1. What is xenophobia? How does the term relate to the Covid-19 pandemic and the various decisions countries have made in dealing with the virus’s spread?

Xenophobia is the fear of outsiders. This relates to the covid-19 pandemic because during the pandemic we considered East Asians outsiders and were afraid of them. Countries shut down their borders to travelers from certain countries because they believed that they were carriers of the virus so if they couldn’t come in then the virus wouldn’t come in. 

2. In what ways does fear factor into the personal accounts and political decision making that Serhan and McLaughlin report on?

The fear can make people scared to make the choices that feel right for them. In Eucine’s case, she wanted to wear a mask to feel safe but because she feared for her safety she felt like she couldn’t wear one. The fear can make the people in the personal accounts have fear walking around the world. Fear can make people have prejudices against people foreign that aren’t like them. The fear of Vietnamese people made a Vietnamese artist get disinvited from a show simply because of his nationality. In addition, Brian Wong was attacked on the street because he was Asian. Finally, it leads governments to implement travel bans from certain countries because they think people from certain countries will bring COVID into their own country. 

3. How does Serhan & McLaughlin’s journalistic piece relate to Cadogan’s first-person narrative?

Serhan and McLaughlin’s piece relates to Cadogans because she felt fear walking around New York and the other individuals that encountered violence too because of their race. Both encounter prejudice in forms of violence and people being afraid of them. For example, in Codigan’s piece when he talked about how the man threatened to shoot him in the face if he helped him get his wheelchair across the crosswalk. Another way the two pieces relate to each other is how both Eunice and Garnette both feel like they need to change themselves to be safe. For example, Serhan and McLaughlin’s piece talks about how Eunice contemplated not wearing a mask on public transportation just so she wouldn’t face violence. Garnette had to change how he dressed so he would be thought of as a criminal. 

4. What are your thoughts on travel bans (in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic)? Make your claim and then plant a skeptic or naysayer within the paragraph (name the skeptic, consider the extension of their counterargument, then show why you believe your claim is correct).

I don’t think travel bans are a solution for stopping the spread of Covid. The virus will come in from people from the countries not banned, so in reality it doesn’t stop the spread of COVID. I see it as a government using the pandemic as an excuse to act on their xenophobia and shut out people they don’t favor in their country. Someone who may not be familiar with travel bans may see it as a good way to control the spread of the virus because they think that having fewer people in the country would slow the spread may not see how it can be rooted in fear rather than the safety of the country’s population.