Mute in an English-Only World

I think it is crazy how people get so upset wehn America, the melting pot of cultures, tries to adapt to other people’s needs.  We think nothing of it since the majority of citizens speak English and if you were born and raised speaking English then of course you wouldnt have a problem.  But what if the situations were reversed?  I bet we would be loving those bi-lingual signs now wouldnt we?  Of course it is hard to please everybody, I mean we cannot have every language on every sign but maybe in certain areas where communities speak different languages, it would be wise to put up bi-lingual signs.  It is not hurting anybody so I don’t know why all the fuss.  Honestly, if America keeps acting like this, all the countries will eventually turn on us.  America would not be the most powerful country in the world anymore.  Then what?

Whose Culture Is It, Anyway?

Gates makes a great point in his essay. Though it was slightly hard to understand, it really made me think about what American culture is exactly.  When I actually thought about it, I came to realize that when we say our culture is American or “You’re not American” when someone claims they do not like baseball and hotdogs, we arent exactly calling them un-American.  Because what exactly is America?  It is not a separate culture from everybody elses, it IS everybody elses culture.  America is not a culture, it is a place where all cultures are accepted, unlike most other countries.  What we call “American Culture” are merely people from all ethnicities and cultures doing something important in America.  It is a hard subject to explain but this article made the wheels in my head turn.

American Dream Boat

I can honestly say I enjoyed this article.  I think it is great insight to Vietnamese culture and tradition.  It should also make the average American student think twice before making fun of the foreign exchange student.  All they want is to be accepted just as everybody else does when they go to school.  And nobody knows the hardships they may of had to go through to get here.  It shows that we should be thankful that we have annoying parents that can keep us grounded and won’t let us forget where we came from.  It seems that despite her father’s fears about Asians marrying Americans, that this marriage will last.  Her fiance was great enough to understand and embrace her heritage and even welcome it into their wedding day.  I think it’s great that her family still allowed her to get married even though her grandmother had jist died.  She still followed tradition yet moved on with her life, which is what her grandmother would have wanted.

Why Americans Exaggerate the Terrorist Threat

This article is centered around the idea that people fear the unknown.  People are afraid of alot of things they don’t understand or know about.  Every student fears Freshman year of college beause they dont know what to expect. I think this same logic comes into play as far as people’s fear of a terrorist attack.  It is because of the fact that they are so random, you never know when it might happen.  This scares us.  When it comes down to it, it is simple psychology; we do not fear things we think we can control such as looking both ways before crossing the street to avoid a car.  It almost gives us a false sense of security.  And of course the media does not help the issue.  It gives us the false impression that everybody is at equal risk when in fact we are not.  As the article points out, in some cases, there is “nobody to blame”.  We cannot accept the role of chance and the fact that some things just happen and are beyond our control.  As stated, the only thing we can do to get rid of the fear is make the unknown, known.  We do this by educating ourselves about the actual probability of certain events happening and the trend of those events.

AIDS in Africa

It startles me to hear that little has been done to irradicate this AIDS epidemic in Africa and other countries.  Of course there is the international AIDS community as well as other organizations but as we can see, have not done much good.  I am glad this article put the rumor that homosexuals transmitted AIDS to rest.  It seems to me that we, the most powerful country in the world, cannot seem to use common sense to take care of this problem.  There is a correlation between poorer countries and AIDS; quite an obvious one at that.  Poorer regions obviously cannot afford proper healthcare and shelter which utimately weakens their immune systems.  And if we think they are going to spend what little money they have on condoms, we are crazy.  This unprotected sex cannot keep spiraling out of control.  I also think this lack of motivation can be linked back to ignorance and apathy.  Not all of us are doctors that know exactly what causes AIDS or how to treat it so how can we possibly help? And of course AIDS in Africa or Asia does not directly affect us so why bother? But I am sure our asses will get in gear to find a cure when the pandemic makes its way to America right?  It is time to raise awareness and money to go toward research of this illness.  For we have seen time and time again that problems in other parts of the world can most certainly affect us.

Life on the Global Assembly Line

One can tell from the very beginning that this article is slanted.  The author is a self prolaimed feminist and it shows throughout the article.  I like the fact that this essay is supported by facts and has commentary from actual women experiencing this event.  I do not really know what to say.  The United States, as well as other powerful nations, are looking for cheap labor and they can find it in the Third World countries.  Many people are happy to be able to work and make some pocket change while others are crying “human rights violations” all over the place.  None of us really know what the working conditions in these countries are like.  In my opinion, if we give them a plae to work, at least make it sanitary.  These people are finally making money; I am sure they would like to be alive to spend some of it.  I do not know what is the correct thing to do.  If they are paid the same minimum wage as people in the U.S. it would not exactly be cheap labor now would it?  On the other hand, the least we could do is make sure the factories are healthy and clean for the employees.  My suggestion is that we go straight to the people and a vote be conducted to determine whether these employees are really as unhappy as we make them to be, or if this is all just hype.  As for the feminist issue, there is always going to be some people who think of women as subordinates.  As we all well know, this is not the case.  Maybe if managers opened their minds and allowed women to participate in the same tasks as men, there would be less or even no protests.

Questions For African Guest Speakers

1. What are your views on the U.S. trying to help poverty stricken areas in Africa? Do you see it as an intrusion?

2. Do you like living in Africa?

3. Are there any regulations in Africa to protect the environment?

4. What do you do for fun?

Direction of My Final Project

Our group chose to do the Middle East/Asia.  We are not sure yet which country exactly but I am sure each are interesting in their own way.  There is alot I would like to know about these regions.  As in psychology, you must know a persons past to understand the way that they are now.  Applying this method, I want to know at least the basics and major events in their history to get a feel for why the people act the way they do today.  Knowing this information might give me some insight when I research their relationship with the United States and how they feel about America.  I want to know about their culture, how they make a living, and of course about their environment since our chapter is about protecting it.

Stereotypes are pretty common for both Asia and the Middle East.  Most people think of martial arts, small penises, and sushi when they hear Asia.  And of course when people hear Middle East, they automatically think terrorist.  I want to break through that barrier and try to show that most people in these countries are just like us in that they are just trying to make a living.

I do have one friend from the middle east.  I have known her since 9th grade and I remember her practicing fasting and other traditions from her country.  She stayed true to her ancestors and I found this very enlightening.  As for the international film, I picked Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. 

Apathy Articles

Apathy is definitely a problem in our generation. I agree with Jordan Jesse.  Speaking up about certain issues is just not ont he top of our to do list.  Students are too busy working to stay in school or working on school work alone.  I know I do not have time for a job up here at school.  I am doing hours of homework everynight just to stay caught up.  I fall into the same category as most college students, procrastinators.  We may have strong opinions about a certain issue that maybe we voice to our friends over lunch and mean to do something about it but with all of our other work, it just gets shoved aside and is no longer a priority.  I also tend to not deal with things until they affect me directly.  Maybe these issues affecting us directly is just the kick in ass that we need.  Until then, all we can really do is advocate that our voices need to heard and accounted for.  Another reason, as selfish as it may sound is we often think that problems in other countries are “not our problems”.  We are ignorant in the fact that we do not see how these problems could affect us indirectly.  And we do not do anything until it is attacking the homefront.  Then we run around all up in arms that we did not do something earlier.  Time and time again this happens.  Maybe one day we will learn.

Globalization in Russia

 The following pictures just reminded me of globalization.  And by the way, all of it is Russian Cake Art..and all edible.