Suppose you become President of your country, what will you do about the relationship between Muslims and Westerners? What is the distance between reality and your future wishes?
If I were President I certainly wouldn't be able to control peoples' personal opinions about Muslims. However, I would urge the entertainment industry to reflect on how damaging stereotypes and caractures can be. For decades, Afro-Americans were victims of unfair ethnic stereotyping in popular media (Hollywood) and only in the past couple of decades has that image begun to change. Bearing this in mind, I would try to create a national dialogue to pressure the entertainment industry to reflect more on how Muslims are portrayed on TV, in movies, etc.... To a certain extent this is already happening but we haven't done enough. Having said this, I would expect certain societies in the Muslim world to do the same regarding Westerners and, especially, Jews.
If I were president, I would push American oil companies to return power over oil resources to the countries they belong too. Then I would send special advisers to those countries to help build the infrastructure of those nations (hospitals, schools, roads, high-speed rail, etc). I would also invest a lot more money in student and teacher exchange programs like the Peace Corps, the English Language Fellow program and Fulbright. My goal would be to invest most of the money America spends on the military on education and cultural exchange. Finally, I would pressure the media to tell the truth about Islam and get help from leaders of Middle Eastern countries and leaders in the Muslim faith to help American's understand the culture and religion.
Last night, I watched "The Kingdom of Heaven". This movie shows brilliantly that both sides have greedy people. And the irony is that their excuse is the same "God wills it." To me, the Crusades, the wars over petrol, 9/11 attacks as jihad in the name of Allah are the same. If you want to prove that something has been done against humanity, get involved with politics, write a novel, make a movie, start a campaign with demonstrations, use the internet to tell the truth like Arab Spring. You want to go to Heaven, it is fine, but do not kill ordinary people on their way home or to work and do not exploit undeveloped countries' resources for your luxury. Respect each other, try to understand that there are other places and life styles based on different perspectives behind your world.Not everybody has to suit your own values. There is no other planets, at the very least, to live on. Therefore, tolerate differences. Religiosity and fundamentalism are problems, not religions. Islam says "peace", Christianity says "love". Where is this love and this peace, for God's sake? One cannot find peace without love. So, instead of blaming, alienating one another, listen to each other with respect since holly things are holly for their believers no matter what. Create empathy. You want respect for your values, the other side wants the same too. So, if I were the president, I would say " All human beings are created equally. As long as you work and fight for the peace in this country and the world no matter what religion you have, God bless you all."
One more thing, I am from Istanbul, Turkey. Now, I live, work and study as a translator /interpreter/language tutor in the UK. Nowadays, I'm experiencing the feelings of being an outsider. Two weeks ago, I attended a workshop for interpreting business. We were 8 women, Russian, Argentinian, Argentinian/Armenian, Portuguese, Polish, English, Croatian, and Turkish, me. I was the only one who is doing a PhD. The teacher asked a simple question "What would you do if you were assigned to a prostate disease patient?" Everybody looked at each other, then I said "I would do my job and be scientific. Disease is disease." My colleagues were a bit surprised with my answer. Then, during lunch, I had a bacon sandwich, which was delicious by the way, had a chat with the Polish interpreter about various kinds of wines. I guess my actions led the way, because,out of the blue ,the Argentinian interpreter told us that she was an Armenian descendant and her grand parents escaped from Turkey right after her grand uncle and his son had been killed by Ottoman soldiers. Imagine me, everybody was looking at me because I had been talked about Turkish culture during the morning session. I asked "Armenian Genocide, is it true?" she said "yes". Then, I said "I apologize on behalf of my country. We, Turks,have a tendency to boast about the great Ottoman Empire, and we have a common history. But, your part of history was so sad." She was shocked and moved. The others were surprised. But, there was a relief in the room as though an invisible wall was gone. That invisible wall is our prejudices coming from a long history between societies. We still carry the heavy burden on our heads, and let it blind us. Although the culture in which an individual grows has an impact on them, every individual has the potential to go beyond their culture and be a human, not Turk, not American, not British, not Cristian, not Muslim, not Jew. Only a human being. If there is no real interaction,we just play our roles, and nothing changes when we get together, what's the point of intercultural communications? So, if I were president, I would keep this in my mind as a main principle of governing.
That's a pretty broad but good question.
ReplyDeleteIf I were President I certainly wouldn't be able to control peoples' personal opinions about Muslims. However, I would urge the entertainment industry to reflect on how damaging stereotypes and caractures can be. For decades, Afro-Americans were victims of unfair ethnic stereotyping in popular media (Hollywood) and only in the past couple of decades has that image begun to change.
Bearing this in mind, I would try to create a national dialogue to pressure the entertainment industry to reflect more on how Muslims are portrayed on TV, in movies, etc.... To a certain extent this is already happening but we haven't done enough.
Having said this, I would expect certain societies in the Muslim world to do the same regarding Westerners and, especially, Jews.
Philip Lynch
ELF Dominican Republic
If I were president, I would push American oil companies to return power over oil resources to the countries they belong too. Then I would send special advisers to those countries to help build the infrastructure of those nations (hospitals, schools, roads, high-speed rail, etc). I would also invest a lot more money in student and teacher exchange programs like the Peace Corps, the English Language Fellow program and Fulbright. My goal would be to invest most of the money America spends on the military on education and cultural exchange.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I would pressure the media to tell the truth about Islam and get help from leaders of Middle Eastern countries and leaders in the Muslim faith to help American's understand the culture and religion.
Last night, I watched "The Kingdom of Heaven". This movie shows brilliantly that both sides have greedy people. And the irony is that their excuse is the same "God wills it." To me, the Crusades, the wars over petrol, 9/11 attacks as jihad in the name of Allah are the same. If you want to prove that something has been done against humanity, get involved with politics, write a novel, make a movie, start a campaign with demonstrations, use the internet to tell the truth like Arab Spring. You want to go to Heaven, it is fine, but do not kill ordinary people on their way home or to work and do not exploit undeveloped countries' resources for your luxury. Respect each other, try to understand that there are other places and life styles based on different perspectives behind your world.Not everybody has to suit your own values. There is no other planets, at the very least, to live on. Therefore, tolerate differences. Religiosity and fundamentalism are problems, not religions. Islam says "peace", Christianity says "love". Where is this love and this peace, for God's sake? One cannot find peace without love. So, instead of blaming, alienating one another, listen to each other with respect since holly things are holly for their believers no matter what. Create empathy. You want respect for your values, the other side wants the same too. So, if I were the president, I would say " All human beings are created equally. As long as you work and fight for the peace in this country and the world no matter what religion you have, God bless you all."
ReplyDeleteOne more thing, I am from Istanbul, Turkey. Now, I live, work and study as a translator /interpreter/language tutor in the UK. Nowadays, I'm experiencing the feelings of being an outsider. Two weeks ago, I attended a workshop for interpreting business. We were 8 women, Russian, Argentinian, Argentinian/Armenian, Portuguese, Polish, English, Croatian, and Turkish, me. I was the only one who is doing a PhD. The teacher asked a simple question "What would you do if you were assigned to a prostate disease patient?" Everybody looked at each other, then I said "I would do my job and be scientific. Disease is disease." My colleagues were a bit surprised with my answer. Then, during lunch, I had a bacon sandwich, which was delicious by the way, had a chat with the Polish interpreter about various kinds of wines. I guess my actions led the way, because,out of the blue ,the Argentinian interpreter told us that she was an Armenian descendant and her grand parents escaped from Turkey right after her grand uncle and his son had been killed by Ottoman soldiers. Imagine me, everybody was looking at me because I had been talked about Turkish culture during the morning session. I asked "Armenian Genocide, is it true?" she said "yes". Then, I said "I apologize on behalf of my country. We, Turks,have a tendency to boast about the great Ottoman Empire, and we have a common history. But, your part of history was so sad." She was shocked and moved. The others were surprised. But, there was a relief in the room as though an invisible wall was gone. That invisible wall is our prejudices coming from a long history between societies. We still carry the heavy burden on our heads, and let it blind us. Although the culture in which an individual grows has an impact on them, every individual has the potential to go beyond their culture and be a human, not Turk, not American, not British, not Cristian, not Muslim, not Jew. Only a human being. If there is no real interaction,we just play our roles, and nothing changes when we get together, what's the point of intercultural communications? So, if I were president, I would keep this in my mind as a main principle of governing.
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