Video Essay

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Video Essay

In sociology, according to the functionalist perspective, every individual must works together to promote solidarity and attain stability in society. However, in our society, people are divided by boundaries and every country thinks only about its progress rather than focusing on society as a whole. According to conflict theory, rich people always dominate poor people and do not want them to succeed or attain necessities. Similarly, in every developed country and rich countries want to dominate the underdeveloped and poor countries not only politically, but economically and socially as well. All rich countries think that it is their right to dominate and impose their values on poor countries especially when it comes to business. In the context of business, every country has its own set of globally acceptable rules yet several countries are there that have different trade rules that are not accepted globally. However, despite different rules, most of the countries have to follow the trade rules of countries that are developed and rich.

In the video “Jimmy Lai and the Fight for Freedom in Hong Kong,” the presented interviewed Jimmy Lai an entrepreneur and a leader in the fight to preserve freedom and democracy in Hong Kong ("Youtube"). In the video, several social issues were discussed but the main issue that was highlighted was socioeconomic inequalities prevailing worldwide and how rich countries are not confronted for bad behavior. Jimmy also discussed that open trade can encourage open society and will facilitate every individual in society regardless of the country to attain progress. Jimmy also discussed how China is manipulating other countries by making them follow its culture and values even in trade. He also discussed that although America has an interest in doing trade with Hong Kong yet due to China, America is bound to neglect Hong Kong.

The video also highlighted that initially, after getting the control of Hong Kong, China promised that it will not intervene in any matter whether legal or political but after ten years China started to intervene in every matter of Hong Kong. Jimmy highlighted that although British people did not give them democracy, they did give Hong Kong rules and regulations, freedom of speech and made the country familiar with the freedom of the legal system. He also justified the protest in Hong Kong by explaining that when the rights of the people are suppressed, then they retaliate. Likewise, when China started to intervene in states matter, people in Hong Kong retaliated and came out of their homes to protect their rights.

In the video, the concept of communism and imperialism was also discussed. Typically, communism is associated with the worldwide revolution while imperialism in China is concerned with only the benefit of Chinese people ("Youtube"). In the video, another social problem was also discussed that is controlling people with the aid of technology. Jimmy pointed out that owing to an increase in tracking applications, people are under government scrutiny and the government can manipulate people by using technology. I also think that technology is the mass system of control and government agencies are using this system to keep an eye on every move of every citizen so that people can remain under their control. Although, political and economic freedom are distinct, however, despite this distinction, the government can retain political control while also sustaining economic control by utilizing artificial intelligence thus, hindering free trade. In the video as well, Jimmy highlighted that to attain success, it is mandatory that the government has limited power over people and free trade. Although, the government should make certain trade policies but it should not try to hinder free trade. This is because when the government is limited the taxes are limited that will foster free trade that will, in turn, bring economic stability in the world.

I think that free trade can facilitate in creating a healthy collaboration among countries that will, in turn, benefit society. However, many countries are just focused on their progress rather than the society as a whole and therefore hindering economic stability and pose a barrier for world peace. Additionally, I believe that rich countries want to impose their values on poor and underdeveloped countries to assure their dominance which is wrong as every city has the right to attain freedom and follow their policies. Also, rich countries think commercial competition is warfare and therefore they try their level best to suppress underdeveloped countries. This is the result of a dictator thinking that is prevalent in the leaders of rich countries, according to which outside world is an enemy and not alliance and therefore one must fight with the outer world.

I liked the part of the video where Jimmy brought the issue of pollution. I agree that many rich countries make products that can cause a lot of pollution but despite environmental hazards that these products pose many countries are still interested in doing trade with rich counties for short-term benefits. In the video as well Jimmy highlighted that countries sell their moral integrity to trade with rich countries like China just to attain leverage. He also explained that as people are getting more aware of the pollution and its severe effects they will stop buying products that pose a threat to the environment and thus manufacturers will have to face the consequences.

Thus, to attain world peace it is necessary that every country must collaborate and rich countries should also allow underdeveloped countries to trade freely so that they can also achieve progress.

Work Cited

"Youtube". Youtube.Com, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSPFcztxni8.