However, nowadays, people’s lives have been affected by the consequences derived from the danger of a single-story and our selfishness. According to Ethnocentrism, Amal Kassir once revealed that “The greatest distance you can travel in the shortest amount of time, is by asking someone their name. We ask their names. We don’t assign it to them” while delivering a speech at Ted Talk in 2016. She titled her presentation as “The Muslim On the Airplane”. During her speech, she conveys so much evidence that proves how people should never judge someone according to the difference in cultures.
Amal Kassir is a story-telling activist & Spoken-Word Poet. Her name, Amal, means “hope” in Arabic. Her hope is creating a world, in which there are no definitions for the terms asylum, discrimination, and brutality. She has delivered a speech in the youth prisons, refugee camps, churches, universities, and public community spaces in 10 countries and over 100 cities. Her goal is helping people in war-struck areas and refugee camps to overcome vulnerable and have a better life.
According to Ethnocentrism, people consider their country superior to others so that other people’s way of behavior is inappropriate. While delivering the speech, she shows the picture of the children at a refugee camp on the Syrian-Turkish border. She emphasizes that “They are not poison. They are people, families who wish that they could go home but have had to make that home somewhere else”. This is the best illustration to describe how the negative side of the concept of ethnocentrism works. We assume that those people, who came from a different country and speak a different language, are not as good as us. Instead of listening to their story, we make up a story from our point of view and draw a conclusion by ourselves. In order to strengthen her illustration, she shows the audiences the way their cities became a desolate waste because of the war. Their homes are ruined. She declares that “They’re not here to steal your democracy or to take over your neighborhoods”. From that proof, we can have an idea that it is a good thing to love your country. However, we should never listen to a single-story about someone else’s country.
Sociologist William Sumner once claimed, “On the negative side, ethnocentrism can lead to discrimination against people whose ways differ from us”. Americans, especially Whites, consider that white is a norm. As a consequence, other races, who don’t have English as a primary language, are all immigrants. From that point, discrimination is formed and developed. Amal Kassir emphasizes “Native Americans would have considered all of us as immigrants”. Native Americans have their language. They don’t speak English. They are not white. However, they are the founders of the United States.
As a result of ethnocentrism, we use our own group’s ways of doing things as a yardstick for judging others. At the end of her presentation, Kassir stated that “The greatest distance you can travel in the shortest amount of time, is by asking someone their name. We ask their names. We don’t assign it to them”. By asking someone their name, we actively suggest them to tell us their story. We have no right to assume someone’s life and judge their behavior. Instead of calling someone “alien”, we can call them “immigrants”. We can say “ unequal wealth distribution” as an alternative for “lazy poor people”. We should never define a country or a culture with the term “dangerous” because someone in that group did something terrible. “What’s your name” is such a short distance to cross.
Even though ethnocentrism has both good and bad sides, the negative aspect is inevitable. Due to the way we treated the culture contrasts with selfishness, many social problems are caused. Ethnocentrism limits our perspectives and creates wars. However, ethnocentrism can also be adjusted to make the world become better.
People tend to resist changes because they don’t want those alterations to make their life become less convenient. As a result, people limit their perspective and observe the world through their own lenses. With that point of view, discrimination is unstoppable. However, little did they know, changes could also make their life easier. Instead of finding a way to accept and recognize the good aspects of someone or some countries, we chose to assume our rules upon their idea. Nowadays, we consider someone, who wears the hijab, as a “dangerous” group of people. In fact, it would be easier to switch your idea from “dangerous” to “fashionable”. Kimono is a Japanese traditional clothing. Hijab is a Islamic traditional clothing. They are just relevant to fashion. In addition, in some countries, pork is banned. Instead of laughing at their rules, we should show respect to them. The law is made to fulfill their life. We should never judge anyone’s life. We should learn to respect.
People show a tendency to dislike someone because he or she doesn’t share the same appearance and culture with them. Due to the concept of ethnocentrism, people believe that their countries and cultures are the best ones. As a consequence, wars are becoming a tool for people to influence other countries. Almost all wars are started by the urge to convey idealism. We desire to make our culture become popular so that our global would develop within our control. With that in mind, the first act is colonization. Back in the day, World War II was formed when the German government desired to prove that German is the best country in the world in all aspects. Because of wars, millions of innocent people were dead. The passion they had should be used to build up a strong country instead of a tool to compete for power.
Due to the positive effect of ethnocentrism, people are given passions to show loyalty to their countries. Patriotism has always been considered as the most essential attribute. Patriotism is the source of strength that drives people through challenges to victories. It is known as a great spiritual motivation of the entire nation and a leading factor to create endogenous strength for our nation to live and develop. Due to the presence of ethnocentrism, our world is created and maintained. People are taught to love their countries. Strong countries contribute to a strong world. The way we love our countries and make it a better place, we indirectly make our global become a better place.
Ethnocentrism has both good and bad aspects. Nowadays, the negative side is rapidly developing. People should have known that culture was formed a thousand years ago. We should show respect to our culture and so does the other cultures. If we could not empathize with someone’s way of living, we can learn to respect them or at least learn to tolerate them. Instead of framing conclusions about other countries, it is better to give them a chance to express their stories by asking “What’s your name?.”
Works Cited
"Amal Kassir." BAM Book A Muslim, BAM, bookamuslim.com/amal-kassir/.
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