Nice article, Luna.
The part I liked the most was when you said « Stereotypes are a generalization, more often than not they are negative, but some truth lies beneath them. »
We all know that not all Italians are mafiosi and not all arabs are terrorists, we all know that we should fight those stereotypes and those generalizations but, to be honest, I think that one of the best ways to fight them is to recognize their truth.
When I read the New York Times and I see my country characterized as a third world country run by a corrupted clown my first reaction is to write a letter to protest. But maybe the honest thing to do is to reflect and understand why a serious foreign paper sees us in that way and try my best to change Italy, and not only the way in which it is perceived.
In the same way I think that people in the arab and muslim world should stop complain about how the world sees them and keep doing something about it. Few days ago (always on the NYT) Thomas Friedman had a point. Pakistan is right in saying that it is unjust to blame the all country for a few fanatics that carried on Mumbai attaks but, considering the mass demonstration that took place in that country after the Denish cartoon case, how many pakistanis are ready to take the street to protest the mass murder and show solidarity with the victims?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the arab world, I know the enormous differences among the people that live there, particularly in your beautiful city of Damascus. But that is precisely why sometimes I’d love to see them stop complaining and start doing something to change the (mostly wrong) way in which the world sees them.
Nice article, Luna.
The part I liked the most was when you said « Stereotypes are a generalization, more often than not they are negative, but some truth lies beneath them. »
We all know that not all Italians are mafiosi and not all arabs are terrorists, we all know that we should fight those stereotypes and those generalizations but, to be honest, I think that one of the best ways to fight them is to recognize their truth.
When I read the New York Times and I see my country characterized as a third world country run by a corrupted clown my first reaction is to write a letter to protest. But maybe the honest thing to do is to reflect and understand why a serious foreign paper sees us in that way and try my best to change Italy, and not only the way in which it is perceived.
In the same way I think that people in the arab and muslim world should stop complain about how the world sees them and keep doing something about it. Few days ago (always on the NYT) Thomas Friedman had a point. Pakistan is right in saying that it is unjust to blame the all country for a few fanatics that carried on Mumbai attaks but, considering the mass demonstration that took place in that country after the Denish cartoon case, how many pakistanis are ready to take the street to protest the mass murder and show solidarity with the victims?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the arab world, I know the enormous differences among the people that live there, particularly in your beautiful city of Damascus. But that is precisely why sometimes I’d love to see them stop complaining and start doing something to change the (mostly wrong) way in which the world sees them.