Americanism

After reading the preface and first chapter of Edward Said’s Orientalism, I have been forced to acknowledge the misinterpretations and unfair prejudices against the “Orientals,” which was obviously the intent of this book. However, this thought process has created a snowball effect, and I have come to realize that we are all victims of this incessant yearning for power by our “fearless” leaders.

The author mentions that he is a humanist and goes on to say that humanism is sustained by a “sense of community.” But we don’t have this in our world. We have borders and different languages and cultures that prevent us from viewing our fellow human beings for what they are as individuals, rather than a citizen of this country or a member of that religion. Why can’t we see that we all live on the same earth and this struggle for resources and dominance is not benefiting any individual or group of people?

But how do we change it? Hatred is a hard thing to shake, especially with the media “recycling the same unverifiable fictions and vast generalizations” as so eloquently put by the author. All these texts addressing the evils of foreign nations that are written by any Tom, Dick or Harry are being passed off as valid information, though they retain no “truthfulness or real knowledge of any sort.” The citizens of the United States are the ones being poisoned by these lies. And we, the young scholars whose minds are forever open to new information are particularly vulnerable. I just hope that people start to see through this façade of wanting to “civilize the barbarians” and realize that this whole war in Iraq is nothing more than a power struggle. I do think that people are starting to get it, though, to what degree, I know not.

We seem to be spending all this time, searching for truth to determine who is right in this war against each other, however no one stops to think that maybe truth is only true to the individual who believes it. Rather, a person may believe whatever he/she feels is right, and whose place is it to say that it is wrong. If a person is living an ethical life, while not impeding on any one else’s rights as a human, why should we think that person needs enlightenment? Who are these leaders to tell us what is right and what is wrong? But that is the thing; people like me who have compassion for the human race and the beauty of diversity are not the ones in charge. The people in charge are the same ones feeding into the hate, racism and “overall campaign of self-affirmation, belligerency and outright war” (also taken from the preface of Orientalism).

I watched the interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, and was surprised to learn that him and I shared many of the same views regarding the United States determination to police the entire globe. When asked about the nuclear research that is being conducted in his country, he said, more or less, that his people should have the opportunity for scientific and technological advancements just the same as any other country. I absolutely agree with him on this point. What if scientists and doctors in Iran were able to find a cure for cancer, a feat that no one else has yet to accomplish (or at least as far as the general public is aware of). Shouldn’t we be encouraging any kind of scientific research if it ultimately benefits humankind? And I would like to know who made the United States of America the hall monitor of the world? We expect all these smaller countries to fall in line and do as we do. The U.S is pushing its values of Christianity and democracy (if you can call it that) on a culture that has been established and functioning according to their truth long before this country was even founded. That is like a teenager teaching his grandpa about ethics. There is a huge lack of respect for these ancient cultures. I am tired of the United States thinking that they can bully everyone around, just for holding different values. If this continues, I fear the worst for our Mother and all her children. Somebody help us, please!