Tradition, Honor, and Identity #11

In this lecture we discussed the beliefs of Asia.  Tradition, honor, and identity which are three very large aspects in not only Asia but many places around the world as well.  They have a lot of respect for each other in these countries and take family values and honesty a lot more seriously that we do here in the United States.  Things such as traditions are often looked over in the United States but in other places it is a very important that traditions are carried on and not broken.  I feel that there is not much tradition here in the United States unless your family has come from a background that believes in it.  Family honor is one thing that is also something that is extremely important.  They believe that if a family members does any wrong doing it is a poor reflection on the whole family and they take it extremely seriously.  They are a lot more strict in places such as Asia and India than they are here and these three things are something that they take seriously. 

Empires #10

In this class we discussed empires.  We learned that when the empire is strong, expansion exists and independence is uncommon and when the empire appears weak, the colonies begin to exert themselves.  The Roman Empire has always interested me and the amount of power they had was incredible but there is a lot unknown about it because many of the books written were burned.  There are many possible reasons that the Roman Empire had fallen but it is hard to know the true reason.  We also learned about the British Empire and I found it interesting that it was the only empire on all 7 continents and the only empire to accept responsibility for the legacy of colonization because I did not know about this.  It is pretty crazy to think that one half of the world’s population was under British control.  I’ve always found it fascinating how much power some empires have and then it can all just come to an end. Overall, I really enjoyed this class lecture and learned a lot.

Why does the middle east hate us? #9

The Middle East differs from us in many ways. A main reason we are hated by them is because we have freedoms that they believe threaten their way of life and many of them ideally believe that it's their god given authority to protect themselves from our influences.  They feel that here in the United States that there is a loss of traditional families, which is a very important aspect in the Middle Eastern lifestyle. We promote individualism and that is not something they are fond of. Another reason we are disliked by them is because of how materialistic America seems to be. They do not believe in having to have a lot of nice things to lead a good lifestyle like most of the U.S. does. Another main reason we are hated by the Middle East is because of the way our women act. They are independent and free to do as they please, unlike the traditional Middle Eastern women. In class we were shown a Lady Gaga music video and I believe that it is things like that, that makes them hate us so much. Middle Eastern people have a very different way of life and do not agree with much of what we do just like how we do not agree with much they do. They have very different opinions on how life should be lived and how people should be treated.

Africa #8

In this lecture we talked about if the United States should help Africa and why it is our moral responsibility. I believe that we should help because if we were in their situation and had terrible living conditions and were dying of starvation we would desperately want help. Since America is a in position to help, I feel that we should do as much as possible to save some lives and make living over in some parts of Africa better. It does not take much for the United States to make an impact over there whether it be donations or any kind of help at all.  I do not think that just giving them tons of money is a solution and I think more needs to be done if we want to make an impact. The main thing that would stop a lot of problems over there is if our funds went towards building a better education for them.   Education will stop their spread of STIs and provide them with a foundation to sustain themselves and deal with their own country.