Ethnocentrism in America and random thoughts (it's a long one but I make points :-))

trying2learn

Junior Member
Ethnocentrism in a multicultural country spells disaster. What is ethnocentrism you may ask? Ethnocentrism refers to the practice of seeing others through one’s own cultural values and norms. The following is an excerpt from one of my college papers:
“Multiculturalism is a source of anger for many Americans. People get very defensive of their cultures and in certain situations people do not understand other cultures therefore they fear the unknown. Often times people fear that they will lose their own culture if they allow another culture to be present in their lives and/or community. Ethnocentrism is the root of the issue when it comes to multiculturalism in the U.S. Ethnocentrism is defined by our textbook as “the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture” (Macionis). For example, in America it has become common practice for women to dress provocatively or semi-provocatively so therefore when an American sees a Muslim a woman wearing a hijab (head covering) and her body is covered to where only her hands and face are visible it seems strange and unfamiliar.
American discomfort with other cultures is not a new concept. For example in 1940’s America there was great discomfort towards Japanese-Americans, “This reached a peak during WWII, when Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, supposedly because of doubts about their loyalty (although German and Italian immigrants did not suffer such treatment)”(Hulsether). This one example, but other examples include Native Americans being forced to walk the trail of tears, people refusing to give Scotch-Irish immigrants jobs, slavery, to the more recent telling Muslims where they can and cannot build their mosques. “When Muslims-as well as other Asian immigrants-seek to build mosques or temples, they often face protests, the use of zoning laws, and vandalism” (Hulsether).
American media is a huge part of American culture. Immigrants coming into the U.S are shocked to see the amount of violence and sex that is showed on television. Another thing having to do with American media that has an influence over society and people’s opinions is that the “bad guys” in movies always reflect current issues. For example, in the 1980’s the “bad guys” were depicted as Russians, due to the cold war. Currently the “bad guys” are depicted as Muslims and/or Arabs. It is common in America for the media to “demonize” people whose culture is different than America’s.”

First and foremost many people have an attitude in America. I equate it to the rich bully in high school. The kid who acted better than everyone else, made snide comments to make you feel ugly, or stupid, and made fun of everything about you from your hair down to your shoes. It is one thing to love your country, and another thing entirely to love your country to the point where you elevate it to status of supremacy, over everyone, everything, every country, every culture…..there is only one Supreme Being and its God. Pride goeth before the fall.
Another thing that is forgotten is that America was built by immigrants. The pilgrims, the puritans all came to America to escape religious persecution. The older I get, the more I am convinced they must no longer teach this in the classroom, and with the older generation, it must be something they have forgotten. I like to point out that there was an Ellis Island, it’s in New York. Ellis Island is where the immigrants came through to come into America. On my grandmother’s side her father was French. His family name, prior to going through Ellis Island was DelaFleur, the workers at Ellis Island changed to Flowers. The workers took it upon themselves to change the family names to more “American” last names, mostly out of laziness, or illiteracy. It can make a person wonder, if they had family members come through there, what their last names SHOULD be. We are ALL descendants of immigrants in America, all except for the Native Americans. Some of us come from ancestors who CHOSE to move here, others ancestors were FORCED immigrants, but still immigrants none the less.
As far as culture goes, many Americans no longer practice the cultures or languages that their ancestors practiced. People marry for love, and mix cultures, and their children’s children no longer have that culture. In America, we have no “cultural garments” we have no “cultural ceremonies” that are just American. We have grasped something called pop culture. Our music, fashion, and movies define us. We assimilate with one another, in an attempt to not stand out.
When I go to the mall it is not odd to see girls and women walking around in clothes that look as if they are painted on, their mid-drifts showing, their thong underwear sticking out inches above their pants. It is common to see a boy/man with their pants/shorts underneath their rear end, exposing the entirety of their underwear. No one stops to stare; there are no pointed fingers and hushed whispers. Yet people see a woman walking around in an abaya and hijab and there are not only hushed whispers and pointed fingers there are loud comments and laughing. Why do we applaud the sexualization of females but shun the women who are modest about their bodies?
On television, print adds, and movies it is common to see half naked women. In America there is a saying: “sex sells”, therefore women are objectified. In music it is common to hear lyrics that refer to women as sexual objects and bad names. The girls of the younger generation are more focused on dressing sexy, and think it’s okay to be called names such as b***h, w***e, s**t, and I have heard girls as young as 10 saying that when they are old enough they want breast augmentation. I have also seen girls as young as 9 who have babies of their own. We are teaching girls that they are only worth what their bodies look like. Girls strive to fit into the cookie-cutter image of very thin, large chests, flawless skin, and revealing clothes. This unrealistic body image that is worshiped in America is an unattainable reality. But yet there are girls, teens, and women who develop eating disorders to try desperately to reach this goal.
So are we as American’s truly free? The government may grant certain freedoms, but we are ‘culturally’ strangling ourselves. Our culture is taking our freedoms. Do girls have the freedom to dress how they want, to love their bodies as they are, to have respect from the opposite sex? No. Oh, not everyone is like that, but there are A LOT who are. I remember once in high school a teacher called my generation ‘the generation who doesn’t care about anything’, she dreaded the upcoming generations and said that in her 40 years of teaching the generations are getting steadily worse. Someday my generation will lead our country, make the laws, and set the cultural norm. We need to start now, making changes for the better, correcting the problems as they arise, and proving that we do care. There is a saying that ‘you can’t teach old dogs new tricks’, it’s true, but if we can make a change now, imagine how our great-grandchildren will benefit from an America that truly does accept people who are different. Imagine our great-granddaughters not having to worry about if they are sexy at 10 years old. It’s all about respect.
I think we should stop slapping labels on people. I remember a teacher saying to my class “Never assume, it makes an ass of u and me”.
 

JenGiove

Junior Member
Trying 2 Learn,

I wish I could say that you were wrong. I wish I could say that Boys didn't walk around half undressed and thinking that such a thing is attractive. I wish I could say that girls didn't walk around with spray-paint pants and thong underwear.

I wish I could say that laughter and stares were not part of a differently dressed woman's (or mans) life. I wish I could say that the barbie-doll image wasn't the "ideal". I wish I could say that the media does cover the good and bad of each culture equally.

I wish I could say all that. But I can't. The only correction/addition I can make is in regards to Ellis Island name changes. As a genealogist, I run into this problem ALL THE TIME. Another explanation (besides being exhausted from dealing with so many people in a day and trying to understand accents till your ears fall off) is BECAUSE of the language barriers, the pronunciations. For example, my own family's maternal last name: LeClerc. In the french, it sounds like Le-Clair....which is why it got changed at the border.....since most immigrants came being either illiterate or uneducated in English, their names were changed. That's why in genealogy, we use "Soundex" methods to do research.

Ahhh...the life of a researcher...my eyes hurt just thinking about it.

You wrote a wonderful paper. Thank you.
 

trying2learn

Junior Member
There is a story in my family about the Delafleur, when my family came through ellis island they spoke french and english, when they had to 'register' the employee asked what Delafleur meant, to which "of the flowers' was the answer, the emplyee wrote Flowers as the last name, and my family did not question it, my grandmother always said, they just wanted to get it and if it meant changing their last name then it was ok.
Thank you for the compliment.
 

JenGiove

Junior Member
There is a story in my family about the Delafleur, when my family came through ellis island they spoke french and english, when they had to 'register' the employee asked what Delafleur meant, to which "of the flowers' was the answer, the emplyee wrote Flowers as the last name, and my family did not question it, my grandmother always said, they just wanted to get it and if it meant changing their last name then it was ok.
Thank you for the compliment.

Yup, sounds typical of the Ellis Island experience. I wanted to also add that unfortunately, the problem of Ethnocentrism isn't just an American problem. Its a human problem. Where there is man, there is misunderstanding and fear and distrust. It doesn't matter if you are a "Democratic" country or a "Muslim" country or an "Indigenous" third-world country. The problem is still the same. We judge people through our own values and when what we see doesn't measure up, we label that person and their culture as wrong.

Sometimes, I hate people.
 

trying2learn

Junior Member
Oh I know it's everywhere, but I, as an american think we should focus on fixing oursleves and our homeland before worrying about fixing other people.
 

weakslave

Junior Member
Check mark on all points in my book. This comment:

"We assimilate with one another, in an attempt to not stand out. "

This confused me when I first came with my family here. I see people doing things and I couldn't figure out why. Only years later I realized majority of those around me don't bother questioning their ideologies. They simply follow their friends who follow what they learn from TV, movies, or music.

I think it's gotten to the point where men only care about one thing: be with the most attractive woman they can get. And women only care about attracting the popular sugar-daddy.

I can say the most powerful tool of corruption lead western society to where it is now: music. And I say this without any doubt. Which child do you know of doesn't listen to music? Every single person I knew in school and met in university without exception listened to music. The only ones avoiding it in our community are very few Muslims and even fewer families. And yet still we find some of their kids packing their ipods with nonsense.

I used to worry about the people who I considered lost. Until I realized that it is not in my hands to change people. Our obligation is to teach the truth, and the rest is up to Allaah. I will work my hardest to ensure that my family and I remain firm upon the straight path, which I ask Allaah to guide us to. And I will continuously ask Allaah to grant me a righteous wife who will assist me in raising righteous children who will work hard to ensure their kids end up being righteous Muslims. And their children's children. And their children's children. Until they create a society that lives according to the Quran and the Sunnah.

Imagine if our ancestors were worried about having righteous offspring, and truly worked on the Islamic education of their children. Would there not be an Islamic state established by now? For the most part, families are disjointed with varying mentalities. Rarely do you find one whole family firmly upon the truth. Some only care about their wealth and what career path their child has chosen for himself. Others only care about their enjoyment of this life, without worrying about the choices their kids make.

What I got out of having origins in a country other than my birth country other than my country of residence was detachment from any culture or mentality. Nationalism? Patriotism? I put that stuff through the shredder many years ago.

And if there is a hint of culturalism left in me I hope someone would point it out because I would love nothing more than to get rid of it.
 

Valerie

Junior Member
Great paper, thank you, Trying2Learn :)

Yup, sounds typical of the Ellis Island experience. I wanted to also add that unfortunately, the problem of Ethnocentrism isn't just an American problem. Its a human problem. Where there is man, there is misunderstanding and fear and distrust. It doesn't matter if you are a "Democratic" country or a "Muslim" country or an "Indigenous" third-world country. The problem is still the same. We judge people through our own values and when what we see doesn't measure up, we label that person and their culture as wrong.

Sometimes, I hate people.

This absolutely sums up how I feel a lot. And it always ends with that last sentence ;)

Edit: My great grandfather came through Ellis Island and his Greek name was cut in half, I'm guessing because they couldn't even pronounce it, let alone spell it. :)
 

JenGiove

Junior Member
Edit: My great grandfather came through Ellis Island and his Greek name was cut in half, I'm guessing because they couldn't even pronounce it, let alone spell it. :)

ROTFL! I know what you mean....As a native English speaker, trying to learn all these Arabic words, which are sometimes shortened, sometimes spelled differently from one person to another, to abbreviated...well, my copy/paste fingers are very tired. Reading a single post can become exhausting and frustrating.

I once worked for 2 doctors. Iranians. I was a microbiologist and their last name was officially (and I'm not going to spell it correctly since they never used it) "Sharifzadah" but we addressed them as Dr. Simin (the wife) and Dr. Zadah (the husband). Simin was her first name but I imagine that she used her first name to prevent confusion. They were the first people to start teaching me Farsi. I learned "Salam" from her.
 

IHearIslam

make dua 4 ma finals
ohh....I didnot read the whole paper, but this just reminded me of Anthoropolgy:p

it's weird how this discussion of cultures and ethnocentrism is in TTI as well:) I think thats the beauty of learning!!!

I'll read the whole paper and try to comment on some issues insha'Allaah.....for now, I just needed to take that thought off my chest.
 
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