Last week, we watched a documentary about Orientalism,
followed by a clip of The Colbert Report. The main topic, of course, was how most
people in the West fail to actually understand what it means to be from the
Middle East, basing their ideas on movies or books that portray Easterners
rather stereotypically. America prides
itself for being a “melting pot” but yet, its population is often not aware of
what it means to not live in America, or even of other cultures’ customs. As in the Oklahoma bombing, everyone is quick
to draw conclusions on evidence that may or may not exist, simply because it
fits the beliefs that most people hold.
We fight wars to spread ideals, to spread democracy, and to let others
know that there exists a different reality from what they live in. However, a majority of our population lives
in ignorance of what is different, and no war is waged to change that. Cultural understanding, in my opinion, is the
first step toward world peace, because it shows others that we are indeed
capable of living amongst diverse people and are able to cooperate with
them. There shouldn’t be any “us” or
“them”. We are all human beings, with
fears and dreams, no matter if we live in West or in the Middle East. Not all Arabs are terrorists nor fly on magic
carpets. They go on about their day just
like we do, and we need to begin educating people in this matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment