REFLECTION TASK 10

‘Why today's TV series are so great’

            Last week’s one of the articles which I like is “Why today’s TV series are so great’. This article is written by Jeppe Wojcik. I want to mention this article generally. It is shown us that popular TV series have different styles and scenario. Their approach to the events or characters is quite creative. Some of them are Game of Thrones, Dexter, Mad Men, True Blood, and Breaking Bad. Many people know these TV series very well. I think that many people look forward to these series every year. This is because I follow the many twitter users and they mention about Game of Thrones or another popular TV series every week. Also, I follow many American TV series. They have different scenario and popular artists. 

 For instance, Dexter is about the serial killer, but it shows us the event or deaths in different perspective. I cannot blame the character of Dexter when I am watching the TV series. Of course, I do not think that the character of Dexter is right. However, the character had a difficult and terrible incident when he was a five years old.

 

Breaking Bad is another popular TV series. I think that especially men like it. This TV series is about illegal drug marketing and production of illegal drug, Meth. The main character, high school chemistry teacher, learned that he was with a lung cancer. He tried to find money for treatment from bank and his school. However, he couldn’t find enough money to be treated for cancer. He started to produce the illegal drug, Meth. I watched this TV series and I affected the many scenes because of the fact that he needed money for treatment and he had a wife, one boy, and one baby girl. Also this TV series scenario is very creative and different. The audiences cannot criticize the production of illegal drug harshly because of main character’s disease. I like the current TV series and I think that they are very creative also have effecting scene. To sum up, the TV series industry is being developed day by day. I am waiting for more effective and creative series impatiently.   

REFLECTION 9

Nuclear Power in Turkey

The article is about the nuclear power in Turkey. Lately, Akkuyu nuclear power is planned to Mersin, Turkey. I  think  that  there  are  two  possible  reasons  why  nuclear  power  plants  shouldn’t be  set  up  in  Turkey.  The  first  reason  is  that  nuclear  power  plants  can  create  radioactive  waste  and   nuclear  accidents.  The  waste  produced  by  nuclear  reactors  needs  to  be disposed  of  at  a  safe  place  as  they  are  extremely  hazardous   and  can  leak  radiations  if  not  stored  properly. Even small radiation leaks can give rise to devastating effects.  In addition  nuclear  power  poses  many  threats  to  people  and  the  environment. In the article, the writer mentions that in 1986,  nuclear  power  accident  happened  in  Chernobyl,  which  affected  many  European  countries  such as Bulgaria, Turkey and even UK.  The number of  the  patients  diagnosed  with  cancer  increased in  Turkey  due  to  nuclear  radiation. Also, s/he mentions Turkish singer, Kazım Koyuncu. He suffered from the cancer in the past and died when he was 33 years old. The  second  reason  is  that  using  nuclear  power  energy  requires  a  lot of  investment  to  found  a  nuclear  power  station.  It  is necessitates  a   high  cost  investment,  so  it  is  not  possible  for  Turkey  to  afford  such  a  costly  source  of  alternative  energy.  Some  people  think  that  the  generation  of  electricity  through  nuclear  energy  reduces  the  need  for  energy  produced  from  fossil  fuels  like  coal  or  oil;  consequently,  it  can  mean  lowering  the  greenhouse  effects.  On  the  other  hand,  nuclear  power  puts   Turkish  people’s  lives  and  their  environment  at  risk.  Therefore,  the  government should   prefer  to  use   renewable  energy  sources such  as  solar  and  wind  power  by  setting  up  wind  turbines  of  this    or  solar  panels  allowing  the  production  the  electricity. Generally, in the article the writer does not support that the nuclear power is set up in Turkey. I think that nuclear power is an amazing power for meeting the needs; however, at the same time this nuclear power can be dangerous both people and environment. When Chernobyl disaster happened in the past, people suffered from various diseases and defects. Therefore, I cannot support nuclear power in our country. Some countries like Japan are very successful of using the nuclear power even when happened to disaster. To sum up, nuclear power should not put at risk people’s lives and should be safe enough in case of emergency or natural disaster.  

REFLECTION 8

Clues for Learning New languages

            We meet foreign languages in our lives every day. They are critical point of our lives. The article of this week is how people can learn new languages more easily and efficiently. The article is written by John-Erik Jordan by giving some advises from a guy who speaks nine languages. This is funny and helpful article. Firstly, I want to mention about why we are learning new languages. I think that new languages broaden our horizon all the time. They show us new cultures, traditions or facts. For instance, when we are reading one of the Shakespeare dramas like Hamlet, we prefer the original text if we know English very well. Reading the original provides an advantage for us because we can understand the real feelings or ideas of the text. Otherwise, Turkish version cannot be meaningful enough to comment the text. Also, knowing a language is helpful to learn the culture or traditions easily. Secondly, learning new languages is necessary to communicate different nations of people. The more we can learn new languages, the more we can talk to people. In addition, we can catch up the developments of all around the world. When we look at the article, in order to learn new languages effectively, there are some clues about this.

In the article, the writer states ‘Find a partner’. For this point, I want to mention that my friend came from Montenegro for Erasmus in this semester. Especially, in the beginning I cannot talk to her fluently or I think how to say something. Thanks to talking every day, I can express my ideas more easily. This is a practical and useful clue. S/he states ‘Act like a child’. Sometimes, we are thinking about our languages words or phrases and translating foreign languages. This is a wrong path; on the other hand, we should act like a child and think simpler for the sentences or phrases. Therefore, we can use new languages actively in our daily lives not just academic lives. To sum up, there are a lot of clues or assistance of learning new languages. I think that the important point is which one is suitable for us. We can try all of the methods and choose the best one or ones. However, we should not forget that foreign languages are getting importance day by day.

REFLECTİON 7

“‘Soon we will be millions’: from Paris with love and lessons”

“To celebrate and imagine together.”

“To look at each other and smile.”

“No parties, no barriers, no labels.”

“Take squares and rediscover hope.”

— Quotes taken from interviews by the Nuit Debout TV group

One of the essays which I read this week is ‘Soon we will be millions’: from Paris with love and lessons. I really like this article. I want to mention that the writer shows us that people who live in France or Paris are very sensitive and interested in many social events lately. They can be together and talk to each other really kindly. Especially, their topic is real democracy. Also, I take attention to many people take part in this event without considering their ages. For instance, high school students or middle age people or adults are together to talk and have a communication one another’s. I think that the writer supports this movement and s/he considers that this movement is very sophisticated. Likewise, I support this movement and also it makes me remember Gezi Parkı event in Turkey. Because people who live in Turkey and join Gezi Parkı event tried to stay away from violence or a vehement protest mostly. However, there happened some physical injuries during the event. Now I think about the event of Paris and they are more relax or thoughtful for sharing their ideas freely. It is very crucial point because art, music or democracy can be happened in free environment. I do not know why but I think that people who have lived in Paris are more open-minded than somewhere else. Since French Revolution, they have been more sophisticated and educated. They have read the classical novels or some else all the time. At the same time, many classical novels were emerged to France. This free environment is quite effective. They can share their thoughts or ideas or access new perspectives of different class or nation people. They can think critically when I compare to my hometown people. They may not judge the book by its cover. To sum up, I want to share my ideas about the article. I think that thinking critically and freely is very important for me, so I choose this article. All the people can share their thoughts and have a communication with different environment people comfortably because people can understand each other problems or lives styles not by judging them. 

REFLECTION TASK 6

Create an art or just Colour?

            The article which I read this week is about colouring books for adults. The writer wonders whether this method is useful for de-stressing or not. The article is mentioned that the therapists states the colour books for adults are not effective to stay away from the stress. Donna Betts, president of the board of the American Art Therapy Association and an assistant professor at George Washington University, agreed, adding she has never used colouring books in a therapy session, and would never consider it. Also she states that colouring adult books is like a listening music not learning an instrument. That is to say, colouring is not a creative way for art. My ideas are different about this article. In the beginning of the article, the teacher who suffers from some anxiety over her job recently tells her doctor that colouring is effective method before sleeping. I think that colouring is not creative or artistic way but it is important and beneficial for some people with stress or anxiety. I think that there are possible two reasons for this.

            Firstly, people need a different and easy hobby for their daily lives. Learning a music instrument or painting can be more difficult and time-consuming. With changing today’s world, many people have a stressful and busy career and daily lives. Colouring adult books can be suitable for them because they do not have enough time to learn instruments or paintings. Using colours is a vivid method when they are doing mandala or colouring something else. I want to try to this method for before I sleep. I colour some drawings for a while. I think that it has calming effect on me.

            Secondly, people consider that colouring is effective method for staying away from stressful moments. It is an important factor of being useful. When they think about it can be useful, they can calm down and relax by colouring. Before I started the colouring drawings, I believed that it was calming effect on me, so it makes me relax. In addition, I asked to my friend who had a stressful life colouring before she slept. She just said that she did not affect any differences of her feelings. I think that it is psychological relaxing process for many people.

            To sum up, colouring adult books or mandala can be useful when we think about that people are relaxing by means of this method. I tried to do and liked it. Maybe it is not creative and artistic process; however, I advise that people can try to colour mandala when they are stressful.  

REFLECTION TASK 5

Why are Turkish soap operas popular among Arabs?

            From the article that has been published on BBC, many views about the Turkish soap operas have been offered us to witness. As this topic of Turkish soaps being sold worldwide keeps on being trendy, many aspects on to the reason why they are so popular emerge from anywhere. These aspects mostly are concerned with what remains behind the question why Arabs are quite attracted to them than any other country. It is highly possible that it occurs in accordance with some certain resemblances such as culture, common aims and so on.

            To start with the first resemblance that was mentioned above, being a country which is also home to many Muslims, Arabs have a common culture with Turkey. So to speak, they happen to come across many similarities on to the topics of daily life in Turkish soap operas. As it was also mentioned in the article on BBC, Turkish soap operas discuss subjects which are rarely talked among Arabs for such sensitive reasons as legal and religious restrictions on women, common view of public on gender equality and men women relations. There is also a reference on this topic in the article.  “’Turkish serials deal with many issues that Arab television is afraid of dealing with such as gender equality, treason and love affairs, and discussing the subject of illegitimate children born outside of marriage,’ says Professor Asli Tunc, head of the Media School at Istanbul Bilgi University. ” (Williams, 2013, BBC News) Therefore, these topics draw Arab’s attention more than they do in western countries since the countries in west areas are less in need of dealing with such subjects because of being improved ideationally.

            Along with cultural resemblances, Arabs also share similar aims with Turkey because they have similar problems in their society. Soap operas’ subjects about the common problems in society arouse curiosity and interest especially in women. They can easily relate to and find a part of themselves in Turkish soap operas. In this case, women in both countries share similar ideas and carry the same hopes while watching these series, seeing Fatmagül raped or watching the Magnificent Suleiman’s harem. Thus, Arab audience of women take more interest in these soap operas than other nationalities. In a way, this also meets the common culture reason.

            Lastly, we can relate the rise of Turkish soap operas in Arab world to Arabs’ timidity and them avoiding using the subjects we have mentioned before in their own series. They tend to abstain from showing much interest in opposite gender relations. In this way, Arab people give much consequence to Turkish series because they get the chance to watch something their producers did not prefer to show before. Furthermore, they get the advantage of watching these series in a similar culture to them.

            To sum up, Turkish soap operas get to be more popular day by day due to sharing common culture, similar aims and catching the chance of watching something they did not come across before.

REFERENCES:

Williams, N. (2013, June 28). The rise of Turkish soap power. Retrieved April 4, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22282563

REFLECTION TASK 4

EFFECTS OF CYBER BULLYING

            The important issue of today’s world concerns is cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is related to all technological devices and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or so on. Especially, in recent years many teenagers effect on cyber bullying by means of social media. “In 2013, for example, a spate of suicides was linked to the social network Ask.fm, where users can ask each other questions anonymously.” (Pappas, 2015, Live Science) Stephanie Pappas states in his article. This is an essential issue because social media is used by everyone and generally teenagers commonly. Bullying is happened in primary and high school. Before social media sites were not used quite widely, bullying was limited in school hours and rumours. However, now teenagers can be bullying at any time and sharing information about somebody on account of social media sites. These situations may give rise to depression or suicides between teenagers. When they are looking at their photographs or information on Internet, they fall into depression themselves. They cannot talk to their parents or families because of the fact that they are afraid of losing access the social media sites. In the article, this issue is explained in detailed ways and showed the scientific researches. The author shows us to the information about cyber bullying. He thinks that this is a important topic for everybody and also teenagers do not just use a cyber bullying. I agree with the author because teenagers can use the social media for collect information or communicate with peers or family members. The cyber bullying brings about some serious problems for teenagers in terms of social and academic lives negatively.

            First of all, social life is about living society. For teenagers, the living society is the environment of school generally. The school is the first level of the society actually. Cyber bullying affects them negatively because they can be alienated by their peers. This situation triggers to the depression or suicide. For example, if one student becomes isolated in the school due to cyber bullying or bullying, s/he can think that s/he is lonely all the time in the society. S/he can be embarrassed for her/his appearance, race or religion between her/his friends. In addition, cyber bullying affects teenagers’ relationships with the family members. They cannot share their concerns or problems about bullying with their parents. They may not communicate with their parents effectively. All these situations give rise to becoming isolated to the society and the family.

            Secondly, academic life is started to the high school. This is because the high school grades determine their future. Therefore, the students are responsible for many lectures. At the same time, they have to meet cyber bullying. For instance, the hardworking students who are liked by their lecturers or teachers can be meeting bullying. They are target as a result of their achievement or appearance. The students who are affecting negatively have difficulties for the lectures or grades. They can lose their self-esteem in this way. Under these circumstances, they could go into depression probably. As a consequence, they do not think about their future or career.

            To sum up, cyber bullying has a lot of negative effects and results for teenager’s not only social life but also academic life. The crucial problem is how to prevent bullying in the school actually. The effects of cyber bullying are increasing day by day according to researches. (Pappas, 2015, Live Science) If cyber bullying is not prevented now, much more people affect inescapably in the future.

REFERENCES:

Pappas, S. (2015, June 23). Social Media Cyber Bullying Linked to Teen Depression. Retrieved April 4, 2016, from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article /social-media-cyber-bullying-linked-to-teen-depression/