(no subject)
Update! I'm really bad about this aren't I?
The cliff notes version: HEAT, Indian restaurant, Jewish museum, going to Asia for dinner, getting a smelly fan AFTER the heatwave lol, election madness over (AKP won with 46% - landslide election, as predicted), reading Harry Potter in the heat, visiting the underground cistern (sounds boring but its quite pretty), visiting the Dolmabace Palace (super ridiculously ornate) and deciding to take the Turkish tour for the second half of it because the English guide sucked (though he was kinda hilarious when he got annoyed), walking on top of these fortress walls, going out on Friday night to the randomest clubs imaginable - but dancing up a storm nonetheless... :)
So all of the above is going to show up on facebook sooooon - I promise! Expect like at least 2 new albums on facebook on Sunday...provided that the internet is fast enough to upload all my pictures. Hah. So I won't go on anymore about that. How about some more interesting topics...
Going backwards - today in our Islam and the West class, we were discussing Islam, Modernization, and Globalization - basically are Islam and globalization (or what is often thought of as Americanization) compatible? Well one of the really interesting things that was brought up was this quote from a "young veiled Euro-Turkish lady" about how its no longer necessary to understand religion purely based upon what one's parents or Imams teach. She said that she preferred to choose her own understanding by using the greater wealth of knowledge open to her today - translated versions of the Quran (since not too many people can really read old Arabic), books, and internet. Through these methods, she said, you can find out about all the schools of Islam and make your choices as to what you believe - so it no longer really depends on your family's personal views. I thought that was really interesting, and it really struck me as being true, not just about Islam, but about other religions, too, especially for those of us growing up in a country's where we are introduced to other religions, other ways of thinking, etc. I know I personally question Hinduism in a way that I don't think most Indians our age growing up in India do. Granted, I get the impression that most Hindus in the US our age also don't question much, just take it for what it is...isn't that stupid? LOL, sorry. I just think its so weird to NOT question facts given to us. I'm not saying we can ever find definite answers for the big questions in life - obviously not, and you know what? Debate as we might, we're not even going to find answers for how best to live our daily lives...but I think its important to at least question, rather than just take for granted what you are taught. At the same time, her quote was a little...unsettling? The idea that we derive religion in large part from our media...haha. I mean, I guess its true - we get a lot of our ideas from there whether or not we think about it. I don't know, its definitely interesting to think about. One of the guys in our class was talking about how he thinks that he and many other Muslims in our generation are often more religious than their parents because of these other outlets for understanding religion...and he was talking about how one of his friends wears the head-scarf - how back in the day when people were immigrating here they might have removed their head-scarves in order to assimilate to Western culture, but how today people are choosing to wear it, because having grown up in America, they don't see a conflict between being American and practicing Islam. Just thought that was interesting.
And speaking of head-scarves...don't remember if I ever mentioned this to you guys, but back in freshman year when I took Intro to Islam, the very last reading we were assigned really changed the way I think about head-scarves. Her argument ws that wearing it doesn't limit women in any way; infact its quite the opposite. Those of us dressing in Western clothes are the ones who are limiting ourselves - we are constantly worrying about our appearance, needing to match the images of what we should be according to the media, always trying to lose weight, wearing clothes to show ourselves off, etc. Basically, we are limited by our own beauty or lack there of - by the fact that we are treated as sex objects in Western society. While this is obviously a very feminist view, she has a point. She says she is liberatd constantly worrying about your appearance/weight and trying to be something she isn't...the things that American womens' daily lives revolve around...really makes you think.
Anyway, on to other topics. This is my first time in a foreign country with a group of Americans. Its...interesting. I'm not trying to call people out or anything, but I just thought it was...so stereotypically American that people (quite inadvertently) start to sound really condescending or get pissed off when someone doesn't understand English. Well duh, we're in their country - they should be annoyed at us for our lack of Turkish, not the other way around. And also, as a group we definitely are loud and obnoxious and definitely the bad aspects of the stereotypical American...don't like that at all. I'm not exempting myself from this at all - I'm like that too, but I do think that I had a better understanding coming into this program of why so many foreigners really hate us that a lot of the other kids in this don't get. They hate how Americans try to make themselves at home in their own way wherever they go rather than assimilating to the culture. They hate how we expect to be served, expect to be important, and have such high standards of living. They hate our administration and how our government is always interfering with other nations as if we somehow got a mandate to rule the world. (That last one is not really our fault as individuals...but I definitely get the impression a lot of times that a lot of people just don't seem to understand that it IS wrong for America to be trying to create puppet governments in other countries. I mean, yes, I understand why its important to our political alliances, economy, etc., but like, you can't blame other people for hating the US then.) But eh...whatever...they fulfill the stereotypes of being smelly and often rude just like other Europeans, so I guess it works out. Hah. Not really. But I hope they at least get the point that not ALL of us are like that...and even some of those who start out like that stereotype change as a result of understanding other cultures better. *shrug*
Growing up as a minority race and religion really has a huge impact on your thinking. Its not hard to see how that can sometimes become misattributed as hate towards those in the majority. I mean, really, if people weren't as lucky as me to make lots of close friends of other races and religions, it would be easy to hate, just because you wouldn't know any better. I was thinking that today when I read this article and the comments afterwards: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2007/07/a_kerala_professor_praises_ter.html
Quite frankly, I was disgusted by both the attitude of the professor and more so by the comments. Don't you think some of those commenters might want to think about their own hatred for Islam before they criticize that prof for being fundamentalist in his thinking? Seriously. Haha, in our class on Tuesday we were debating whether the media casts a really negative light on Islam in America, and so many people were arguing no, it doesn't, that people are smart enough to see both sides of the story. Hahaha...obviously not the case. There are way too many stupid people who are ready to label Islam as a violent and evil institution simply because of terrorism...whose ideology really deviates from anything in the Quran. And can't forget that every religion has their own groups of fanatics...*sigh* Why can't we all just get along and love each other? I'm up for that. :)
The cliff notes version: HEAT, Indian restaurant, Jewish museum, going to Asia for dinner, getting a smelly fan AFTER the heatwave lol, election madness over (AKP won with 46% - landslide election, as predicted), reading Harry Potter in the heat, visiting the underground cistern (sounds boring but its quite pretty), visiting the Dolmabace Palace (super ridiculously ornate) and deciding to take the Turkish tour for the second half of it because the English guide sucked (though he was kinda hilarious when he got annoyed), walking on top of these fortress walls, going out on Friday night to the randomest clubs imaginable - but dancing up a storm nonetheless... :)
So all of the above is going to show up on facebook sooooon - I promise! Expect like at least 2 new albums on facebook on Sunday...provided that the internet is fast enough to upload all my pictures. Hah. So I won't go on anymore about that. How about some more interesting topics...
Going backwards - today in our Islam and the West class, we were discussing Islam, Modernization, and Globalization - basically are Islam and globalization (or what is often thought of as Americanization) compatible? Well one of the really interesting things that was brought up was this quote from a "young veiled Euro-Turkish lady" about how its no longer necessary to understand religion purely based upon what one's parents or Imams teach. She said that she preferred to choose her own understanding by using the greater wealth of knowledge open to her today - translated versions of the Quran (since not too many people can really read old Arabic), books, and internet. Through these methods, she said, you can find out about all the schools of Islam and make your choices as to what you believe - so it no longer really depends on your family's personal views. I thought that was really interesting, and it really struck me as being true, not just about Islam, but about other religions, too, especially for those of us growing up in a country's where we are introduced to other religions, other ways of thinking, etc. I know I personally question Hinduism in a way that I don't think most Indians our age growing up in India do. Granted, I get the impression that most Hindus in the US our age also don't question much, just take it for what it is...isn't that stupid? LOL, sorry. I just think its so weird to NOT question facts given to us. I'm not saying we can ever find definite answers for the big questions in life - obviously not, and you know what? Debate as we might, we're not even going to find answers for how best to live our daily lives...but I think its important to at least question, rather than just take for granted what you are taught. At the same time, her quote was a little...unsettling? The idea that we derive religion in large part from our media...haha. I mean, I guess its true - we get a lot of our ideas from there whether or not we think about it. I don't know, its definitely interesting to think about. One of the guys in our class was talking about how he thinks that he and many other Muslims in our generation are often more religious than their parents because of these other outlets for understanding religion...and he was talking about how one of his friends wears the head-scarf - how back in the day when people were immigrating here they might have removed their head-scarves in order to assimilate to Western culture, but how today people are choosing to wear it, because having grown up in America, they don't see a conflict between being American and practicing Islam. Just thought that was interesting.
And speaking of head-scarves...don't remember if I ever mentioned this to you guys, but back in freshman year when I took Intro to Islam, the very last reading we were assigned really changed the way I think about head-scarves. Her argument ws that wearing it doesn't limit women in any way; infact its quite the opposite. Those of us dressing in Western clothes are the ones who are limiting ourselves - we are constantly worrying about our appearance, needing to match the images of what we should be according to the media, always trying to lose weight, wearing clothes to show ourselves off, etc. Basically, we are limited by our own beauty or lack there of - by the fact that we are treated as sex objects in Western society. While this is obviously a very feminist view, she has a point. She says she is liberatd constantly worrying about your appearance/weight and trying to be something she isn't...the things that American womens' daily lives revolve around...really makes you think.
Anyway, on to other topics. This is my first time in a foreign country with a group of Americans. Its...interesting. I'm not trying to call people out or anything, but I just thought it was...so stereotypically American that people (quite inadvertently) start to sound really condescending or get pissed off when someone doesn't understand English. Well duh, we're in their country - they should be annoyed at us for our lack of Turkish, not the other way around. And also, as a group we definitely are loud and obnoxious and definitely the bad aspects of the stereotypical American...don't like that at all. I'm not exempting myself from this at all - I'm like that too, but I do think that I had a better understanding coming into this program of why so many foreigners really hate us that a lot of the other kids in this don't get. They hate how Americans try to make themselves at home in their own way wherever they go rather than assimilating to the culture. They hate how we expect to be served, expect to be important, and have such high standards of living. They hate our administration and how our government is always interfering with other nations as if we somehow got a mandate to rule the world. (That last one is not really our fault as individuals...but I definitely get the impression a lot of times that a lot of people just don't seem to understand that it IS wrong for America to be trying to create puppet governments in other countries. I mean, yes, I understand why its important to our political alliances, economy, etc., but like, you can't blame other people for hating the US then.) But eh...whatever...they fulfill the stereotypes of being smelly and often rude just like other Europeans, so I guess it works out. Hah. Not really. But I hope they at least get the point that not ALL of us are like that...and even some of those who start out like that stereotype change as a result of understanding other cultures better. *shrug*
Growing up as a minority race and religion really has a huge impact on your thinking. Its not hard to see how that can sometimes become misattributed as hate towards those in the majority. I mean, really, if people weren't as lucky as me to make lots of close friends of other races and religions, it would be easy to hate, just because you wouldn't know any better. I was thinking that today when I read this article and the comments afterwards: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2007/07/a_kerala_professor_praises_ter.html
Quite frankly, I was disgusted by both the attitude of the professor and more so by the comments. Don't you think some of those commenters might want to think about their own hatred for Islam before they criticize that prof for being fundamentalist in his thinking? Seriously. Haha, in our class on Tuesday we were debating whether the media casts a really negative light on Islam in America, and so many people were arguing no, it doesn't, that people are smart enough to see both sides of the story. Hahaha...obviously not the case. There are way too many stupid people who are ready to label Islam as a violent and evil institution simply because of terrorism...whose ideology really deviates from anything in the Quran. And can't forget that every religion has their own groups of fanatics...*sigh* Why can't we all just get along and love each other? I'm up for that. :)