"What is one thing you learned in class this week you didn't know before? It can be something from the readings or the discussions."

Post #1 - "For the Sake of Levity"
n 1980, when Americans were at their most disillusioned with the government, Ronald Reagan successfully steamrolled his way into becoming only the ninth nominee in US history to oust an incumbent president, all of this thanks in large part to what still remains an integral factor in campaign strategies to this day: a sense of humor. As was proven in that election as well as more recently in 2016, no matter how unconventional a candidate's bid for president, all they have to do to to legitimize themselves to voters is simply embrace the winning duo of comedy, a pseudo lingua franca capable of bridging even the most disparate demographics, and personability, a trait comprising the likes of charisma, charm, and composure. These types of candidates don't just see inordinate success in the United States but in many other countries around the world, with examples in 2019 including Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte, and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, who was actually elected president after having portrayed one on TV (yes, really). This all goes to show something crucial in understanding the psychology of decision-making. That is, when presented with two choices, a person will invariably lean towards whichever best conforms to their sense of familiarity—for a voter, this translates into whichever candidate is the most human. And with stories like the ongoing surge of 2020 hopeful Andrew Yang, it seems that the rat race of politics is still no less rewarding of personable outsiders today as it was three decades ago when Jimmy Carter failed to don anywhere near a convincing enough facade of humanity.

Post #2 - "Asian Americans in the 80s"
I was surprised to learn in class on Thursday that the United States saw so many anti-Asian sentiments in the 1980s. Of course, I was taught ages ago about most of the key details in America's record with groups like the Chinese (i.e. subjecting them to cruel and exploitative labor when building the transcontinental railroad, enacting the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, etc.) and the Japanese (i.e. placing them in internment camps after Pearl Harbor regardless of their actual loyalties, tasking Matthew Perry in 1852 with intimidating Japan into a trade deal, etc.), but I had no idea that these attitudes that I'd come to assume belonged to the distant past had actually continued all the way into the 70s and even well beyond. Seeing as I was born long after the 80s—so long, in fact, that 9/11 actually predates me by about a month—it was both fascinating and deeply upsetting to hear there was ever a time when Asian Americans had to deal with racism and bigotry just as much as other minority groups with which I'd always perceived those two concepts to be more traditionally associated. When I think "race-driven discrimination in the 21st century", my mind immediately jumps to African Americans, Arabs (and/or those of Muslim faith), and, especially in recent years, Hispanics and Latinos. That Asian Americans would've at one time been high up on that list is eye-opening, to say the least.

Post #3 - "Reagan and Alzheimer's"
Believe it or not, the greatest shock for me this week was discovering that Reagan battled with Alzheimer's disease in his later life. Although, to be honest, it's entirely possible that I'd heard or read about it sometime in the past and ultimately just forgot. The irony. But circling back to Reagan, I truly can't help but look at him and his second term—and maybe even his first, too—through a radically different lens now that I realize his brain had apparently been busy atrophying itself into oblivion the whole time. Ever since I read up a few years ago on how horrible and pernicious Alzheimer's can really be, any attitudes I've held toward people suffering from it have invariably come from a place of sympathy, and thus, to some degree, so now does my newly amended opinion of Reagan: one of a man who was forced to watch as the most debilitating disease known to medicine wreaked irrevocable damage on his ability to serve the American people and whose final years were undoubtedly spent enduring the gradual, unmitigated decay of his mental faculties. Even if it turns out that I've been unwittingly playing up the severity of the situation in my head, I still maintain that Reagan, irrespective of any political or ideological considerations, well deserves to be remembered in an appropriately sympathetic light insofar as his chronic struggles with Alzheimer's are concerned.