If anyone in the American government made even the slightest effort to understand Islamic beliefs and culture OR Middle Eastern history, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
If the American government made an effort to understand beliefs that aren't American, let alone a culture that's completely foreign to us, I might pass out from the shock. And that's the problem, too. We're a melting pot, and I'm not convinced that melting is the way to go. US culture is a muddy soup; everyone's expected to shed their culture and become part of the big one-pot nation, and if they don't, well, that's not our problem and we don't want to have to deal with it.
We don't celebrate diversity as a nation, we try to force different cultures into the American Model. We've been doing it since the beginning, and naturally we assume everyone wants to be like us. And, we think, why not? We're the Best Nation on Earth, after all. Um. I wonder if anyone's ever really thought about why they assume this. And how we can assume this without ever even bothering to look at other cultures/countries and say, hey, maybe they don't want to be just like us. Maybe their way of life is what's best for them, even if it isn't Democracy and Freedom Fries. Bleh. [/also rant]
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Date: 2007-01-14 12:09 pm (UTC)If the American government made an effort to understand beliefs that aren't American, let alone a culture that's completely foreign to us, I might pass out from the shock. And that's the problem, too. We're a melting pot, and I'm not convinced that melting is the way to go. US culture is a muddy soup; everyone's expected to shed their culture and become part of the big one-pot nation, and if they don't, well, that's not our problem and we don't want to have to deal with it.
We don't celebrate diversity as a nation, we try to force different cultures into the American Model. We've been doing it since the beginning, and naturally we assume everyone wants to be like us. And, we think, why not? We're the Best Nation on Earth, after all. Um. I wonder if anyone's ever really thought about why they assume this. And how we can assume this without ever even bothering to look at other cultures/countries and say, hey, maybe they don't want to be just like us. Maybe their way of life is what's best for them, even if it isn't Democracy and Freedom Fries. Bleh. [/also rant]