What elements of the book remind you of things happening in our world today?

What elements of the book remind you of things happening in our world today?

It’s sad that treating people who are different from us in a demeaning way and the biases and prejudices against other cultures never quite goes away.

Sadly, racism, sexism, exploiting workers, scam artists, oppressive governments imposing their cultural beliefs on everyone. The hope of immigration and the disillusion that may follow. The way children of immigrants live lives so different from one another and the distance that may cause between them.

The premise of the book was propaganda. If I focus on that premise, our whole existence today is filled with propaganda. We no longer know what the truth actually is, because we're bombarded with so many lies— all presented at truths. It's a sad world we live in.

Most definitely the propaganda power held by the movie studios, from which all media propaganda has grown; and that propaganda drives all the negative movement and division in our society. Receiving our news from click-bait headlines and isolating views to one side OR the other leads to massive disrespect and misunderstanding.

Nothing much changes, does it? Discrimination, racism and the desire to put others down for the simple reason someone needs it to feel better about themselves remains as prevalent today as it did in the 1940s setting of the book. The reminders of history in this book of our worst faults are important but sad.

Unfortunately, much has not changed in individuals attitudes with regards ds crimination and racism and how at least in the beginning the opportunities for new immigrants and their children has not changed even if laws have been passed it is the attitudes of some individuals and some of these people spread falsehoods about certain groups pf people. I must say there many excepting people also and many who reach out to help and welcome underprivileged and newcomers.

Unfortunately, we still endure sexism and racism on a daily basis. Propagandists seem to be working overtime to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories. Inexplicably people, even those with higher education degrees, cannot seem to discern fact from fiction.

I would have to agree with the others who stated that not much has changed. In regards to the racism, sexism, unwillingness to accept immigrants, and the propaganda power of the media, we have made very little advancement. What makes it more terrifying in this day and age is social media which is instant, no accountability, and the ability to bombard persons with complete untruths. I feel like society is advancing rapidly in technology areas, but going backwards in values and morality.
Every generation may feel this and it is just the growing pains of humanity trying to figure out life!

As I was reading this book (so before this question was even posted), I often thought that there has not been as much change in society as we might like to think. As I scrolled down to start my reply, my eye caught words that I planned to use: propagandists fostering hate, animosity towards immigrants, racism, sexism... you know name.

Sadly we are still surrounded by racism and fear of people who are not like us. Blacks are still accused of crimes, just because of the color of their skin, women are still not treated with the same respect as men when it comes to business, people who don't speak English are still looked down upon, the more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems.

Marra's depictions of racism, sexism, bigotry, prejudice, and repugnant stereotyping are all too familiar to me as a retired civil rights attorney. I handled numerous cases involving those and similar issues during my nearly 30-year career. I was subjected to workplace sexual harassment numerous times, and have, like Maria, been underestimated by my male counterparts, peers, and superiors more times than I care to remember. Everything changes but, sadly, nothing changes. The fight for equality and social justice in America is ongoing and even more difficult given the current composition of the U.S. Supreme Court.

And the story is decidedly contemporary with respect to the issue of propaganda. The type of propaganda used by the U.S. government to bolster morale here at home would not be successful today because of our access to technology & 24/7 news sources.

Now the prevalence of propaganda poses a different challenge: separating truth from lies, reality from hyperbole, conjecture from fact-based evidence. We live in the world of "alternative facts" where a former President who lost an election can incite an insurrection and convince millions of people that he won sans even a scintilla of evidence in support of that claim!

In other words, we live in a world that is, in some respects, more frightening than it must have been to hide behind blackout curtains in San Franciso after Pearl Harbor, wondering if more planes carrying bombs were en route. Because we now inhabit a world in which propaganda has, in some significant respects, supplanted reason. And THAT is terrifying.

Racism, xenophobia, sexism and propaganda are all with us today. The hysteria around migrantstoday reminds me of the irrational fear of the "enemy aliens" in the book.

Unfortunately we still experience racism, sexism and propaganda today. The current trend on immigrants is the similar as described by this author. We live in a world not much different than describe within the pages of this novel. Why? Were we not all immigrants at some stage of our family history?