'Stupid American'

Today is the first day since beginning on Semester at Sea that I felt I lived up to the stereotype of ‘stupid American.’ Of course, I have heard it said in some countries (at those girls drinking bottles of wine in the street) but I haven’t experienced it until class today.

 

We talked about the Arab Springs Global Studies today. If you are anything like me and didn’t know what this was, look it up. The information you will receive will be inspirational but also quite frightening to some. I think, as Americans, we are very self-centered in what is happening in our own country and what our military is doing. We fail to see what is happening elsewhere around the world unless we are involved in it ourselves.

 

After today, I very much believe that Americans tend to be anti-Muslim or anti-Arab. Some may not even realize they are this way. If we do know what is happening around the world, we feel threatened by it. We walk past our neighbors or acquaintances on the street and don’t dare smile at them or offer them a hello because they may be a ‘terrorist’. They are fitted with this stereotype because we give it to them. Terrorists are not only the ethnic or religious minority or Arabs and Muslims….keep in mind that Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist and he was white.

 

Overall, I was very disappointed with myself that I knew so little on what was happening in the Middle East and North Africa. These people have been holding demonstrations to gain a better life for themselves and freedom from oppressive leadership. All they want is a glimpse at what we have in America with democratic elections and freedom of speech. Instead of supporting them in their efforts and seeing the triumphs as inspiration, we judge and worry about what this will incur on us.