...It's not all perfect here. Just two stories to share with you about my fellow students.
In my religion class, as my teacher gave a rudimentary explanation of early Judaism, one girl indignantly called out, "Isn't it true though that the Jews still practice human sacrifice?" The professor was fazed for only a second, before moving on resignedly, as if he'd heard the question before, to explain that no, Jews did not and had never practiced human sacrifice, that it was entirely anathema to the Jewish tradition, that only animal sacrifices as specified in Leviticus had ever been carried out in the Old Temple. The girl remained incredulous, and appears to have left the class still thinking that secretly, Jews probably still practiced human sacrifice.
And just today, sitting in the library doing homework, I heard this conversation. A girl and guy sit together, flirt for a while, are joined by another friend, and one of the two men turns the discussion to current events, saying "I didn't expect Gadhafi to hang in this long!" His friend agrees and they turn to the woman, who stammers "What? Who? Sorry..." The men are awkwardly incredulous that the woman has no idea who Gadhafi is, and as they push her for details of her ignorance, are even more awkward upon discovering that she didn't even know there was a revolution in Libya. "I just haven't really been watching the news so much recently...you know, I didn't know...I don't know anything about politics, it is not really my interest. But for you, it is your background, of course..." The two men awkwardly say that they are in fact physics majors, not poli sci, and the girl continues to stammer. I am sitting a table away, already horrified by this interaction, when I hear the real punchline - Guy asks girl, "You really didn't know who Gadhafi is?" "No," she stammers again. "And you're not American?" he replies, at last truly incredulous.
I was so shocked, and offended, and struck by their assumptions and their ignorance, that I actually teared up. This girl was Lebanese, had spent her whole life in the Arab world and probably couldn't even find Libya on a map. Her ignorance and apathy are appalling. But it is Americans - people like me - who are so generally assumed to be ignorant and apathetic about the world. There I sat, only feet away from them, an American, totally aware and in support of the tide of national pride and democratic fervor that sweeping across the Middle East, and she sat, Arab and ignorant as the day is long.
It can be really hard to understand other people. But at least some of us are trying.
In my religion class, as my teacher gave a rudimentary explanation of early Judaism, one girl indignantly called out, "Isn't it true though that the Jews still practice human sacrifice?" The professor was fazed for only a second, before moving on resignedly, as if he'd heard the question before, to explain that no, Jews did not and had never practiced human sacrifice, that it was entirely anathema to the Jewish tradition, that only animal sacrifices as specified in Leviticus had ever been carried out in the Old Temple. The girl remained incredulous, and appears to have left the class still thinking that secretly, Jews probably still practiced human sacrifice.
And just today, sitting in the library doing homework, I heard this conversation. A girl and guy sit together, flirt for a while, are joined by another friend, and one of the two men turns the discussion to current events, saying "I didn't expect Gadhafi to hang in this long!" His friend agrees and they turn to the woman, who stammers "What? Who? Sorry..." The men are awkwardly incredulous that the woman has no idea who Gadhafi is, and as they push her for details of her ignorance, are even more awkward upon discovering that she didn't even know there was a revolution in Libya. "I just haven't really been watching the news so much recently...you know, I didn't know...I don't know anything about politics, it is not really my interest. But for you, it is your background, of course..." The two men awkwardly say that they are in fact physics majors, not poli sci, and the girl continues to stammer. I am sitting a table away, already horrified by this interaction, when I hear the real punchline - Guy asks girl, "You really didn't know who Gadhafi is?" "No," she stammers again. "And you're not American?" he replies, at last truly incredulous.
I was so shocked, and offended, and struck by their assumptions and their ignorance, that I actually teared up. This girl was Lebanese, had spent her whole life in the Arab world and probably couldn't even find Libya on a map. Her ignorance and apathy are appalling. But it is Americans - people like me - who are so generally assumed to be ignorant and apathetic about the world. There I sat, only feet away from them, an American, totally aware and in support of the tide of national pride and democratic fervor that sweeping across the Middle East, and she sat, Arab and ignorant as the day is long.
It can be really hard to understand other people. But at least some of us are trying.
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