posted by Sam and Michelle
Post your 450 word (minimum) comment and 100 word (minimum) response to a classmate. You should be responding to the two lectures about ethnocentrism. You can write anything you want about whatever you hear in the lectures.
As I watched these lecture pod casts, I couldn't help but think of a movie I watched on the Disney Channel called "The Color of Friendship". It was created in 2000 and was set in 1977. It is about a WHITE upper class South African girl,Mahree, who becomes an exchange student to the US. When she arrives at the airport, she is greeted by her host family, The Dellums. At first they do not realize that Mahree is the exchange student because they are a BLACK family and they are EXPECTING a BLACK child from South Africa. Mahree mistakes Mrs Dellum and Piper as the hired help of her host family. Throughout the movie, the girls learn from each other on political views especially apartheid. Basically both families are shocked and in the end, they all get along and live happily ever after. The thing I did not know was that this movie is based on a true story called "Simunye". So this really happened, a white girl from S. Africa went to stay with a Black family in DC in 1977, during the conflict for The biggest thing I wanted my kids to take from this movie was the meaning of the weaver-bird story. To sum it up, this bird builds nests in all the trees in South Africa and allows any bird to live in it and will help care for its young. The weaver bird is accepting and caring as we all should be.
Second, WOW is the first word that came to mind when Sam started with the evolution and how humans are more related to chimps and chimps are more related to humans than they are to gorillas. Now with all that Sam said about evolution and creation, I am wondering how others feel about the history channels insight on the possibility that the human race was created by higher beings from outer space. I feel asleep the other night watching this and all I can remember hearing was that Noah's mother was artificially inseminated by a being from outer space so that Noah would be born and could create a new and improved race and that the great flood was caused to rid the world of all imperfections in humans and it would have been physically impossible to have a male and female of each animal species get on the boat at the same time not to mention live together is such tight space for 40 days and 40 nights. There were several other supporting ideas for this theory. One being that Noah couldn't have built the Arc on his own. What category of evolution does this fall under?
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mcbell317 Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 7:00 am
I started to watch the same program but I totally had to stop. I understand that in this universe we are not the only beings but I find it hard to believe that other beings created us. They may have had some influence in how we ended up today. (I totally sound like a crazy person). I definitely believe in evolution and considering I am a biological anthropology major I plan on studying our evolution. Chimps and humans are so closely related its crazy, even though we are two completely different species.
I do remember watching the "Colour of Friendship" movie on the Disney channel. When it started, I was expecting to see an African girl with dark skin and not a girl with light coloured skin from South Africa. It did not even dawn on me that the apartheid in South Africa had shaped this young South African girl to think the way she did. If only the everyone in the world had an experience like those two girls, the world may be more of an understanding place.
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jjlayton Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 4:17 am
I think that more people should be like the weaver bird. We think we are so much better than other mammals and that we are so much higher on the food chain. We might have technology and intelligence but we are so greedy. We want and want and destroy and destroy. We are our own prey. We will end our own existence because of our greed and hatred for our own species, divided by our so called differences.
There’s a bird making a nest on my windowsill and it makes so much noise but I can’t bring myself to throw the nest off. I don’t believe there are any eggs in it yet but I still can’t do it. I looked out m y window and looked at the nest thinking about it but I saw the detail put into it and the work and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So I will live with the noise at 5am because I know that bird put a lot of effort into making that nest and who am I to destroy another fellow animal’s livelihood and shelter.
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charlan10 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 3:05 pm
June 06, 2010
In my opinion I would put that in the category of something related towards scientology. All religion has some sort of what most people would call a magical aspect. And that’s what I don't get about other people knocking on other religions beliefs. Most religions have something in the story that is a little magical. It's something that if you would witness would totally blow your mind. But Jim of this particular faith finds Franks particular faith crazy because it seems really far out there. Just like scientology, a lot of Christians find it crazy but on the basis of the story how is it so much crazier than what Muslims or Christians believe. Everyone of them has some magic to it and who knows anyone of them could be right. It's completely impossible to say with 100% assurance that it is right or wrong.
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crr171 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 6:39 pm
June 2, 2010
I have also seen the movie “The Color of Friendship” on the Disney Channel. And I too was expecting the exchange student from Africa to be a black person. I actually love that movie and I had no idea that it was based on a real story! I haven’t seen the movie in a long time, and I forgot about the part in the movie about the weaver- bird. And I think it is great that they build nests and help all different types of birds. People should be more like these birds and accept people for who they are.
I also found it really interesting that chimps are more related to humans than they are to gorillas. That is just crazy!
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Lesson 4 Ethnocentrism :
Narrow vision: First off, just how many people ever wake up from the cocoon of their daily drudgery of a life and have anything but narrow vision. I would think that widening your vision but not doing anything would just make jack a very sad guy. So putting this in the perspective of culture….why would cultural vision be any wider that the every day vision for the vast majority of humans? The slide of ethnocentrism are the basic principles of control that a governing body has for keeping its sleepy little people quiet and passive (for the most part). Holy crap I sound like one of those raving loonies in the card board sign screaming WAKE UP. Well, the end is not near but unless you open your eyes does it mater what happens next, since your not alive in the first place.
Now, changing the loony channel for a bit::: Do we need a base line of other cultures in order to really See ours? Do we recognize the culture we are in if we dont have something to stand it next to for comparison? Where does the line get drawn between nation/cultural pride, and ethnocentrism?
walk a mile in their shoes. This is a great idea but the reality is, the closest you will ever get to knowing what its like to be a bat, is to be a human hanging upside down in a closet and acting like a bat. You still get a pretty good idea of whats happening, but you can not possibly "Know" the truth of it. But that doesn't mean not to try, as we can gain insights by just the trying. It reminds me of that movie with C. Thomas Howl and James Earl Jones. He is a white kid going to Harvard law on a scholarship for black students. So he is taking pills to make his skin black and wears a wig. long story short he gets the shit beat out of him for being black and is in jail, Jones comes to bail him out. Howl comments that now he understands and knows what its like to be on the other end of racism and jones replies (Im paraphrasing all this btw) No you dont, because tomorrow you will be white, and I will still be Black. I seem to have strayed from the topic…..
Back on point: There is a lot to be said about having the local language. Of course that can be good or bad. I remember my wife and I at a train station in Stockholm. My wife is Norwegian so she says she will order our tickets, as she knows some Swedish and the 2 languages are very similar. The down side I came to find out is the Sweds really dont much care for the Norse LOL. So as my wife is trying to order the tickets the girl is giving her the bullshit of "I dont understand you. Youre accent to too thick" etc etc, the same way we do in this country to many of the math teachers here as PSU (Ya, you know what Im talking about). So I step up to the counter and in a deeper voice and slightluy pissed off look I order the tickets, the girls eyes opened up a lot bigger and she said in near perfect english (now that my accent pegged me as American) Yes sir, may I help you with anything else Sir, please enjoy your trip Sir…so language can be a blessing or a curse if you dont know the cultural impact that it might have to go along with it. (ie-you're European and you have an angry and mean looking American at your counter. You have learned that Americans like to fight and that they are one of the most violent, cruel and frankly somewhat sick minded people on earth – how would you deal with him?). I do not like to assist that stereotype one bit when I travel, but sometimes it can come in handy if need be………….
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ktb5071 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Wednesday 4:15
Hi! Walking a mile in someones shoes is a great thing. There is this company called "TOMS" its a shoe company that was started by a young man who decided that for every pair of shoes he sells he will give one pair to a child in need. It's an amazing cause and the company has really succeded they deliver hundreds of thousands of their TOMS shoes to children in third world countries and they are currently delivering shoes to children in Haiti. But anyways, they had this "challenge" to walk without shoes for 1 day. It was in April and they had it so it would get people to become interested in why your not wearing shoes in a CVS and then you can spread the word about TOMS. I did it. And after doing it, I was able to understand the true meaning of where those shoes were going because it's not pleasant walking without shoes for a day. The TOMS challenge was easy to do, and gave me a lot of enlightenment but this cultural relativism was easy to do, most of the time immersing yourself in another culture is very difficult but all people should make an effort and try it some day because it's a great feeling to know something other than what you are familiar with.
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brisnug Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:13 am
I agree with what you said about cultural comparisons. Humans inevitably are prone to thinking that their own ways of doing things are better than other ways unless they are convinced otherwise. And since no one is trying to convince anyone that one culture is better than another, people are going to naturally think their own culture is the best. But, if we do not analyze other cultures, then we cannot critique our own culture. However, by analyzing other cultures, they are always going to seem inferior to our own. Therefore, it seems as if it is a vicious cycle which may never be solved.
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………….Factory farmed meat – Ya Im 100% with you. That is one of the most disgusting things we as a race do. It's pretty sick. Do I still buy it – Yes but I go out of my way to avoid it as much as possible (and the grass fed is pretty damn expensive). Think a second just how many chicken it takes to make wings for 1 day at one of the local bars. Those were not range chickens I can assure you. (I am and always will be a carnivore, but I try to be a responsible meat eater Yum).
In regard to hunting. I consider tree stand hunting just going to the grocery in the woods, that is NOT hunting. Its some lame ass excuse for it and should never be confused with hunting. That being said, if you can pack your freezer with a years supply of food for the cost of a bullet and a license why the hell not? And you only killed 1 animal to do it, not 100. Just dont call it hunting. Hunting is when there is a reasonable chance that you will fail and the prey will win. I learned to hunt by the time I was 5 and fired my first .45 at age 4. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a day that I think trophy hunting is a good idea. But in many regards trophy hunting is a sub cultural concept that is woven into the fabric of many communities in this country, so isnt my view of it just as one sided as any other ethnocentric vision? Hmmm.
My first kill I did take a nice big bite of the fresh heart, how does that play into some of the views of other people in my own country?
In regard to cultural relativism: There is a point that you have to sit back and say "okay, enough". If it is a thing or action of cruelty and/or against the will of the person being subject to X then I dont see any reason not to step in. Regardless of race/ethnicity/etc we are still Human beings and we do have a responsibility to one another to try and get on the same sheet of music in regard to what it is to BE a human being. But this is a hard thing to judge without forcing cultural values on others.
Public stoning: before I hit play I want to go on the record: I agree with public stoning as a criminal punishment. People need to become more involved and aware of the crimes and punishments we inflict on one another. When you are too far removed than you become desensitized to the whole process. Where you need to draw the line is not with the act of stoning, but with what you consider crime to be. okay, pushing play now. Punishment is meant to not only be punitive but also to keep the crime from being committed in the first place.
LOL Ya our methods of capital punishment are pretty sick. Honestly beheading is not a bad idea all things considered.
Style. it's funny that 40 years ago if a style of fashion caught on for the black youth, the whites would drop it like a hot potato, but today it will take off and flourish.
Why do we call Jesus (Gee Zus) for the son of god guy, but Jesus (Hey Suess) for the non deity/prophet/teacher/whatever? Just kind of odd I think. I want to meet the guy that says no, my name is (Gee Zus) not (Hey Suess).
Heres a cultural thing for you: Jesus in the video – do the dogtags he is wearing mean something to him? ie His, or a family member? Or just a fashion statement. If its a fashion thing, like a style of shoe then for some people that is a close to blasphemy as you can get, outside of an established religion. A subcultural thing. But if I were not part of that subculture I would have no clue about that. You just never know what the rules are until you ask I guess (or until you put your foot in the kool-aid).
In regard to naming. Different cultures have different rules for what is or is not profane. I have no idea about why Jesus is used in Spanish, but I imagine that might be part of it. I wouldnt mind finding out though. Ding-Fries are done.
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dancediva2191 Reply:
May 31st, 2010 at 5:45 pm
5/31/10
I absolutely agree with the factory farmed meet that it is one of the most disgusting things that we as a human beings do, but yet we still buy it. I know walking around campus we always receive those fliers showing where we get our meet and I look at the pictures and almost want to vomit, but like the slavery issue, most people just throw out those fliers and do not do anything about it. I am certainly a victim of this. I know my family does try to buy the organic meats, but probably not because of the horrors of factory farming but because organic is “healthier for you.” When you refer to cultural relativism, it is hard not to judge others without forcing our own cultural values on others. Is there a way to compromise?
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cym5201 Reply:
May 31st, 2010 at 9:33 pm
I get what your saying about cultural relativism, however are you getting to the know the individuals before judging. And, once you sit down and have a heart to heart, are you still forcing your own values. Because, sometimes I don't think we(Americans) are forcing our cultural values, but more so wanting them to see where we are coming from with our values and vice versa.
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samsmith119 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 3:08 pm
im sorry but the whole first half of my original post has gone missing. Hopefully an admin will find it wandering in a virtual hallway and send it back to where it belongs.
Blueskies21 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 6:41 pm
6/1/10
I agree with the idea of the factory-farmed meat being absolutely disgusting. Factory farmed meat is so unethical. I very rarely eat meat and when I do I try to buy organic items and free-range chicken, but like everyone else said… it’s pretty expensive. There is no way that people will stop buying meat, but if the general public was more informed about what happens to our meat before it ends up on our plates, we might be able to cut back on the purchasing of factory farmed meat. If the public was more informed on this topic maybe they would start to purchase their meat from local farms.
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nrd5040 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 9:21 pm
I agree with what you said about not drawing the line with the punishment but what you consider to be a crime in the first place. It's hard to judge the way in which other cultures enforce laws as we all have our preferred method whether its public stoning or an electric chair. Both are equally as cruel in my eyes. However, I think that public stoning may a more fitting punishment as it would show people what it looks like to take a life and hopefully prevent crimes of a similar nature from occurring. In my opinion, the really disturbing part of the image of the public stoning was that the people were killed for committing adultery.
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macwpsu429 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 9:26 pm
I agree with you that it is important that as a society we are aware of the crimes being committed and need to take a stand against them. However, if a man goes out and murders a woman and cuts her limbs off, he is convicted of murder obviously, and he is sentenced to death. How does it justify beheading him as a punishment for cutting the woman’s limbs off?? It doesn't. You are doing exactly to that man what he is being punished for doing. I am all for capital punishment, however, that doesn't make it right. An "eye for an eye," really gets no one anywhere. I agree that any criminal that is sentenced to death, most likely deserves it. You can not commit a horrific crime and get away with it, however, it seems a little ridiculous, and we are punishing a person for committing the same crime you are killing them for. It actually seems a bit hypocritical and silly really.
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RRISTEEN Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Sam I am right there with you on wishing I could buy more grass fed, free-range meat it really is just too expensive. I also agree with you on stand hunting, it is a great view. Safari hunting in Africa, where you are going up against some formidable competition, now THAT is hunting. But like you said about trophy hunting where your view about it is just as one sided as any other ethnocentric vision, I am sure that tree stand hunters have their arguments as well. But, yes it is better for one bullet to kill one animal than the wholesale slaughter of millions. I also agree that stoning is a deterrent and if the individuals know full well it is coming, why commit the act? The problem isn't with the punishment either it is within the laws and mandates set up to call for such a punishment. The laws might be extremely unreasonable, but hey it is ethnocentricity no matter which side you look at it. One side thinks they are right as well as the other.
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Rockski Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:03 am
6/2
Interesting viewpoint as I agree with you with the grass grown cows, as the cows eating corn are literally eating themselves to death. Same things with chickens, but I wanted to get to your point about public stoning, the reason I believe it is so morally bankrupt is it all about humiliation, or punishment as a whole is used to reinforce ideals and in some ways strike fear into everyone else, and as I’m sure most of us know. Fear is the absolute best motivator in the world. Back in olden times a thief had his hand chopped off for theft, but what if he was stealing for his family so they could afford to eat and not out of greed, and even if it was for Greed is cutting his hand off and disabling him for the rest of his life really a fitting punishment for a lost that could be recuperated in a matter of hours or days of work? In the old gangster films in the 1930s the Gangster always paid with his life at the end of the movie, just look at the original Scarface. Who can dictate what lives are worth and which aren’t and this is where the areas of gray jump out with people like Hitler. Hung for crimes against humanity just like Hussein, completely disregarded humans and people know why then I believe it is punishable to execute as the entire context of the situation is there. Just rarely is the context of these situations ever put into play and that’s what saddens me, for people to not want to be judged on the surface, how can they judge a situation without knowing the Whys?
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5/31/10
I think that cultural relativism, being able to walk into another person’s shoes in order to understand where they are coming from is probably one of the hardest, but most important things we as humans need to do. If we were truly able to do this, I think some of the stereotypes that we have and racism, and maybe even xenophobia will be able to dissipate and possibly be eliminated. But this may be asking too much of people because we are accustomed to our ways and ethnocentrisms most importantly leads us to see our own culture being better than others. When I watched the second lecture, the video with the general saying something along the lines of “My god is a real god and your god is a false god” clearly proves the point of ethnocentrism. But if this general took the time to step into the other culture, and see the other religion, his statement may have been very different.
The part of the lecture that struck me was the part about naming and if I personally would name my child after god, or a prophet, or someone biblical. These names are such common names that I do not see a problem with it at all. My cousins’ name is Rachel and I do not think the first people think of when hearing her name is the old testament. Many of my family members and friends, especially my Jewish friends, share the names of people in the Old Testament. However, I do know that many of these people are not named these biblical names because of their biblical significance, but they are named because their parents like the name. Different cultures absolutely chose different names, and many people even in the Anglo culture will name children after people found in the New Testament like Elizabeth and Mary. Why we don’t name our kids Jesus, I really do not have an answer for. To be blunt, probably because many people thing it would be weird and the kid would be picked on. It is very interesting to see the differences in naming people.
It was surprising to me to look at the pictures from before the war in Iraq and now during the war. The pictures we see at home are of destruction, poverty, hunger, chaos and anger. We see people who “want our help.” Before the war, Iraq was a place filled with people who looked like average Penn State students and American children and Baghdad at night looked like it could have been any city in America. It has changed so much since the war. Imagine if the war was fought on our soil.
It was very interesting to try to imagine myself as an Arab Muslim as I was watching the lecture. After watching all of the videos, we as an Arab Muslim had the choice to see the American soldiers in two opposite lights, as kind soldiers who are trying to help, or oppressive soldiers taking our resources and our oil. Its no wonder that so many Arab Muslims are angry with the Americans after watching those videos and seeing predominantly one side of the story. It was interesting to see that most of the people sitting in the class raised their hand when asked if they would join the insurgency and fight American soldiers. We should be able to respect their opinion and their decision because of cultural relativism.
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kac5293 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:14 am
6/1/10 I agree with you, I think it was interesting to try to picture myself as an Arab Muslim. From my understanding, when he asked ‘who would want freedom for everyone’ I would not picture the Muslim men to raise their hand because they do not freedom for everyone, just for the men. Another thing that I do not think that Americans are going to the Middle East to spread Christianity. Not all people in the military are Christians and they were not taught that during boot camp, they are not specialized to do it so I am not too sure where Sam got all his information from, seems a little sketchy to me.
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ViciousVirgo Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 6:12 pm
I agree with you when it comes to cultural relativism and how we should take the time to walk in another person's shoes in order to grow as an individual and eliminate some of our stereotypes. The thing I was wondering when i read your comment was how long and how much does somebody have to walk in another person's shoes for there to honestly be a change in their life. I can walk in someone's shoes for a day and it won't affect me simply because it was only for a day. I do thin kit is a step towards progress. I also agree with you when you talked about the names for a child. I see names all the time from the Bible but for some reason i do not relate them to the Bible. I think that is because they are so normal and popular. Names such as Rachael are seen all the time but if i see a name like Jesus or Judas, it automatically takes me to the Bible and i think along those lines. I also think with certain cultures, names may or may not stand out to me. If i see someone with the name Budda, it strikes me as a name that is from a God of a different culture.
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I am in agreement with the factory farmed meats. However, I still purchase it(shame on me ), but I also purchase organic items(when I catch a good sale). When I think of slavery, I think of a lot. I think how I am a slave to my cell phone provider, cable company, the mall, and my favorite stores in Pittsburgh's Strip District. Also, I think Americans should stop judging other countries on their corprol punsihment and get a handle on ours. When folks are stoned in Afghanastan, they have an audience, well does the person being executed. What's the difference. Just one example
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macwpsu429 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 9:28 pm
I have to agree, I too buy the factory farmed meats. When I go shopping at the grocery store my first thought isn't "how was this made," rather I am looking at the price. If chicken is cheaper this way than that way, sure I will eat it. I don't think about how many chickens it took to make my dinner or how they were killed and put on my plate. Yes it is wrong, but how many people think about it? As humans, we need to eat, and sadly, we don't look at the larger picture beyond our plates and wallets.
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kam5154 Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 12:44 am
I completely agree with a new form of slavery. I am also a slave to my everyday life. A cellphone is a great example of it, because if I ever lost my phone I would feel like I am lost. My life is over if I do not have a communication device, when honestly when I was younger a cellphone was the last thing i wanted. Also I am a slave to clothes and being presentable, wearing brands to define who I am or my sense of style. I can not help it but I truly believe that it is really crazy.
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I admit I eat packaged processed meat but if I had a choice I would buy my meat from a local farm that treats the animals ethically. Since I live in the city and there are no farms anywhere near me I have to buy packaged meat. I could become a vegetarian if I chose to but I like meat so that wouldn’t really work. I am moving this summer/fall because I need out of the city and I will have lots of land and will be able to buy my meat from local butchers and farmers who are not cruel to their animals, before they kill them that is. I support the Native American approach to hunting. They hunt and use every part of the animal and do not waste. This is, in my opinion, the best way to hunt and not take advantage of the earth. I believe if you kill an animal you should do so to provide sustenance for your family and maybe even use their fur or skin for other uses, not fashion. My grandfather was an Inca Indian from Peru and he lived like one and survived like one. He would hunt and kill his own meals and use every part of the animals he hunted. According to my mother he ate monkey brains, supposedly it was a delicacy.
I’m a Christian and seeing all that footage really upset me, I was brought to tears at one point. I knew that there are radical Christians out there but I couldn’t believe some of the things they were saying. It’s unbelievable what people believe Christianity is. I have never once seen it written in the bible that we must convert everybody into Christians or up rise and start an army of super children Christians willing to do anything for their faith. I’m confused about what book they’ve been reading because it’s not the same one I have. What I go by is free will and forgiveness. Even if you’re not Christian you can believe in that. We all have choices in life, some are bad and some are good. We will have to pay for the bad ones here on earth or if you believe in an afterlife, in heaven or hell. What these people are doing is unfathomable. It’s so ridiculous I don’t even have words for it. I’m a firm believer in accepting everyone and not judging anyone for their choices because that is not my job or my place. However, I’m not a traditional Christian. I believe in evolution with the guiding hand of God and I don’t wish to denounce or judge homosexuals, some of my closest friends are of the LGBT community. Maybe I’m just a more modern easy going Christian, I don’t know. I just know that what these radical Christians got in their heads is wrong and it is not what all Christianity stands for. They truly do give Christianity a bad name to say the least.
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lmbrown2006 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I agree with you 100%. We hear about this and read about this everyday, but when I watched this videos and was taking note the one thing I wrote down across the top of the paper was these videos are very disturbing to me, and at one point I almost cried and had to pause and take a break. When they showed these children willing to do anything to anyone for anything for the name of their faith, I just said OMG and turned it off. I am no holy roller and may be a modern christian but I believe and faith and forgiveness and to treat others as you would like to be treated. It’s not for me to judge anyone, there is someone much higher then me to do that.
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soitgoes00 Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:50 am
June 2, 2010
I agree with your view on hunting animals. I think you brought up an excellent point when you spoke about how Native Americans used the WHOLE animal so nothing would go to waste – this is definitely the best way to hunt and survive off of animals. Factory farming animals just shows how lazy we are as Americans and that our priorities certainly do not lie with treating animals humanely. Everything is about efficiency and turning over products fast. Funny how we should take a step back in history and do things the way they were done centuries ago!
I am not Christian or very religious, but I was also shocked at the supposed Christian beliefs. I know the basics of religion and converting everyone else to one's religion is certainly not preached by my religion either. It is unfortunate that these negative beliefs are the ones imposed on other countries, and the result of these misinterpretations can be catastrophic. I also want to say I think it is great that you are a more accepting Christian. The world has changed so much since these values were instilled in the Christian religion, and because the times have changed some of our beliefs have become more lax.
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cosuji Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:00 am
I felt the same way about the radical Christians, they were just as bad as the radical Muslims! All faiths share similar practices and beliefs but radicalism is not one. It is not anybodies "calling" to try and convert everybody you meet to the religion that you are. As people we should learn to respect the beliefs of all people even if they are not what we believe. There are so many other differences between people even if we all shared the same religion there would still be issues between people. All the differences that we see in other people are usually things that are irrelevant, because at the end of the day as much as we are all so different in many ways we are the same in many more ways.
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June 06, 2010
Ethnocentrism is a troubling thought process that not only affects our surrounding neighbors but touches every individual in every country to a certain extent. How great our potential at establishing an open and understanding mind could be if everybody participated in something as simple as the exercise Dr. Richards had the class partake in towards Islamic people. It was a total mind opener. I am not religious to any extent, I have always looked at religion as it is your right to believe in whatever you choose to as long as harm is not being caused to other people. As everybody knows this is not always the case with religion. Even I was totally shocked how I was affected (someone who considered themselves to be extremely open minded about different faiths and who holds no particular faith above the other). As I am sure a lot of people do, I always said but you have to look at their (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc..) point of view of what we do and have done to them, we are at fault to some extent on causing radicalism.
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But even that mind set was nothing compared to sitting for an extended period of time imaging yourself as an Iraqi Muslim who is being invaded by a Christian based country for the purpose of conversion and oil. It is totally undeniable that if reality was flip flopped and they were us and we were them that we would not become the people America is fighting today. How could this not be case? Muslims do the same thing we do in this society. Most people in this country when you say Muslim certain negative depictions instantly come to your mind, terrorism, radicalism, enemy. And I would guess it is really no different for them. Somewhere along the line, on both sides, people lost the meaning of the word faith and implanted fact in its place. Faith is supposed to be different than fact. With faith you are supposed to trust, with fact you know, people need to start leaning back towards the trust rather than the knowing. As the one general said in the video clip he knew his God was better and that he was not imaginary. How is this possible? How could anybody completely state with factual knowledge that your God is not real but yet mine is.
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It’s just impossible, you trust, you have faith that your religion is what is going to lead to happiness in the next life. When fact is involved in religion it creates radicalism, because we KNOW the other one is wrong and we are right. So many things are lost because of this not just life, people lose friends, family, almost anything that can be imagined can be lost over being closed minded and not understanding towards other people’s choices on their religion. And seriously change the mindset of every time America becomes involved in a war that we are the good guys and they are the bad guys. This makes it a country western movie, not reality where nothing is ever really that simple as good and bad.
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lovinglife1126 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Very well said. The exercise in the classroom was an eye opener that I still believe many of us still do not understand. What you said about the negative thoughts that come to mind when we hear the word Muslim or Arab is absolutely true. I think it's true for every race. We tend to only think of the negative terms associated with the variety of races presented upon us, rather than what good have they done. I also believe that individuals should have their choice to believe in what they want to believe in. I have my own religious preference, but I am not going to force someone to believe in what I do. There are the downsides to accepting other people's religions, but in the United States, there are several things that are done that other cultures do not support as well. It's not an easy concept, it's just something that needs to be understood.
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6/1/10
I was really interested in the topic of Iraq. My boyfriend is in the marines and just returned from his second tour (Iraq and Afghanistan). Majority of my friends are in the military and most of them are deployed. They all say the same thing about Iraq – it’s basically a barren wasteland in most spots, everything is in ruins, and the kids walk around the desolate areas alone in search of food. It was a country filled with poverty. It was interesting to see how similar the pictures my boyfriend took were to those we saw in the power point. Some friends told me that the Iraqi people hated the Americans and wanted the soldiers gone, but others told me a different story, of how the Iraqi’s (especially the children) were intrigued by the Americans and enjoyed having conversations with the soldiers. I was told by several people that the children in Iraq were so fascinated and curious about the American military members and would watch with wide eyes as a humvee drove by on patrol, but if the children ever got too close to a soldier, a family member would be there to pull the children away. A friend of mine has told me that he has seen several stonings close to his barracks. I cannot imagine having to watch that or even hear that. He said that every time someone is stoned, the men throw the rocks and the women stand behind to watch. He also told us that these acts of stoning are somewhat of a sporting event, everyone in the town comes to participate or watch. Stoning has been around for hundreds of years and it is a form of corporal punishment. It seems as if the embarrassment from being publically stoned would be enough of a punishment in my opinion. I personally could not sit there and throw stones at a person until they died, it seems inhumane and kind of heartless to me. The part about the extreme Christians got to me. Some of the things these men and women were saying were completely absurd. I went to catholic school for about ten years and I was never once told that I needed to convert everyone I met. I believe that in the world of religion people should be allowed to worship their own God and believe in whatever makes them happy. Doesn’t Christianity teach that you are no better than those around you? Maybe these extremists never got that message. Seeing those children participate in “soldiers in training” was outrageous and a little creepy. I cannot imagine doing that when I was their age. It seems like the “higher ups” are brainwashing these young children into believing something other than what Christianity really is.
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samsmith119 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 7:46 pm
I imagine that there is a certain amount of feeling, just like you are having, from those of the Muslim faith as well when they see and hear about extremists of their religion. It really does blur the lines of who to "Distrust" etc. when you realize that you feel just as they do. But knowing that feeling, maybe that lends to more common ground between christians and muslims to further communicate with each other. Once you can "feel" what they do, and them for you, then you can being to understand what might motivate or drive each other. Once that happens look out…..You might just start a real meaningful conversation founded in understanding and trust instead of fear and misinformation. I am just as guilty as many when it comes to making generalized assumptions of some peoples, and their religions. Its even harder for me to have that talk since I do not believe in or support the concept of religion in the first place, but this is something I am working on (and this class does actually help with that). I suppose the biggest part of it is that christians, muslim, and just about every other religion really want the same things at the basic level, to live well, have the freedom to express your faith, to have families, enjoy happy moments in life without fear or worry. So why are these divides still there?
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JessOver Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:57 am
I was appalled by the video of the children in the extremist Christian camp, but I am also appalled seeing Iraqi children holding weapons and being trained to fight in the militia. As much as I disagree with the violence that is running rampant in some of these countries, I think it's important for people in all religions to remember that there are extremists in every religion and that no religion is inherently better than another. I can't stand it when a member of one religion degrades the religion of another. I think this type of behavior just perpetuates violent activity and people continue to wonder why members of the opposite religion become offended when their own religion is declared as wrong or they are attempted to be converted by persistent missionaries. If people wish to spread the word about their religion that is their choice, but without being fully informed about others religions prior to demanding them to convert to say, Christianity, for example, is ridiculous. No person's religions is better than another. At the end of the day most people want the same thing: the believe in their religion freely and to have the right to worship their god the way their religion intends for them to.
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Well, all I can say is Wow!!! This was a mind blower so far this week. First the meat thing, I eat meat but mostly poultry but after this lecture I was so sick on the stomach I may never eat any meat again. I have never been a fan of hunting, may children’s father is a true fan and will never miss a session I believe it is wrong to kill an animal GOD created for the sake of something to do. Crime and punishment I believe in an eye for an eye in some cases. But public stoning I couldn’t stand to watch, regardless of what race we are all human beings created by god. If you do the crime do the time I believe but look at all the cases of inmates found guilty sentenced to death row and have done 15, 20+ years in jail to only find that they were innocent. How do they get that time back?
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How do they get back everything they have lost behind a mistake. Then they are giving settlements for their time, but think of all the things in life they can’t get back, the death of a parent or a child or even a spouse let lone a sibling you can’t go back in time. So think of stoning someone publicly, the blood shed until they die and just turn and walk away, leaving a bloody mess only to find the person was innocent, I’m sick to my stomach, again! Now when I watched the videos of these group of super Christian children, I was so disturbed I had to pause and walk away. These children are willing to do anything to anyone for any reason for the sake of their faith. but who’s faith is to kill people, mother’s children or even themselves for the sake of what? We see and hear about this everyday but when I seen those videos, I was speechless. I think of my children and what if I could not see my children saying, yea lets sign up to kill others, kill ourselves.
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This will teach the other cultures who’s right and who is wrong. This has to be learned behavior and why would any parent want to teach their children such a thing? I know not everything is right in the world and crimes are committed and some religions teach wrong views but shouldn’t we be about love, peace and happiness. And it is so sad when children are used for doing wrong. At this point, the lectures on Ethnocentrism have as left me speechless and just saddened, I am at a lose of words seeing, knowing this goes on in the world.
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SaraMae22 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 6:20 pm
6/1/10
I completely agree with you… I have hunters in my family who go out every season and have been offered the opportunity to go with, I have turned them down. I can’t sit there and look at something so beautiful that God created and kill it. Most the time these animals are lured in with animal calls which I feel is almost like trapping. Personally I think it’s cruel because some people don’t do it for the meat. I also thought about the meat thing and the whole animal farm raising. I’m a meat eater but now I question whether I should look at what imp eating. I refuse to eat veal because of the torture that they are put through throughout their lives. I think it’s just cruel what animals are put through. I mean don’t get me wrong I like meat but why do these animals have to be toured for use to enjoy them. I think it something that will never stop but animals need to be free. I refuse to go to zoo also. I think that it cruel to place something that not in its natural habitat. They are looked at behind glass all day everyday and some are place in small pens for people to look at them for an expensive charge. I also agree with you when you were talking about the stoning and execution. Did you know that there are numerous people who are accidently put to death because they didn’t commit the crime? I agree with you that you can’t get back that time that you lost and yet people are still being stoned to death, either way I think it cruel to do that to someone. I feel that people shouldn’t play god and take someone else life away.
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6/1/10
6/1/10
The Christian Invaders lecture was a great thought experiment. Trying to see the world through someone elses eyes is a difficult thing to do many times but a failure to do so leads to a lack of understanding. If I was a Muslim int he Middle East and saw the videos that Sam showed in class, I would be very upset. After seeing videos of the President of the United States tell missionaries to proclaim the kingdom of god while they have an army of my land, how could I not feel as if the Christians were coming for me to take resources under my land. As an America, I know that not all Americans or Christians feel the same way as George Bush or other leaders but Muslims in the Middle East do not know that. Often times, I feel that the view of a few radicals is perceived as representative as the viewpoint of an entire populace. I know not all Muslims are extremists or terrorists. However, if you watch mainstream media, often times you could get a different picture, as radical fundamentalists dominate the news and not mainstream Muslims. When Muslims see videos of tanks rolling through their streets, destroying cars, or soldiers harassing people they probably take it that all American soldiers are that way. They are probably saying to their friends "Look what those American soldiers are doing to our people". I'm sure that these sort of instance of soldiers acting like assholes are rare, but radical Muslims can easily use that footage to fuel their cause. Just like in Islam, there are radical and Christianity as seen by the videos of the kids being trained to be warriors for god. Hearing a United States General claim that the Christian God was greater than the Muslim God is an idol would infuriate me as a Muslim. To a Muslim in the Middle east, that must sound like a holy war. If the tables were turned and a largely Muslim country like Iraq invaded the United States I think you would see the same kind of insurgency in America fighting against the invaders. Many Americans would feel completely justified in picking up a gun and defending our country in a similar way to the American Revolution. In the eyes of our founding fathers, they considered themselves freedom fighters but in the eyes of the British they would be called terrorists or insurgents. It's amazing how a different frame of reference and perspective can completely change the way in which you perceive something. I can understand how a Muslim in the Middle East could pick up a gun and fight against what they perceive to be a holy war against an occupying country trying to steal resources.
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ChelAmelia Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:47 pm
6/1/10
I agree with everything you said in your blog. I too was one that took the question seriously and really tried to see the world through and Arab Muslim light. I agree not all Americans feel the same way as major leaders such as George Bush or Sarah Palin, but that information isn’t made available to the Muslims in the Middle East. They see only the bad things about our country, just as the same as American see the Middle East. The only information that makes the American main stream media is all bad. It mainly pertains to the number of soldiers being killed or another terrorist attack. I understand that it is not the norm to show good things going on in the Middle East. I’m sure it is the same over there; it is not the norm to show good things about Americans. Maybe if each country would see the world as the opposite things would get better, but I doubt that will ever happen.
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DrCandle Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Wednesday, June 02
rem5191@psu.edu
I agree with being very scared if I saw these videos as a Muslim in the Middle East. I mean when you see the president of the country that is currently dropping bombs on yours and you see him declaring a crusade it must be terrifying! I would most certainly feel as if the United States were trying to eliminate Islam if I was a young Muslim watching these videos in the Middle East. Dr. Richards makes the great point that we know these people are the few radicals that we have in our country, (the knuckle heads as Sam calls them) but they don't know that. The Middle Eastern Muslims watching this may very well think these are the beliefs of all the people in our country, as we do when we see propaganda for radical Islam.
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Tuesday June 1, 2010
I found that the part in the lecture where Sam was talking about evolution, stuck out to me the most. I think this topic is not only very sensitive to deal with but also very controversial. Just as Sam pointed out, I always “heard the teachings about how as humans we are closely related to chimps. I don’t think people care what the actual proof is about our human relationship to a chimp.
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In my opinion, people don’t care what the proof is, what the statistics are, and what the scientific evidence proves. I believe people more strongly believe what their faith tells them to believe. As a Catholic, it does not matter what proof you tell me about being related to a chimp, being raised a Catholic, I know I came from God. Well, that is what I am supposed to believe anyways. The scenarios are pretty much the same, whatever you were raised to believe or not believe is what you are always going to stand behind no matter what. After hearing all the facts, information, and proof Sam provided about the human/chimp theory, I still question it.
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I don’t question what he is teaching because I don’t believe him or because I don’t think he is smart enough to know, I am questioning and hesitating to believe him because I wasn’t raised the last 21 years to believe that. Back when I was in high school there was actually another school in Pennsylvania who the parents I believe were fighting the story of creation being taught in Science classes. I don’t remember the whole story exactly except for the fact that people were strongly opposed to their children being taught they came from a chimp.
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Also, I found the whole religion situation to be a great point. As an American Catholic, it would be interesting to trade and see the world from a Muslims point of view. Most all Muslims must imagine that as Americans we hate “them,” for what “their people,” have done to us. It must be so hard and hurtful for those Muslims who are not like “all the rest,” and who are subjected to that world. Just as we did not ask to be born in America or we did not ask to be born in a state, Muslims did not ask to be born in their country. I think that this situation showed that we shouldn’t treat all of one kind of people the same because there is diversity among everyone. It is wrong to classify all blacks as rotten people just because you know a few rotten black people. There are rotten white people too, that doesn’t mean you hate all white people. There are wonderful Muslim (I would hope/imagine?), black, and white people in this country and just enough rotten ones. We should not judge people on their race or ethnicity but rather who they are as a person.
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Easygoing96 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 2:50 pm
6/2 It's hard for me to agree with your statement "whatever you were raised to believe or not believe is what you are always going to stand behind no matter what". Two of the greatest minds for and against Christianity ended up doing exactly what they were raised to be against. C.S. Lewis, who is considered one the best and most intelligent Christian writers of our time was an Atheist for the first 25-30 years of his life. His world view was even more cynical than Freud's in his later years. Sigmund Freud, the most advocated Atheist of our time was born and raised Catholic (about 20-25 years of his life). Both of these people changed, to the complete opposite extreme of what they had previously believed. I've seen many people become Christians and many people get out of the religion and faith they grew up with. There are a lot of people who will think they way they were raised for probably all their lives, but definitely not everyone.
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6/1/10
This lecture is eye opening Ethnocentrism is very eye opening because it is something that we all do. We think that our culture is the best and that no one else’s is. I don’t think that it is something that we try to do but because of the way that we are brought up we just do not understand what is around the world. It is not that we feel that our culture is superior to the others it is just that we don’t take the time to understand how other cultures are. Another thing that Sam was talking about was about Christian invaders and it made me have a mix of emotions I was not sure if I was angry or sad at the way that we treated Muslims. I never actually looked at how the war in Iraq and Afghanistan was brought about. I mean I knew that it was kind of over oil but not to the extent that Sam placed it. These people lived a life about six weeks before war broke out and they really didn’t do harm to the United States. There were a couple people who wanted to harm the United States and we have to defend ourselves and bomb a nation. They really didn’t want to go to war but when people go into their nation they have to defend themselves, of course they would lash out; I would do that same thing. It’s almost sad that president Bush is so needy for oil to start a war over it. I mean it’s just not Bush that wants this oil but there are other leaders that want this oil. When I heard that Obama expanded the war because of oil I was outraged. I thought that he told everyone that he was going to pull out of the war but it seems that he is taking back his word. I just don’t understand we have so much oil in the United States but we refuse to use it. Why are we sending people over to Iraq and Afghanistan and they are dyeing when we have oil reserves in the United States. I just don’t get it. Another thing that I found interesting in the lecture is about Christianity and how we pressure people to follow our religion. We are sending our children to these camps and school to constantly be emerged in God but you have to question are they becoming something that’s like a cult or really learning about God. When you send your child to those schools you expect them to learn about God and the commandments and becoming radicalisms. Overall this almost confuses me because I felt one way about all this before I watched the lecture but now that I viewed this all it make me question the war and are people doing the right thing when it comes to Christianity. It makes you think about are these people in it for God and his ways or creating their own way according to what they think is right. I wish people could just get along without fighting and work together with one common purpose, world peace.
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Mycouchpullsout Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 11:59 pm
06/01/10 Lesson 4 Response
I wish that people could all get along without fighting and work together too, but that is never going to happen. Every single one of us has some potential cultural or ethnic disgrace towards people, I just believe it is human nature. There is not one person out there who has not been influenced by TV or news about other peoples culture. I, myself, even could not believe that I could think in an ethnocentrism state of mind until I watched these lectures. I just think that the only way that people are ever going to take a step towards the right direction is to be honest and forthcoming about cultures that annoy them and then try to understand that culture.
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itsthatguy10 Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 8:18 pm
6/1/2010
The point is that people do not think about why we are at war. If in 2001 one George Bush had said to congress and the American people we are going to war because we need oil, it would not have happened. But when America was attacked by an extremely small minority of Muslim extremist it gave us something to focus on. It accomplishes more to say “they hate our freedom” then to say “we need oil”. And about Obama, he clearly said during the election that he was going to expand the war in Afghanistan and end the Iraq war. Obviously we are still in Iraq but you should not think he was lying because we are still in Afghanistan.
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I found the discussion on Ethnocentrism to be very interesting. The idea was to not solely put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but to actually “see the world primarily through the lens of one’s own culture.” To me, that means to not rationalize things the way you normally would, rather to think just like that person thinks.
As a hunter, I always find it very interesting that many of those who do not condone hunting, actually eat meat. It is very simple to walk into a grocery store and pick up a package of meat to take home to cook and think nothing of where it came from. They fail to consider the “life” that the factory farm raised animal had prior to it’s demise. I find this type of thinking very short sighted and narrow minded.
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I found the slide show from Iraq very interesting. When I think of Iraq, I normally have visions much like the first set of slides presented. I was certainly surprised by the second set of slides showing a “different Iraq” or what Iraq looked like prior to the war. I would have to concur that many of these photos are not unlike pictures that could have been taken in the United States. I was also intrigued by the story of the Iraqi people approaching the American girl and asking her to take their photo so it could be taken back to her family as a gift to them.
The images of the militia member in Baghdad holding the rocket launcher in one hand and the Quran in the other as well as the children holding automatic weapons definitely grabbed my attention. It invokes a myriad of thoughts and feelings from within.
The thought experiment was well done. Initially, I thought it would be difficult to separate myself from my current beliefs. After watching the lecture, Dr. Richards allowed me to assume the role of an Arab Muslim. It is unfortunate that the War is most certainly over oil. This fact is admitted by everyone up to and including the highest office, the presidency.
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I must comment that I was at first skeptical when I saw all of the references to Republican politicians like Bush, McCain and Palin. I was slightly put at ease when the point was made that the Arab Muslims feel that Obama has expanded the war in Afghanistan for oil and to protect the interests of the United States, not to help the people of Afghanistan.
I never really thought about Arab Muslims looking at U.S. soldiers as Christians first and possibly soldiers second. I was also troubled by the video of the soldiers who found the group that was stealing wood. Taking the video on its face, I found no legitimate reason for the soldiers to shoot up the car and subsequently crush it with their tank as the soldiers stood by and laughed.
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aks5248 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:47 am
6/2/10
I'm with you on the different sets of pictures that show the different views of the war. It is absolutely terrifying that the media has that much power in controlling what people do or do not see. It truly shows that a picture says a thousand words and evoke specific feelings. The media has the power to change millions of people's views of any topic. The sad part is the media really doesn't care too much, just as long as they can pull in viewers to make more money off of companies who buy air time to advertise their products. It's sad how capitalism plays some role in the ethnocentric country that we live in.
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06/01/2010 Lesson 4
Ethnocentrism; that is one word I have never heard before I watched this lecture. It all makes sense because a lot of people are faced with ethnocentrism. I cannot even deny that I have never thought in an ethnocentrism state of mind. Why you might ask? Well as soon as Sam said the example about Mexico, I knew that I, along with others, have this type of mind said. I say this only because this summer my family and I are going to Mexico. The first thing I thought of for Mexico was that it is dirty and we are going to die because of the drug cartels. But I was not the only one to think this way. When my girlfriend told her sister that we were all going to Mexico she almost had a heart attack and was telling us that the cartels are bad down there and we are going to die and the United States has put a no vacation ban to Mexico. I just cannot believe that people think like this when a certain area of the world comes up in conversation. I mean I could not even believe I was a part of this until Sam gave the Mexico example but the more I think about it, it makes perfect sense. Weird.
I really do not think people are going to put aside their differences to understand a culture. I believe that there is way too much ignorance for people to be like OK, I want to understand your culture and everything that goes with it. Definitely do not think the people will accept public stoning over here in the United States, but having said that I can understand why this practice is in different culture. I do not understand how people could turn away public stoning over the electric chair. I mean I feel like our ways for death are just as gruesome as public stoning.
I do not think I would name my child after god just because I know that he/she would be scrutinized for the rest of their lives. I know a year or so ago there was a huge debate because some guy named his kids Adolf and Hitler. I mean I do not know what he was thinking because he knew that there was going to be trouble from these names. But on the other hand they are just names. I mean if somebody wants to call there kid Jesus or Stalin of Mussolini then they should do what they want but they will probably end up on CNN.
These pictures of Iraq before the war are absolutely CRAZY. It looks just like the United States and people of the United States. I just cannot believe that we destroyed this country for bitter-sweet reasons. I am astonished that people in Iraq welcomed Sam’s student to take pictures for gifts to bring back to the U.S. I think these pictures really hit home for me on the destruction of the war and how open the Iraqi people are towards Americans.
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Highway308 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:27 am
I concur with much of what you said. I do not think that I have ever even heard the word ethnocentrism prior to this lecture. It makes a lot of sense. We need to not only put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, but also see things the way that that individual does. I do not think that is an easy task. I also agree with your reference to Mexico. I have a lot of the same thoughts when I think of travelling there or know of someone travelling there. I often think of it as dirty and unsafe with issues surrounding the drug trade.
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6/1/2010
The first lecture ended with the question, Why don’t English speakers name their child after Jesus or God? I think it’s a can be simply answered as it is just a difference in our culture. If you look at it deeper then you get into the religiosity of people. My guess is we do not name our kids Jesus is because it does not seem right to us. In Islam they have no qualms with naming their children after the prophet Muhammad. Christianity has no problem with showing images of Jesus but in Islam it is not acceptable to show images of Muhammad. But it was not always this way. In the 16th century it was common for Muslims to create art depicting Muhammad, but now it has become a tradition or an unwritten rule that it is not ok. This all has to do with moral relativism. What is moral and acceptable at one point in time can become completely immoral years later. It can just be summed up as culture and moral relativism.
I find it hard to deal with the fact that we are never going to be not at war for the rest of our history. We covered this a little more in Soc.001 but pretty much as long as we need resources there will be war. As long as we need oil we are going to have soldiers in areas that have oil resources. And it does not help that the majority of people are completely unable to look at the situation from another culture or countries point of view. When most people hear our president, Bush or Obama, use Christian language or imagery most people do not comprehend at all how Muslims in the Middle East can take it as a threat to themselves and their culture. When Bush said “This is a crusade” there were probably people who liked it, people who didn’t and those who didn’t care. Even with the people who thought it was a stupid thing to say may not comprehend exactly how threatening that is. As long as we need resources and can’t or won’t look at the world from the perspective of other cultures, we will always be at war.
I don’t see the meat industry changing either. Our economy thrives on efficiency and mass production. It is only natural that this would be applied to the meat production industry. I’m sure if people were given the choice they would choose naturally grown live stock over factory farmed but there is a problem with that, cost. It cost more to buy organic or naturally grown food. People may like to have natural food but their budget unfortunately outweighs the comfort of animals. Also, if everyone who ate meat in America hunted, then there would be no animals left because their population would not be able to keep up.
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pennstategirl5 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:11 pm
June 2nd 2010 3:11 PM
I agree completely with the reasons you gave as to why Americans don't name their child Jesus. In certain cultures it is okay for people to name their child Jesus because that is what is socially acceptable. My cousin is pregnant but if she named her child Jesus, as a Christian I would laugh and wonder why she thinks her son is worthy of the name Jesus when, in my culture, Jesus is the name of someone who died for us. I could see how naming your child after Jesus would make sense. After all you do name children after people you respect and love, and if you are religious Jesus would definitely be one of those people but in the United States it is definitely not a common occurrence.
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6/1/10 I’m glad that towards the end of the lecture Sam Richards wrote the difference between what a Muslim is and what an Arab is. Not many people notice the different and a lot of people use these terms interchangeably. There were a few things that I disagreed with Sam on during this lecture. I do, however, understand that he was trying to get the class to have a perspective the way that Muslims see people in the United States, but I do not think he was using proper examples. It feels like he was trying to make us feel guilty about seeing them as terrorist, when in fact, they are! Americans…oh wait I mean CHRISTIANS were not the ones who invade different countries and blow up cars, trains, buses, buildings, etc., just because… && Christians are NOT the ones who fly airplanes into the World Trade Center. I am from New York City so this subject gets me annoyed when people try to say that Christians can be compared to the radical Muslims that blow up innocent people and buildings. I do not think that Muslims in Iran and Iraq view Christians like that. I believe they do not like Christians because of the religion itself and I do not think Muslims see Americans as just Christians but just as Americans… I feel that the only reason why Americans see people from Iran and Iraq as Muslim and not just people from those countries, is because they say that the reason why the do suicide bombings, cut soldiers’ heads off that they’ve captured by a small little hand saw, and whatever crazy things that they do, is because of their religion; Islam. Christianity does not tell people to blow up buildings and go off killing innocent people. I am a Christian so I just wished I was there in class and tell Sam what I was thinking throughout the lesson. && I also get sick of teachers that show those weird videos of kids in “Christian boot camps” because it makes the rest of the class, the people who do not really follow Christianity but claim they are (does not make sense), see Christians in that way, makes them think all Christians did that. I never went to a weird “boot camp” school or church like that before in my life, and have never encountered one before. I know Sam was giving out scenarios but what if the Muslims in Iraq and Iran saw videos of Christian soldiers praying to God in a normal manner, and loving Muslims? Like he said in class, he had a student who went to the Middle East and a woman asked her to take her and her kids’ (or whoever else she was with) photo and give it to her family, and not for the family to see how: nice’ Muslims are, and it was not because she had a negative view on America, but just because she wanted to give a gift to her family. What if a good portion of the people in the Middle East watch positive videos on YouTube and not negative ones all the time?
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sillyjuice Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:29 am
I do agree with you that the lecture makes all of us seem guilty about some of the issues. And whether you are Christian or Muslim, it does not give anyone the right to kill a human being through terrorist acts. But what I like about this lecture is that Sam gives us a different perspective that half of us never really sat and thought about. I am not saying that the terrorist acts are justified but it definitely poses the question of how we are ethnocentric as Americans and how people from different cultures or different countries see us. It makes it interesting because it makes it seem that Americans are all about money but then again, are we?
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I think that it’s easy to think your own culture is “better” than other cultures because that is what is comfortable and what makes sense about the way of life. However, I do think it’s important to understand the complexity and importance of other cultures. Language plays an important role in culture and the specific way that people describe or discuss things within their culture are unique to those within that culture. I think that Sam’s example of the bullfight is a great way to explore the various differences between multiple cultures. Many people who are against animal cruelty or hunting possibly would be likely to hate the concept of bullfighting, but for those who grew up with bullfighting as common place would find nothing out of the ordinary in the fight. It is these unique practices within cultures that make them so interesting and although customs such as these may not make sense to everything I think it is important to fully explore and make an honest attempt to understand or gain perspective on why it is these other cultures practice the customs that they do.
I think it’s very interesting to actually consider the fact that Anglo-Saxons tend to forgo naming their children after God or Jesus, when it is such a common practice in other regions of the world. I was speaking with a friend about this prior to moving onto the next lecture and I asked her opinion on the topic. She stated that she feels it is due to Anglo-Saxons being predominately Christian and many could feel as though people would feel that it would be presumptuous to name a child Jesus. We have no other clearly defined reference to Jesus in any other fashion so to name a child that would be inappropriate. We talked further on the issue and although she is not entirely sold on her idea, and nor am I, it would be interesting to discuss it further with someone of another culture, say a family from Mexico, and determine their reasoning. We both feel it may have something to do with honor, but are honestly unsure.
The culture of Arabs and Muslims is honestly one that I am least knowledgeable about. Yes, I know the basics to their culture, the ones that are common knowledge, but overall I have never gone in depth with becoming knowledgeable about their customs, which is something that I hope to do in the future. For much of our society today, it would be hard to envision Iraq as anything aside from what we see in the media today. The pictures Sam showed did show a better side of Iraq that few people have the privilege to see, but without showing those to every single person who has a negative impression of Iraq, it won’t sink in that not all Iraqis are violent, that they can and are in fact very similar to Americans, albeit with different traditions and customs. Now I certainly can’t say that I don’t often think more critically of Iraq than positively and I feel as though the perpetual negative images that are constantly presented don’t help. However, it’s not that I don’t believe there are a countless number of individuals in Iraq that are inherently good and are quite similar to Americans such as myself; it’s just a little disheartening to see and hear of the constant violence present both within the country and by individuals from Iraq as well as other Middle Eastern countries. The sight of the Muslim children with guns, fighting in the militia, is terrifying. Now, there are absolutely other countries in the world that exhibit the same violence and who use children as fighters within their militia, but currently those countries are not the greater threat to our country, and that in itself is what makes the images shown during that video quite terrifying.
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jav5188 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more about the bullfighting as a great example of accepting another person’s culture. Sam chooses a great example because unless you grew up in Spain, watching this custom of bullfighting, animal cruelty would be a response that you would find often about why bullfighting shouldn’t be done. What most people don’t know is that once the bull has died, the Spanish use every part of this bull and don’t let it go to waste. They use the hide, the meat, and even the organs for things such as food and clothing. Overall, I feel that unless you personally go to these places, experience their culture, then you can’t judge the things that they find acceptable.
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Dr. Richard's lecture on ethnocentrism and the Christian Invaders was extremely informative and educating. When he began to discuss the lecture on xenophobia, it made me go back to the quote that was first introduced to us on the Why We Hate,” article. “We may not admit it, but we are plagued with xenophobic tendencies. Our hidden prejudices run so deep, we are quick to judge, fear, and hate the unknown.” This quote made so much sense to me, it was just the word xenophobia that confused me, and I had no clear meaning of it until now. It is the fear of other cultures. I thought the slide on the man in the truck holding a gun was funny. This is true with everyone, no matter what. We can have our reasons to suspect that other cultures are different and therefore we hold our beliefs as so. That word, fear, is what we tend to hold on to, and we tend to know little about a person or their cultural beliefs. But we still judge. The lecture on
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Christian Invaders hit me the hardest. When Dr. Richards asked, “What do you know about Arabs or Muslims?” The only thing I could think of were the negative thoughts I had in mind, but thankfully those thoughts were cleared. The pictures that Robin had showed the better side of things, and how people actually lives there. We truly need to understand other cultures and why they do what they do. We cannot just make assumptions based on what we think we know, when really, we are not in that person’s shoes. There are a variety of cultures that many feel that are better than others, and that we are just supposed to socially accept that, when really, that should not be the case. How can one group say they are better than the other? Many will argue, “because we can” but it’s so easy to think of ourselves before thinking of others.
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6/1
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6/2/10
Lesson 4
I was lucky enough to have taken the Soc 001 class from Sam last semester. He did a slightly watered down version of the Christian Invaders lecture for us. Needless to say, it was still as impactful after watching the lecture for the second time. I believe that ethnocentrism is probably one of the biggest factors to why there is so much hate in the world. Here is what I have thought of about the deal of ethnocentrism so far. Everyone wants to be the superior more knowledgeable group or individual of people than the others. A lot of us want to be the best and most competitive. This happens individually and within groups that we have associated ourselves with. I think it is easier to associate with a superior group rather than be the superior individual because it is easier to be apart of something then be something yourself. With that in mind, we support and push for the group that we have joined. We think of our group as being the best, because who wants to be apart of a group that is below average? Where can one show pride in a group that is in 8th place? The point that I have thought about even before this lecture is we always want to claim the number one title; the frightening part is that it applies to all groups that are similar. Countries, baseball teams, science Olympiad, Greek week. We have this competition between similar groups to be the best. This is exactly what Sam was talking about when he brought up the Michigan vs. Penn St. issue last week.
This is only one main thing that I have thought about ethnocentrism and how it forms within the world we live in. Of course after seeing the new lectures I know that it is also based on not even knowing or taking time to consider the “other groups” point of view. This makes me wonder whether or not Ohio state fans have similar or different points of views on football or any other of their sports. Do they think Penn St. has any weird traditions? We wouldn’t really know unless we spent a great deal of time attending Ohio State and watching one of their football games. But which of us Penn St. students wants to take the time and money to learn about another culture when we are fine with ours? If people are too lazy to learn about other cultures, then they should not be able to make judgments about other people. But we read and watch what the media gives to us about cultures as Sam mentioned. It’s sad that we only see half of the story. But what can we do about it? The media puts out stories that will get the most watchers that will make them the most money.
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Has anyone seen the Kat Williams skit where he talks about the war in Iraq? He states how the government doesn’t even give the people they are fighting real names as to down play the fact they are real people. He states things like “what the hell is an insurgent, I don’t have any insurgent friends or family” he doesn’t know what that they are so he makes jokes saying things like “yea kill them insurgents!” In the comedy show it was funny but the sad part is that this is really what happens in real life. Even in the lectures it shows that when you cannot directly identify with people it is harder to see them in the same light that you see yourself. In America if there were a hostage situation the main concern is to make sure that the hostages are not harmed. If it were 29 people held up by one man no matter how risky the situation they would do everything in their power to get them all out safely. Why don’t the same rules apply to the civilians in Iraq? They were clearly civilians, so it is crazy for them to calculate the amount of acceptable death rates when it is obviously wrong. What makes it worse is that they are not fighting the Iraqi army, they are fighting the Iraqi people. They don’t have tanks, and special electronic devices, I don’t think they have half the resources that America has. It even showed in the lectures their army even have kids as young as 10, can that even be considered a fair fight? There are so many “wars” on all different types of issues how can this ever be resolved, unless the American government ends the war. I believe that the American government will not do this because of pride. In the year 2010 it is not that easy to sweep your wrong doings under the rug and erase them in history. Many people formulate the way they feel about political issues off of someone else’s political views, especially someone who they would believe to be more knowledgeable then them in that area. Many do not care enough to evaluate the situations that are being debated and really formulate their own opinions. The situation in Iraq is very sad and I hope that it is able to improve. There is obvious tension between the Iraqi people and the American people. If there were a better understanding between both people there may have been a better consideration and caring for one another. People are afraid of what they do not know, and the distorted depictions of both people make it even harder to understand the opposing side.
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MDD1982 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Blog Response for Grade. 2 June 2010 @ 0858.
Comparing war to a hostage situation is a mistake. The two are gravely different situations. You can't possibly be someone who has gone on convoys in the war, right? And I don't mean any of this as mean or anything other than factual and experience. Truly. While the loss of civilian life during a time of war is tragic it is also inevitable. While military intelligence is highly skilled, it is like anything else, flawed. The military does not claim to be perfect or a well-oiled machine; that is what the public demands of it when they've no experience living it. The American military is not fighting the Iraq Army because they are training the Iraq Army. Their army, like their dictator, was corrupt and taking from them the very liberties you and I have. The US dismantled that "army" and created a new one and trained them in proficient military tactics so they can defend their country and their new-found democracy. You are correct, they are fighting civilians but they are not civilians like you who are just walking aimlessly down the streets of Baghdad minding their own business. These are civilians who are driven by hatred and who acquire their weapons to injure and kill the troops – war is not about fairness. The US, and no country, does not go to the enemy and ask them if they have sufficient military gear before pursuing a war. And yes, it is a fair fight in regards to the children who are taught to be martyrs and to kill US troops. Enemies have no age, color, religion, or sex – enemies are enemies. If a child was pointing a gun in your face, their finger inching closer to the trigger, you would lay your gun down and tell yourself to die because it is a child? No, nobody would – you would protect and defend yourself. And it is not an Iraqi children in the Iraqi Army; there are insurgent camps…camps where they take men, women, and children and teach them how to properly shoot weapons and they recruit them to blow themselves us in the name of "Allah."
The US needs to end the war? I don't think people realize the devastation that would cause. To admit, and it would be an admittance, of defeat to a country and enemy that so freely attacked the US would leave our country open to so much more ruin. So many have an opinion on the US Military and their rights in being there or not being there but the issue with that is this (to me that is)…most of these are from people who do not understand the military and have not served in it. If so, they would understand that MOST citizens join the military to better their lives, their family, and to serve their country not to kill people. What they also fail to realize is that troops don't wake up and say "okay, think I'll go to Iraq today and kill a bunch of people," their Commander in Chief (the President of the United States) orders them to.
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Jevit335 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:13 pm
6/2/10 I have actually seen the Kat Williams skit that you are talking about. I would have never thought to correlate the lecture with the skit, but after reading your blog it makes sense that you would do so. I agree that as your watching the skit you find yourself laughing because it is funny but in reality it is not funny and this lecture proved that. I agree that it is wrong to fight the Iraqi people because they do not have any of the proper materials to even protect themselves. I also think that the first attempt to end the war would be a better understanding on both ends, the United States and Iraq.
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Every culture should be admired for their differences because what is seen as bad to you may be acceptable somewhere else. It all boils down to identity issues and how many just want to fit in and consider themselves the best. There is the idea that it is difficult for many to understand and accept cultural beliefs. That topic on human stoning was just shocking, but then again it makes you think about how the United States accepts the death penalty and other methods of human torture. It’s just a long process to think about. The key word here is understanding. There is so much being thrown at us in regards to other cultures and beliefs, and yet we still hold on to our own understandings and beliefs. It’s that easy for us to do, and yet hard to do the opposite.
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Blog Comment for Grade for Ethnocentrism; 2 June 2010 0825.
Ethnocentrism Lecture One: This lecture I thought was pretty interesting. I knew of people being afraid of other cultures but didn't know it had an actual word attached to it and was an actual "thing." I, personally, can understand ethnocentrism – I would venture to say that it would take the most open minded people (sociologists, lol) to not be intimidated or confused or put off by the practices in other cultures, especially if you are taught your whole life that yours is the "correct" culture. I am not afraid of other cultures, I just don't understand them and I choose not to. I think I fear more of understanding the odd ways. For example, I would worry about myself if I could put logic to making woman second class citizens. I don't want to see or understand that and that is probably because I was brought up to a very strong and independent woman. The part in the lecture where Dr. Richards discusses the taboo that is naming your child "Jesus." I have always thought that myself, what is wrong with that? Most people who name their children after someone is because of their love or care for someone, so why do people treat it as if it is blasphemy?
Christian Invaders Lecture Two: WOW. All I can say about that lecture is WOW. It was one that was really hard for me to sit through, but I will save those thoughts for my internal dialogue. I did find it interesting that Dr. Richards tried to have every student think as if they are in the minds of the Arab Muslims and what I also find interesting was the students ability to do so. I tried. At parts, I could tell some culture relativism was going on with me BUT at the end of it all, it didn't really make me want to be more open-minded. I don't know what my thoughts are, exactly. I was really disturbed at the Christian youth video. I couldn't really make if they were trying to turn our youth into martyrs like they do in the Middle East but it sure seemed that way. I don't think the video was long enough for me to get a full vision on it but it was disturbing. Is that xenophobia? Another part that kind of got my goat was when Dr. Richards was asking the students if they could join the radicals on the front lines and kill US troops because they've been fed propaganda to believe a Christian military is coming to steal all their resources or is stealing their resources. I remember him asking the one student who said s/he wouldn't because they didn't want to die. It almost seemed like a critique of s/he because she wanted to "lay low" and "not die." Well, my question from that would be couldn't you say the exact same thing about Americans who "lay low" and do nothing to protect and defend their country and their freedoms? More US Americans are NOT in a military capacity than are. I suppose what was most disturbing was how many American's raised their hands that they would join the front line radicals in the Middle East but they obviously wont join the US Military? Does no body feel anger for the 9/11 attacks? Does no body feel anger for the unprovoked beheading of US Journalists? I can understand the anger of citizens over political agendas…plenty of US Citizens are angered over the US political agendas but what are these citizens doing? Nothing. Why do we have to remove our blinders to understand US hatred when they are unwilling to do the same? I get the whole "hate breeds hate" mentality and while there is truth to that, I think you have to also be cognizant of the fact that some worlds just cannot merge together. I do agree that though they may be different and we may not agree with or understand them, we just try to live peacefully but I also think people are naive if they think war is preventable. It isn't. There will always be someone in power, whether US or Middle East, who wants to dominate and control and thinks their way is the best way. The most we can do is protect and defend what we know to be our culture and our world. As a whole, I thought the lectures (as usual) were great I just don't know that I could switch my frame of mind, especially being as deep in the military as I am.
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6/2/10-Lesson 4
Well, another week and another great lecture. During the first lecture on Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism, I remembered one gleaming past instance of it from my childhood about twelve years ago. In which, we were having a party at my family's home and many close friends were over. I remember playing with a friend of the family who was about my age at the time (12 or 13) and I was talking about my football team as I had been playing pee wee football for years at this point, and I had asked if he wanted to throw the ball around. He mistook what I said as meaning soccer, I was floored by his “misconception” and deemed him in my mind as “stupid” and laughed that he called soccer football. I then went to my mother and laughed basically calling him an idiot to her, then she turned it around on me to my surprised, “Sweetie, This is the only place in the world where football is called football throughout the world football is known as soccer”. Through my own ethnocentricities and cultural relativism I turned out to be the wrong one. And in my tiny town and through my tiny world I had no idea that I was in fact wrong and the one who has the misconception.
As for hunting being ethical, I completely agree and as I am sure other students have stated I would love to buy free range grass fed meat because the life that factory farmed meats live is dispicable. My father for example is an expert duck hunter and eats whatever he kills in an outing, it is completely respectable, he respects the beauty and nature of the animal as well as the landscape. When duck hunting you can sit for hours at a time, still, just waiting for the flock to come appreciating the nature around you.
The second lecture on christian invaders was great, I had actually thought about it many times myself. I to do not believe what the insurgents are doing is acceptable by any means whatsoever, yet I do understand why they are doing it. For example, I always use the Bear and the honey as an example. It is widely known in nature that bears have an affinity for honey. They will find a nest and do whatever is in their power to extract the honey combs from the hive. However, the hive is a home to bees and when the bear is trying to take their home, and resource away, they try to protect it and start stinging the bear trying to defend their hive i.e. homeland. The acceptance of number of civilian casualties in bombing raids was quite a shock, I had no idea they put a limit on numbers, and why 29? why not 28? or 30? Maybe they just picked a random number? I recently read yesterday that coalition forces led a missile attack a few days ago and apparently killed the number 3 man in command of the Taliban, Mustafa al-Yazid, in Afghanistan. According to media outlets and the military this is a monstrous crippling blow to the terrorist infrastructure since the war in Afghanistan began. This “achievement” however came at a cost. His family, If I remember correctly the missile strike killed his wife, three daughters, a grand child, and reportedly other men women and children. If anyone wishes to watch a great cheesy 80's film that might give you an idea of Dr. Richards means when trying to put us in their shoes, watch RED DAWN w/ Patrick Swayze and an all-star 80's cast.
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Lesson 4: Ethnocentrism
I truly understand where Dr. Richards was going with the talk on ethnocentrism and whether or not we would kill an animal. I personally lived ten minutes outside New York City when I was younger, up until the fifth grade. There were virtually no farms within an hour. Then, after 9/11, we packed everything up and moved away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and now live ten minutes from University Park where I have one neighbor and am surrounded by cornfields. I have a barn with seven alpacas and four cows. We use these cows strictly for slaughtering purposes. I know this sounds terrible but we raise them for two years, bring them to the butcher and he gets meat from two cows and we get meat from two cows. I know this is far from what people in or near cities do, but it provides my family with at least a year’s worth of meat and this is how a lot of people in my area get their meat.
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The one thing I didn’t agree with in the Ethnocentrism lecture though is the point he was trying to make with the difference between stoning a person and getting taken by old sparky. I feel that if the person does something wrong that they deserve the punishment, I don’t care if the burn, if the go through extreme pain, or even if it takes them an hour to die. If you do something, like murder someone, you deserve to suffer, you deserve to die painfully.
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As for part two of the lecture, Sam really got my thinking. It was hard to put myself in someone else’s shoes but having a friend who sees these bombing and American troops on a daily basis helps. I have talked to him multiple times about his experiences and he has told me nothing but good things about the troops over there. He has also told me that the majority of the bombings and civilian deaths have come from insurgents and Muslim radicals. The overall views I have gotten from the videos that were shown during lecture though have made me think. Especially when Sam changes the view to a Pennsylvanian who is having the Chinese invade their homeland for coal. The overall view that this gives me, is the same that the insurgents are seeing over there. If someone was invading my homeland strictly for the purpose of having and taking a natural resource, I would be not only furious but frustrated and angry. I would be a part of that militia that would fight against these invaders. The videos that were shown though of American radical Christians though, I felt were comical. The video Jesus Camp was one of the more comical ones due to the fact that these children were trying to become “warriors” for Jesus.
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The main theme of this lesson I think is that you shouldn’t judge anyone until you walk a mile in their shoes. I never really understood the meaning of ethnocentrism until it was given at the beginning of the lecture and explained throughout. I realized that when you really think about it many people in America believe the three things that lead to ethnocentrism. Many Americans really believe that the American culture is the only way to live and not many open their eyes and see the complexity of other cultures.
I found it very interesting that many cultures other than American culture name their children after their cultural God. When Dr. Richards spoke to the kid Jesus, we learned that he doesn’t get called by his first name but his middle as did his father and grandfather. I couldn’t imagine not going by my first name. I wonder if that is the same in other cultures.
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The most interesting lecture I have seen so far is the one about Christian Invaders. This lecture was so interesting to me. This completely made me look at things in a new perspective. First, I really couldn’t believe the difference in the pictures before and after the war started. The pictures of post-war were all solemn and dark. It made it seem like everyone there was poor and radical. The pictures of pre-war were so “normal.” Families were shown happy and loving. The marriage photo looked like it could have been taken here in America. I couldn’t believe that families wanted their picture taken and given as a gift to an American family. People in America would never do such a thing. In the picture of the students celebrating University day, you would have thought that it was taken in a non-war country. The girls seemed happy unlike most of the other pictures shown of the area where the war is taking place.
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MDD1982 Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:05 am
One thing I did want to say in my post but forget – glad I read your post – was about those photos. I totally grasp the comparing a before and after with regards to the war and the city BUT is it fair to compare two separate sets of pictures? The pictures before were not the same scenes as the after, so how can they be compared? It seems like apples and oranges to me. It would be like taking pictures of Washington D.C. before the war and then comparing it to pictures of Baltimore, MD after the war…how is that accurate?
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The video by David Horowitz really did scare me. I didn’t know there were that many bombings that took place. The video really showed the Jihad in a dark light. It portrayed the Jihad as America-haters and that nothing would stop them to take over the world and kill anyone who got in their way. It was an interesting video to say the least.
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When Dr. Richards asked the class to think of yourself as a middle easterner, I took it seriously. I really tried to think that way and kept that in mind as he asked questions. Everything he said made sense such as having the thought that the only reason Americans invaded the territory was because there was a natural resource there that they needed. And after watching the news and seeing how the American people are portrayed, I could understand why they were getting angry and hostile. I would have too. As he went on and showed the videos that people in the Middle East see, I was beginning to really understand why they don’t like Americans.
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brumgmt Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:56 am
What I find very interesting is how people actually can listen to what the government said when it tried to justify the need for war in the Middle East. I heard many politicians say the need to go for war would benefit the people of Iraq and put them on a path to democracy. Did it ever occur to these politicians that what the United States wants for Iraq and what the Iraqis want may be two different things? Furthermore, it is that ethnocentric view that leads many Americans to think that our way of life should be everyone’s way of life. If other countries wanted to come invade the US and turn our culture into their culture, how would we feel? Wouldn’t we feel angry at them and want to fight back? Wouldn’t it be a nerve of them to come into our country to tell us what is right and how we should function as a society? It’s no different with the Iraqis and other people of Middle Eastern descent who just want us to leave their countries.
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I couldn’t believe that the American soldiers ran over that man’s car because they caught them trying to steal wood. When the soldier said they were going to crush the car, I really didn’t think they were going to crush the car with the tank. That man now has no income for his family because he was a taxi driver. And I also couldn’t believe how the tank knocked the car off the road. But like Dr. Richards said imagine how the American soldiers feel. They are angry over there, not knowing what could happen day to day or even hour to hour. I have friends and family in the military and it is not easy for them at all. I can’t imagine what that would be like.
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I have seen the documentary about what they call Jesus Camps, where they teach the children about God and pretty much train them to become “warriors for Jesus.” I found this documentary very disturbing. It’s really one of the most disturbing things I have seen. But if someone from the Middle East watched this they would see American children being trained to become warriors and they know what warriors do. They kill innocent people and invade their land for oil.
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At the end of the lecture when Dr. Richards said he understands why the Middle Easterners would want to kill and fight back against the American soldiers and dislike our American leaders. Dr. Richards made me understand as well. By watching all the clips and seeing the world through a new set of eyes, I understand. I always said I never would understand, but now I do. I am so glad I decided to sign up for this class.
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6/2/10
Going into lesson 4, I had heard the term “ethnocentrism” many times before but did not have a great understanding of the word. I found it interesting to learn this word in the context of this class. Also, I had thought that ethnocentrism was very similar to xenophobia, but I found out through this lesson that it was not. When referring to these terms, it is hard for me to completely understand how an individual could view other cultures in such a negative way. Obviously, I have my own unnecessary skepticisms about other cultures but I will always view other parts of the world and other cultures with an open mind. As Dr. Richards mentioned, you cannot fully understand a culture until you live inside of that culture. I had never really thought about the fact that no Anglos name their children Jesus. I found it interesting when Dr. Richards spoke to his student whose name is Jesus, but he nor his father or grandfather actually go by that name. Part 2 of lesson 4 left me with somewhat of an uneasy feeling. Watching the terrorism awareness video truly scared me and left my mind wondering. Some of the pictures shown in the lecture caught my attention, especially the one of the children carrying guns. It just goes to show how different of a society it is. When Dr. Richards told his class that from this point on they needed to view themselves as Aram Muslims in the Middle East, I thought that was a good technique to thoroughly engage his students. Viewing the lecture with this different outlook allowed a better understanding of where the Muslims are coming from in this situation with the war. As Dr. Richards mentioned, if those in Iraq only see such videos that he showed us and experience what they do on a daily basis, it is obvious that they would get angry and mad. Also, it is apparent that they would not focus on the kindness of the US military soldiers, even though their kindness is evident to some residents. One video in particular that amazed me was the video where the US tank completely crushed the civilian’s car because he stole wood. Honestly, what was the big deal? Was that necessary to go to such extremes? I was also shocked by the video of young kids who are training to be warriors to Jesus. I personally do not feel that children at such a young age should be preaching to the extent that they were in that video. In reality, most of them are probably too young to even understand what is really the issue. It also disturbed me that such a highly ranked official would say that “My God is a real God” and that the Muslim God is not real.
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This week’s lecture made me take into account some things in my daily life and it made me wonder. The first thing I wondered about is exactly what ethnocentrism is. After giving the definition, Sam gave an example of going to Mexico. He said that if a person says “I’m not going to Mexico because the people are weird,” they are being ethnocentric. He also made a point that people don’t go because they think they are going to get shot or killed. This made me take into account how I view things. Before an example was even given, I thought of Mexico. I thought to myself would I ever go to Mexico and I said no. My reason for that is because I have heard a lot of things, mostly negative, concerning Mexico. Now obviously it depends on what part of Mexico you go to because you always see a vacation spot in Mexico that is beautiful but you also see the negative side of Mexico which does include a lot of things concerning drugs and violence and illegal business.
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Wednesday, June Second, 2010
We cannot accept foreign cultural actions unless we ourselves can fully immerse ourselves in the culture where those practices come from, when we do this we realize all the little nuances that we may not have seen before in our narrow minded way of looking at other cultural practices. I feel this is one of the more important pieces of the lecture in tying in with race relations as essentially the entire concept of race relations is more or less about cultural relations and the clash of very seemingly different cultures. If neither cultural group is willing to put on the other’s shoes then a negative experience occurs and progress never can be made. Of course, Sam does bring up the good point about people having to draw the line somewhere and I believe this should be done when the society in question is less technologically advanced and may be performing a practice that in fact is now know to be harmful in society and good judgment must be used, although I don’t personally believe that any one culture has the ultimate authority on this. One example could be how the Catholic Church, having leaders who live in fairly modernized and technologically advanced societies, does not believe in contraceptives or their effectiveness. This however being untrue as modern medicine leaders would certainly say that they are very effective, the old cultural practices of the Catholic Church (essentially what the pope declares) may slowly start to become outdated and looked at as backwards when viewed through the lens of new medical technology.
I really enjoyed the Christian invaders lecture although I feel the one I attended this past spring semester was more thorough…I loved the two thought experiments Sam used to put us into the alternative perspectives. The one where we imagined ourselves as being subject to china taking our coal from Pennsylvania must have really hit him for a lot of pro-war people from western P.A. who never thought of it from this new point of view. I know I would be joining a militia group with my friends if my liberties were being directly threatened by a foreign military presence in my country, I feel that would almost be a right as an American, to protect what we have at all costs. And yet we may say this, but still look at suicide bombers as having this horrible stigma and view radical Muslims blowing themselves up as barbaric. How can we say this when at the same time in the dominant American religion, Christianity, martyrdom is a huge concept and heroes are made of the same people who are essentially killing themselves to take out a few of the enemy. It is simply the fact that suicide bombers and martyr heroes are exactly the same; it all depends on whose side you are on.
The part I felt that was very eye opening was the whole YouTube phenomenon. It’s through the realization that young people in the middle east are very similar to the young people here, they have television and the internet, and they use YouTube. There is a lot of misinformation spread through the internet and people often only get one side of the story, or only bits and pieces of events. Neither side in a wart sees the enemy saying goodbye to their families who they would do anything for quite possibly the last time. These sympathetic stories are never seen by the “enemy”. The only things seen of the opposing side in a war on the internet are the videos that make the “enemy” seem cruel, or inhumane.
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I hear things on the news about not only Mexico but other places outside of the country that may be beautiful in one aspect but have a dark and deadly side to them also. This made me wonder if my reasoning is ethnocentric. I would go to Mexico if I never heard or saw all of the bad stuff on the news but it makes me wonder am I generalizing most of Mexico and Mexicans to produce an ethnocentric opinion or view of the place.
The other thing I looked at that made me think was the slide about names. First, posing the question of if you would name your child after a God, really made me wonder why a lot of people have not gone that far or why it isn’t even considered sometimes when naming a child.
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kdh151 Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:53 pm
My fiance is taking a trip to Tijuana next Friday for her Women of Vision group. When we were discussing it at the dinner table our 13 year old immediately got uneasy. I do have to admit he watches the news too much and is a worrier. He tried to talk her out of it and just stay home. He also asked if I would go with her to "protect" her. Recently in the news in Southern California we hear of people who have been abducted in Mexico so we do not initially think of why she is going there; she is going to schools in poor areas for a day and is meeting the little girl that we sponsor. The people in this area are in need and we let media make our minds up for us. Makes me a bit sick.
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sioux2010 Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:00 am
I think that that is ethnocentrism. I have experienced the same thing in my travels to different areas. It is usually the first thing you see about a country or city that sticks with you and that’s how you perceive that country or city whenever you first think about it or hear the name. It does kind of make you generalize what you hear about the country to the country as a whole. And it is hard to not do that with the first thing that you hear. But we all just have to realize that we cannot only focus on one aspect of the country but we have to think about everything together.
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Some names I see all the time such as Abraham and Muhammed. Other names I see in a specific culture and I wonder why that name hasn’t been used elsewhere. For example, take the name Jesus. The man in the lecture said it the Spanish way and he said he feels weird being called Jesus so he uses his middle name. I found this interesting because when I look at a person of Hispanic or Spanish decent, if their name is Jesus and they say it the Spanish or Hispanic way, I do not find it weird at all and I do not think twice about it simply because it is related, in my eyes, to their culture. If someone who was of a different background used the name Jesus and said it the way the Bible says it, I would look twice at that and wonder if they were really going for the Bible Jesus. It is interesting that I do not pose the same question for people of Spanish or Hispanic background.
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2Jun10 13:35
The term ethnocentrism is one that I have heard many, many times. I have witnessed people that I called "friends" display the worst forms of ethnocentrism. To the point where I was embarrassed to be their friends anymore. And it didn't matter that I made the effort to explain to these "friends" anything, I was just wrong for being sympathetic. It would drive me nuts that I socialized with people that were so hell bent on their ideas were the right way, I simply stopped talking to them. They would text and email and ask why I refused to simply acknowledge their existence. It has even occurred during the last 10 years that I have served in the US Army. I had a lieutenant that had come back from a tour in Iraq and we used to get into heated debates over Islam. He insisted that part of the Seven Pillars of Islam was that Americans were pigs and infidels and should be murdered, yet this lieutenant was NOT fluent in Arabic. He had no clue about Islam, but was essentially brain washed by the media, maybe by some briefings he had or gave that all Muslims were evil. After I certain point, I looked at him and said you are a moron. It is no wonder radical Muslims hate us, you are a perfect example of the stereotype they have developed to get others to join their group and fight. Unfortunately, many soldiers I have served with and have gone to Iraq (at the beginning of the invasion) (I have yet to be deployed) and come back with this attitude. It is a sad state the our service members are being influenced. Don't misunderstand, I am not saying that all service members have this attitude, I am just using my experience thus far. The video of the tankers crushing the Iraqi car is a perfect example of how that can be used by radical Muslims to continue to stereotype American soldiers.
The media in US also continues to perpetuate the stereotype of Islam by deliberately editing out the positive things that US servicemen are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are brigades of soldiers that are attempting to fix the infra structure of both Iraq and Afghanistan. They are trying to change the agriculture of Afghanistan from that of the highly profitable opium fields, to ones that can feed and clothe their families and build the economy. In Iraq, Iraqi citizens go to the US military hospitals, battalion aid stations, and even the medics to get medical aid that has collapsed because of the conflict ( it is not officially a war because our Congress has not declared war on any nation). There are many examples of US service members doing many positive things to aid both Iraq and Afghanistan, but our news media chooses not to show this on the evening news. The US media has focused on the death of American service members, but have completely neglected the Iraq or Afghani citizens that have died along side the American service members.
I am the farthest thing from anti-American. I love my country and would have not enlisted to protect it. I just have a huge issue with how the US doesn't make a conscious effort to change the stereotype that radical Muslims have developed to recruit more radical Muslims to their cause. World peace will never happen, but if people at the very least take a moment to make an effort to understand others, our world would be a much better place.
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Buddyruse21 Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 3:09 am
I think that you’ve hit something really big when you mention the media. The media doesn’t realize how much power it has, and we are careless with what we will do in search of high ratings. We’re always trying to be the best thing on the television. This means that if we have 15 stories of positive images in Iraq and 1 really gory image of a soldier torturing prisoners or an interview with a prisoner in Guantanamo telling of how horrible we are, then they are going to pick the juicy stories that will shock the viewers. We are affected by the media without even knowing it, and the power jumps across nations’ borders as well. This projects an image that we really shouldn’t have. I think that’s a source to the problems we mentioned in class.
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