Thoughts on the Middle East

Throughout the course of this semester and primarily within this particular class of “Intro to Modern Middle East”, my personal opinions about the Middle East have been changed drastically. I had been sheltered by my parent’s beliefs. I was raised under the impression not to trust others outside the Asian community. My family history did not provide any opportunities to relate to any sort of Middle Eastern experience. I was never truly exposed to Middle Eastern cultures and never showed much interest in learning of the Middle East. However, through the past century, the news pertaining to the Middle East has mostly appeared with a negative attitude and being young and sheltered, only allowed the “propaganda” to influence my opinion on the Middle East, its people, and its cultures. With this, I propose the question:

what are your thoughts on the Middle East?

 

“To be quite honest, I am quite sad about the public perception of the middle eastern culture. I was watching a social experiment a few days ago about how middle eastern individuals are treated in the United States, and its shocking. Shocking to see how much racism and ignorance that exists in today's society. Shocked about the non intellectual and harmful comments these people made. Middle eastern individuals are people too, they shouldn't be disregarded nor treated like animals. As far as I know, middle eastern individuals are suffering the most in today's society. They constantly are judged by the way they look, their apparel, the way they speak, and so on, more-so than the average human being. As far as I know, there are countless number of wars and fighting going on in the middle east. The people that live there are endangered everyday by missiles and warfare. Not only that, but they must try to live a normal life despite everything that's happening. The people from the middle eastern culture are brave. Brave for standing up for themselves and doing what they feel is right to their culture. Courageous for withstanding all the unnecessary hatred and remarks. Lastly, inspiring, to know that they are trying to live their lives in a world of danger.”

- Angelo Wang, a good friend.

“Among a spectrum of cultures around the world, Middle Eastern culture has left a remarkable imprint in history. While many do not agree with the cultural practices that Middle Eastern citizens live with, it is undoubtedly full of rich history. One of the main things that come to mind when speaking about Middle Eastern culture has to be gender expectations. Middle Eastern men are expected to mainly provide economically to the family. On the other hand, the women are expected to perform household chores and raise children. These cultural expectations still linger within the modern Middle East, but has significantly changed compared to decades ago. I hold a firm belief that every culture, including the Middle East, will have people that oppose their traditions and practices. And while we might not completely agree with these cultural norms, we at least have to honor the history that it has lived through. Thus, I believe that Middle Eastern culture should be widely acknowledged, not necessarily accepted.”

-Frank Jiang, a dandy fellow.

“In the current state of how the Middle East has been perceived to myself through American media as being faces of fear or detrimental to society as a whole. Muslims and middle easterners are recognized as violent, uncivilized, and unpredictable in western media. These endless portrayals antagonizing people range from being presented in movies and television and news media outlets as cruel, homicidal, barbarians to uncivilized, philistine bigots. In reality, the middle east has been forever presented with negative connotations of hatred to western civilization. However, that is only from what western media has presented to us. Middle Easterners, and Muslims are not like that, they have cultures and traditions, though they may seem different and contrasting to many different cultures around the world, we should not perceive them based on appearances and actions. The reality of it all is that, the civilians of the Middle East are constantly under the fear of government centralism and containment of human rights. It is simply a melancholy life, that individuals under the corrupt government regime of countries such as Syria, Libya, and Sudan are forced to live in conditions of constant fear and endangerment.”

- Gary Wong, a valuable member of society.

As for my final and present thoughts on the Middle East, its people are people and have always been people. They should not be shamed or be looked at as different beings. We are all individuals in this world trying to live out our own lives and at times we are brought up into new cultures, beliefs, values, morals, and practices.  



By: George Chu