Cultural Understanding
Communication 303
Cultural Understanding
There was a time when Islam was nothing more to Americans than a far away religion in an exotic land. Today most citizens in America do not have a clear understanding of what Islam religions is about. The “Muslims in America” episode of 30 Days is about a story of a Christian Caucasian male, named David Stacy, who agreed to live with a Muslim family that were born in America. Once the question was asked to a few American citizens that were being interviewed what they think about the word “Muslim”, they immediately referred to that word to a negative phrase such as terrorist with an AK-47, Bin Laden, scared. Clearly, it’s obvious that most of American view Islam as a violent religion and I am sure it doesn’t help with news media portraying that and movies that are putting those negative imagery in them. Many years ago, TV and movies showed American citizens that Muslims were nothing more but “snake charmers, belly dancers and Arabian nights”. Islam is one of the world’s dominant religions and claims as much as one fifth of the world’s population.
Samovar et al. states that “intercultural communication involves interaction between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems differ enough to influence the communication event” (8). David attempted to learn the Arabic language and get a better understanding about the Islam faith. He still was having a hard time with understanding how Islam religion prayed to the same God that Christians pray to and the idea of practicing the praying rituals in Arabic. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “No man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits. Otherwise he makes himself a great baby; so helpless and so ridiculous”(Samovar et al. 13).
It was very important for David to get an understanding of the host families. He had to get pass the culture shock he was experiencing and the Islamicphobia he was experiencing from the nearby Caucasian neighbors.
Cultural Understanding
There was a time when Islam was nothing more to Americans than a far away religion in an exotic land. Today most citizens in America do not have a clear understanding of what Islam religions is about. The “Muslims in America” episode of 30 Days is about a story of a Christian Caucasian male, named David Stacy, who agreed to live with a Muslim family that were born in America. Once the question was asked to a few American citizens that were being interviewed what they think about the word “Muslim”, they immediately referred to that word to a negative phrase such as terrorist with an AK-47, Bin Laden, scared. Clearly, it’s obvious that most of American view Islam as a violent religion and I am sure it doesn’t help with news media portraying that and movies that are putting those negative imagery in them. Many years ago, TV and movies showed American citizens that Muslims were nothing more but “snake charmers, belly dancers and Arabian nights”. Islam is one of the world’s dominant religions and claims as much as one fifth of the world’s population.
Samovar et al. states that “intercultural communication involves interaction between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems differ enough to influence the communication event” (8). David attempted to learn the Arabic language and get a better understanding about the Islam faith. He still was having a hard time with understanding how Islam religion prayed to the same God that Christians pray to and the idea of practicing the praying rituals in Arabic. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “No man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits. Otherwise he makes himself a great baby; so helpless and so ridiculous”(Samovar et al. 13).
It was very important for David to get an understanding of the host families. He had to get pass the culture shock he was experiencing and the Islamicphobia he was experiencing from the nearby Caucasian neighbors.
Cited: “Muslims and America.” 30 Days: The Complete Series. Virgil Films, 2010. DVD. “Immigration.” 30 Days: The Complete Series. Virgil Films, 2010. DVD. “Life on an Indian Reservation.” 30 Days: The Complete Series. Virgil Films, 2010. DVD. Samovar, Larry A., Richard E. Porter, Edwin R. McDaniel, and Carolyn S. Roy. Communication Between Cultures. 8th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth. 2010. Print.