Yesterday, September 23rd was an average day for me in Marietta, GA for the exception of school being closed for the third day in a row (no complaints here). I decided to run a couple errands for the Semper Fidelis Society on campus by making a couple flyers and taking them up to the school. Simple enough right? Wrong! I live in East Cobb, some call the people around this area "The East Cobb Snobs" and I never really knew why. I went to the OfficeMax on Johnson's Ferry Rd to make my copies and ended up having a conversation with a woman late 30's early 40's. She saw the flyers and asked me about the Marine Corps. I figured it would stop there and I would go about my business, but that would have been too easy. She resumed the conversation by asking me about what I did in Iraq and what I thought about what was going on in the UN today and what I thought of the Islamic people of the Middle East. I gave her my informed first-hand person experience and opinion about them, trying to be as objective as possible. What took me aback was her response. She said, "Well I read somewhere on an Internet website that those Islamic people are trying to breed at a high rate to invade America." You could imagine the shock on my face hearing this and you could hear a pin drop in the entire OfficeMax. I should have gotten an Oscar for how I held it together. Anyway, I responded to her says that I believed that the people of the Middle East have a strong affinity for their homelands and have not shown in my opinion any intention of invading the United States of America. She then tries to rebut my statement by saying, "Well during the crusades they took over other people's land." So I figured I would respectfully inform her that the Christian faith did also during the crusades, and the various sovereign states in Europe colonized Africa, the West Indies, etc. At this point she sat back in her chair with her lips pursed and her eyes rolled. I then went on to tell her that she cannot solely base decisions or ideas about people based on a radical groups views and biases and consider it legitimate. I told her that by going over to the Middle East and observing people and their culture through daily routine allowed me to dispel many inaccuracies that I had about I people I did not know much about. I told her that it did not matter which news channel she watched or where she received her information from, she had an obligation to make sure that the information she received was accurate in nature. (I think she stopped listening after the crusade comment anyway.)
All in all, it was a shame to see this woman who figured she was well informed enough to pass judgement on a people, religion, and region she in fact knew nothing about. As I paid for my copies and got in my car to head to KSU I asked myself, "How many other people are out there that think like this?" I was disgusted, ashamed, disappointed, and insulted by the ignorance of this woman. Can we blame her? At her age, we should. We have already talked about how much blame and fingers can be pointed at the various mediums, but it all comes back to the individual in front of the television and computer.
I am no diplomatic official. What I do know is with media sensationalism we have allowed and sometimes even advocated the dehumanization of peoples who we cannot understand, don't care to understand, hold different beliefs, and who are just different from what we see in the mirror. This we must hold the media and ourselves accountable for. It is unacceptable behavior for a nation that considers itself civilized and democratic.
I would like to end this blog with a quote from the movie School Daze, directed by Spike Lee.
"WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-Laurence Fishburne
It is sad but I have seen this to, people who read half and article on the internet or see a clip of something on TV and think that they are an expert in the matter. It makes them look ignorant. I like to people watch and sometimes I sit at the school and watch or just listen to people. It is ridiculous the stuff that people are talking about. It defiantly shows that we have a self interested society.
ReplyDeletebad information is out there always, and people purposely put it out there to promote an agenda. The whole Rev Wright thing too kinda is an example, he was someone well respected and highly regarded in that community, but he lies in his sermons to make a point, and people do stuff like that all the time. Also how are we sure we are right and others are wrong? We also got our information through a source and we take it as objective.
ReplyDeletethe Islamic religion is very conservative, some people take that as radical....the lady you spoke too may simply find stories or news like that to be true because of the stereotype Muslims often play into.
Well put. I have to start by saying that you deserve something for having held it together in front of that woman. That is the kind of situation that would end with me going to jail (or at least being banned from said OfficeMax). Also, I have to agree with you fully on the role that sensationalism plays in the American public's idea of how the world really works. Those citizens who feel that their hour or so in front of the tube a day grants them not only the knowledge to pose such ridiculous points of view, but somehow the right to spew this ignorance about in the community absolutely drive me insane. I am not by any means savvy when it comes to politics and world events, and I know it. When an argument is beyond the scope of my knowledge and awareness I shut my mouth and let the listening/learning begin. Kinda wish this lady had done the same. The sad part here is that you may have been the only person to ever cause this woman to question her beliefs in such a manner. Hopefully this incident will cause her to at least examine what she is so sure to be true. Thank you for your service to our country as well. Truly. Thank you.
ReplyDeletePeople are ruled by fears no matter have irrational they are. It is a shame that people make assumptions on things they know nothing about, but welcome to America, I guess.
ReplyDeleteGood job holding it together. I know (firsthand) that it must have been hard to do.