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Many different media outlets subtly express their opinions through specific wording configurations, and show what side of the political spectrum certain media outlets are biased towards. Bias can be defined as language that supports a specific ideological position. Theoretically, good journalism avoids bias as much as possible, however, in practice this isn’t always the case.

I have made three examples of headlines that can represent different ideological stances on Donald Trump promoting hydroxychloroquine.

1. FDA warns against drugs promoted by Donald Trump.
2. Donald Trump IGNORANTLY promotes LIFE-THREATENING drug that the FDA warned against!
3. Trump misquoted by BIASED MEDIA for trying to save the country.

The first example is neutral. It is a statement that has no inherent bias. It is a simple fact that the FDA is warning against drugs that Donald Trump promoted.

The second example is biased towards the left. The wording attempts to shame Donald Trump for his actions, and the ordering makes it look like that Trump promoted these drugs after the FDA warned against it, even if it may not have necessarily been true.

The third example is biased towards the right. The wording attempts to save face by making Trump look like he’s being attacked without providing context on why.

Can there be a correct moral decision when faced with the impossible choice between family loyalty and duty to society?

When it comes to the impossible choice between family loyalty and duty to society, oftentimes there is an issue about whether or not a moral decision can be made when there is a strong dilemma to be faced. There’s the question about whether you should make a decision that benefits your family but potentially harms society, or whether you should make a decision that benefits society but potentially harms your family.

Metaethics is a branch of analytic philosophy that explores the foundations of moral values. Metaethics focuses on what morality itself is. There are two main metaethical views: Moral Realism, the belief that there are moral facts (in the same way that there are scientific facts), and Moral Antirealism, the belief that there are no moral facts, that moral propositions don’t refer to objective features of the world at all.

When using the example of Isma, in which she was faced with the dilemma of whether she should inform the police about Parvaiz in order to benefit the safety of society, or to not inform the police in order to benefit Parvaiz. In this case, Isma chose to inform the police because of the benefits that it had to the safety of the country and to society. We can see that Moral Realism comes into play here, as Isma would have understood that if she withheld the information from the police, she would be putting the lives of the citizens of the country in danger for the benefit of Parvaiz and herself. Putting the lives of other people in danger for your personal benefit can be seen as objectively immoral.

Here is a photo of Richard Chen who is from Taiwan. The stereotype that is commonly associated with Asians is that they spend all their time focusing on academics because grades are the only thing that matters to them. Here, we can see that he is breaking the stereotype by refusing to study.

For my Practice IO, for my lit text, I chose a 40 line extract from the play, Top Girls, around the scene with Marlene talking with the wife of Howard. For my non-lit text, I chose a work from Saint Hoax’s Making America Misogynistic Again. Specifically and advertisement that portrays a crying woman and a happy man, with burnt dinner and with the heading “That’s okay. I know you’re not thinking. You never do”. The global issue that I decided to explore with both of these texts was the representation of gender power imbalance in media.

The reason I decided to choose this part of my lit text was that it is able to represent my global issue because of how women were generally perceived back in the day, in which women were usually seen as working for men instead of the other way around. The whole discussion of Marlene with Howard’s wife about her position of power provides good content and evidence to explain this point, as well as being a good representation of how women were perceived.

The reason I decided to choose my non-lit text was because of the way that Trump’s misogyny was represented in the Media, as well as his words being able to fit in pretty well within the context of an advertisement made back in the 1950s when misogyny was more normally seen. This links with my global issue, in which the advertisement is able to represent gender power imbalance in media because of how the context of Trump’s were able to be transformed into this context.

There are many similarities and differences between both the extract from Home Fire and Yumna Al-Arashi’s photography in terms of offering insights and challenges into contemporary religious and cultural practices. For example, one similarity is how both represent empowered women. In the case of Home Fire, Aneeka can represent empowerment due to her independence and control over the situation with Eamonn. We see the concept of stereotypes in this situation because Eamonn mentions how he is familiar with the situation but doesn’t actually know how to handle it because of his perception of Islam. He can’t fathom the idea of linking the religion of Islam (with Aneeka’s hijab) and sexual acts. It’s because of this that we see Aneeka take control of the situation. On the other hand, in Yumna Al-Arashi’s photography, we can see that empowerment is represented by the Muslim women in the photo due to the way that she is seen in her confident stance, and the independence shown in her being isolated.

Another similarity would be that there is the subject of the hijab in both Home Fire and in Yumna Al-Arashi’s photography, but there are a few differences. For example, in Yumna Al-Arashi’s photography, the hijab is used to represent Islam. The woman wears the whole burqa and the whole attire because Yumna wants to represent this idea of independence and empowerment in specifically Muslim women, while on the other hand, in Home Fire, the hijab is used because she is Muslim.

Another similarity is how both women stand out. In the case of Home Fire, she stands out because of how she is essentially representing herself as religious in a non-religious country, which provides insight into the feeling of isolation and loneliness due to the way that you are misunderstood because of your religion. On the other hand, in the photos, she stands out because she’s quite literally alone and contrasting heavily with the rest of the image. However, in this case, it provides insight into the strength of Muslim women as well as their ability to be independent, which contrasts with the isolation and loneliness that is represented by Aneeka.

The concept of loyalty can be seen in the extract from Home Fire. In this case, Aneeka is loyal to her religion and to her beliefs. We see this because of how she carefully folds her hijab when she takes it off, as well as her making no sign of being aware of Eamonn and angling herself away from him when he’s in his naked form. This shows that she takes priority over her prayer than sexual acts.

How did you get past the receptionist? The girl on the desk, didn’t she try to stop you? Where’s your mum? Are you up in town for the day? Where’s Joyce? Did you come up with a friend? Who are you staying with? Don’t you have to go home? Why are you here?

Why would she be here? Does she have an appointment? I don’t think that she is clever enough to get a job like mine. There’s a reason for what I do. Every action that I’ve made has been to benefit myself. Women in society these days have two paths they can take. Paths involving children, and paths involving success. It’s one or the other. I’ve had two abortions already. One cannot be successful with children. This was my motivation for leaving Angie behind with Joyce. I wanted to be successful, and look where I am now. I’ve just gotten a promotion. If this isn’t what success looks like, I don’t know what does.

Yet despite my strong belief that a woman cannot be successful with children I still have the feeling of guilt whenever I think about Angie. I’ve been lying to her for years, deceptively making her believe that Joyce is her real mother and that I’m just her auntie. But I can’t let her know. I can’t afford to take the responsibility of a child even if I wanted to. My success is what matters more and I wouldn’t be where I am if it were for children. Does she already know? Is that why she’s come up here? Why does she seem so giddy and excited to be here?