Disney movie Aladdin. In the movie, Jasmine and other young Arab women are shown in tops showing cleavage and midriff. Astonishingly, in one specific scene, Jasmine even overtly takes advantage of her sexuality to seduce an older male character — Jafar.
This portrayal is particularly problematic for me because Jasmine is one of the only princesses who is so harshly sexualized. Almost every other princess wears modest dresses that cover their head to toe.
Not only is this problematic because cartoons intended for a young audience are including sexually suggestive imagery and themes, but it is also just blatantly disappointing to witness such poor cultural representation. It is incredibly disheartening that Orientalism has ruined one of the few occurrences in media where a young Middle Eastern girl can see herself represented in some way.
It is incredibly disheartening that Orientalism has ruined one of the few occurrences in media where a young Middle Eastern girl can see herself represented in some way.
KIMIA TAHAEI, STAFF WRITER
I often imagine the lasting and destructive impacts that this misrepresentation leaves on a young Middle Eastern child. I wonder if they question whether they have to be sexual in order to receive a speck of representation in the media.
Overall, it is interesting to think about the evolution of propaganda that served colonialism in the promotion of Western domination. What was started by 19th-century European painters is still alive thanks to 21st-century directors. Although the form of propaganda has changed, the message of Eastern inferiority remains the same.
By: Ronald Leung
What’s the first thought that pops into your mind when someone mentions “mental illness”? A balding creature cackling to himself about his precious, an eerily-calm psychiatrist with a cannibalistic streak, or leather-faced chainsaw-wielding inbreds? These images come from the media that surrounds us and, as unfortunate as this result, is where we get most of our perceptions – quite often subconsciously. We see something on our screen or in our pages and it marinates in our mind before it becomes a part of what we see and how we think. It’s not surprising that media portrayals of mental illness are not only false but also excessively negative. It’s difficult not to whip up the drama and details of the most gruesome murder of the year – that’s how you get more viewership. What’s worse is that news stories rarely ever contain the opinion of a person with a mental illness. It’s often only law enforcement or a health professional speaking on behalf of them, which leads to the perception that people with mental illness are unable of developing opinions or speaking on their own behalf.
Mental illness is often used as a weapon in the entertainment industry. It’s quite sad that a true and devastating sickness can be battered and manipulated into becoming not only a social stigma, but a grotesque or villainous character. A recent study showed that 72.1% of adult characters on television who were depicted as mentally ill, injured or killed others. In general, characters that were mentally ill were 10 times more violent than their co-stars. It’s not surprising that the reality is completely different. The majority of crime, about 95-97%, is committed by people with no mental illness. This huge difference between fiction and fact is feeding the negative rap that mental illness receives.
Not only is the problem located in the frequency that mental illness is displayed in the media, but also the method of portrayal. The most common stereotypical depictions of people with mental illnesses are rebellious free spirit, violent seductress, narcissistic parasite, mad scientist, sly manipulator, helpless/depressed female and comedic relief. The problem here is that these characters often have no identity outside of their “crazy” behavior – their mental illness becomes their one and only label. It becomes the point where the mental illness is the character’s main personality traits and the illness is the only way that character can be possibly defined.
There is also the tendency to automatically associate mental illness with simple-mindedness. In prime-time TV drama, more than 43% of mentally ill characters did not understand everyday adult roles and were often portrayed as lost and confused. These characters also spoke in very simple terms and grammar, and were also often shown to be helpless and dishevelled. Almost always they were poor and homeless in addition to being held by police for crimes that had little understanding or remembrance about.
The reality is that mental illness can strike anywhere and anyone – whether you are a student, professional, or retiree. However, the media depicts mental illness as something separate from general society. People who are mentally ill are often shown to be unemployed without family, friends or unrelated personal history. Mental illness does not discriminate against class, age, or popularity. The continued depiction of people with mental illnesses as separate from general society is just a continuation in describing them as almost subhuman. The fact that homelessness is commonly associated with mental illness perpetuates the impression that people with mental illness are dependent on others or that mental illness causes homelessness, especially since a discussion of the broader systemic issues that lead to homelessness is lacking. This view contributes to the picture that individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis are incapable of being productive members of society.
Not only is the perception of individuals who are mentally ill warped and twisted but the depiction of treatments and patient facilities is also often untrue. How many movies have you seen with the cold empty asylums filled with screaming patients and nurses wearing white starch-stiff uniforms? The inaccurate and unflattering stereotypes of the psychiatric profession misinforms the public and undermines the credibility of mental health care practitioners. In the media, mental health professionals were often show to be neurotic, ineffectual, mentally ill themselves, comically inept, self-absorbed, drug-addicted, foolish or outright idiotic. These portrayals reinforce the idea that helping others requires little skill or expertise. It’s not surprising that less than 33% of mentally ill patients in Canada seek professional health – depictions of mentally health practitioners as exploitative and mentally unstable do irreparable harm to people who are already hesitant to seek treatment.
Mental illness is not a violent death sentence, nor is it an outlier that only occurs to the homeless and people on the fringe of society. It is a common occurrence that is nothing to be ashamed of – despite what the media thinks. Ignoring the elephant in the room will not make it go away. Only by admitting to it will any true change happen.
