Blog #19 Chapter 23

It was really interesting reading about the part how the Islam refers to American culture. How they described the West as seductive and poisonous culture. I could see how they can refer to the West as seductive, because in their culture they have arrange marriages, while in the West people have many different partners and can remarry as many times as the want. Also our clothing is very revealing compared to how their culture dresses. My mom’s friend she is from the Middle East and when she first came to American she was really shocked how peopled dress. She was shocked about the amount of skin we showed especially when wearing tank tops and shorts. Now that she lives in America she wants to follow the American culture, but she only wears a shirt and pants, she won’t wear a tank top or shorts because it is a little too much for her. I think the view about the Islamic culture and the American culture has been influenced by the war, and the terrorist attack. Due to these horrific outcomes and the war we both find ways in order to make the other culture seem bad then how they really are. Since there are terrorist that emerge from that culture the American culture depicts the Islamic culture full of acts of violence and everyone is a terrorist. That is not true at all. When reading about the part of Osama bin Laden it reminded me of what my teacher had said about him. He told yes he was a bad man, but when the navy seals had killed him it displayed differently. He said it was not right to kill an elderly man who was handicap and enables to fight back, so it was basically just like shooting grandpa. Many would disagree with this but that was his view. Now that the world is becoming more globalized and we have access to various parts of the world I think it is important to try to understand other people’s cultures and religion. When we encounter conflict with another religion or culture then we can understand where they are coming from. It keeps us from being biases and gives a different perspective and understanding.  I really enjoyed reading the section Green and global. The world is starting to become more industrialized than it is green. When reading this it reminded me when I go home. When I go over the Altamont pass to go home there is this view that oversees the valley. It looks like a disease referring to the urbanized part attacking the beautiful green landscape. Also it reminded me of the movie Wall-e where the earth became so industrialized that it became unhealthy and people had to move to outer space. The ending where he saves a plant and to people they described it as the most beautiful thing they seen because they haven’t seen a plant in decades. It is just ashamed how what we described as beautiful we end up destroying.