Blog 3-Sami Atari

Two of my favorite topics that we have covered in these last couple weeks are Crosscultural / Intercultural Ethics and Globalism, Social Inclusion, and the Digital Divide. I’ve always found anything that has to deal with different cultures, globalism, and different ethnicities fascinating. I feel particularly drawn to these subjects due to the fact that I have family members in different countries, as well as friends with different ethnicities.

I particularly found the case-study in Ess’s Digital Media Ethics about the Muhammad Cartoons very interesting since my family is Muslim. I think that the people in my family would take offense to these stereo types that were published in Europe. Even though I don’t consider myself “Muslim” because I do not strictly follow all traditions, I still take offense to it as well. Perhaps the reason I get angry is because I know it would offend the people I know. Would Christians get angry if this was the same way but with Jesus Christ? For this reason, I feel like that Muslims are always getting short changed.
Another great example the Ess brings up is about women cartoon characters showing skin and that some places there are people that don’t take offense to it, but in some they do. In countries with a huge Muslim population then there probably wouldn’t be a problems because incidents like this probably won’t happen. If you live in a none-Muslim country than they shouldn’t really complain about it, because it is a part of their culture. It’s almost redundant because they complain about people not respecting their cultural, but they should know that what they are offended by is actually someone else’s culture. All this also ties into the chapter on cross cultural.

There are always going to be people that aren’t as open as others. They have been closed off from the rest of the world and either will never break out to discover otherness or will never get the opportunity. I love to ask people where they are from and talk to them about their culture. One main reason I do this is so I can compare them to my culture, and find similarities. My parents always taught me to be open about this, and I feel that I am. I like to talk about another cultures food, traditions, and also try to learn a couple things from their language.

I feel bad for the people that are sheltered and don’t get to experience other cultures. They have been put into a little bubble and don’t know how to get out.