An overview of ethnocentrism tradition in america

Ethnocentrism

May be the “Best Country” the Only One that will matter?

Land with the free. Residence of the brave. The best country in the world. The various names given to the United States of America suggest that the standard American considers their country to be the strongest, the freest, and, total, just plain a lot better than all the relax. While the range between pride and nationalism is a skinny, dangerous one, it is generally thought that pleasure in a person’s country can be an excellent trait. It might be, as long as it provides a healthy critique of America’s laws and policies as needed, as well as a value for the progress and cooperation of some other countries on the globe. Unfortunately, American pride is normally centered about superiority and ethnocentrism, a bad way to assess other countries and cultures based on what Americans consider to be usual. The American tradition of ethnocentric considering hinders intercontinental cooperation and understanding, creating stereotypes and misconceptions that harm any and all foreign peoples.

In American media, additional cultures are often defined only by their identified differences to American traditions rather than by their unique attributes, making it difficult for Americans to recognize commonalities in foreign people. For example , Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie came to the us from Nigeria to attend university. Her roomie, having just been shown the stark distinctions between her home and Africa, immediately expected an individual with who she can never connect with, instead finding a girl whom spoke her same vocabulary and listened to her same music (Adichie). With this kind of emphasis on distinctions, people are conditioned to look for these instead of searching for similarities. If perhaps Adichie’s roomie had rather been knowledgeable of the range in Africa culture, she’d have had an instant understanding of Adichie, who would have experienced a much more stable transition in this international country. In the event that America prides itself about being a place where people can be secure and obtain their dreams, Americans needs to be creating a pleasant, safe environment for every migrant into the country, instead of exuding rejection and hurling insults. While, just as the case of Adichie, the misconceptions produced by American misunderstanding are not necessarily hazardous for her, a foreigner, they can conveniently make outsiders feel ostracized and misinterpreted, in return creating negative stereotypes of America as well. This kind of vicious ring caused by erroneous cultural expectations inhibits co-operation between countries and creates an air of anxiousness for all universe travelers.

In particular when outside of the sphere of western European countries, the United States appears down on various other countries that have substantially contrasting views for their own. Because America considers its own beliefs as standard, immigrants and refugees coming from foreign countries in want, such as Syria, are turned down based on this kind of fear of the unknown. This is when the relatively harmless ethnocentric views placed by Americans hurt, or perhaps cost the lives of, foreigners. One man, Brandon Stanton, should counteract Syrian misconceptions by using a project referred to as Humans of New York: Retraite Stories. Simply by photographing and detailing refugees’ emotions and losses through their harrowing journeys, he succeeds in demonstrating the similarities of most human beings, and, through these kinds of stories, cannot help but for evoke accord and empathy for people recently misunderstood and even feared. The refugee crisis is one of the many glaring samples of the damaging American opinion that the “best country inside the world” simply needs to guard its own, and this no various other lives are really worth as much as a great American’s. This kind of thought process, in conjunction with fear based upon ignorance, discourages aid to scared international families, depending on the fundamental concern that they will be simply too different. If only all Americans read Stanton’s stories, perhaps the United States would get started working toward global assistance by participating in the worldwide effort to help those who want it, no matter where these were born.

If perhaps Americans only saw their very own “normal” traditions from a unique perspective, they would finally observe the ridiculousness of ethnocentrism and the division it creates between peoples. This is precisely what Horace Miner accomplished in the essay, “Body Ritual among the list of Nacirema”. Through this work, Miner sheds a light-weight on how ethnocentrism warps a culture in something odd and uncivilized, rather than anything relatable. By presenting American culture because having “such unusual elements that it seems desirable to spell out them as one example of the two extremes to which human being behavior can go, ” Miner begins the essay with an image of a barbaric, weird group of people who have obviously have nothing in keeping with present proud American (1). This individual continues by detailing common American morning routines in a manner that resembles the magical traditions of a tribe group devoid of modern technology (2-5). By displaying American your life in this way, it is clear that any traditions can become a thing completely incomprehensive depending on just how it is skewed. How we view the world every other, in the event that not based upon direct encounter, is all depending on who relays the information. You can easily see how quickly stereotypes could be formed following reading the essay, mainly because suddenly everyone in the group Miner portrayed is the same. He won’t note the variation between individuals or try to make sure they are relatable for the reader, yet instead succeeds in making Americans unappealing and delusional. The realization after analyzing this essay may possibly force Americans to reevaluate their sense of superiority surrounding overseas countries, and stop interpreting different because something that needs to be avoided rather than embraced.

Many Americans are working to assist their other citizens wake up from the media-induced delusions the majority of have. Recommends like Brandon Stanton and Horace Miner, or migrants like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, need only to improve awareness of the disillusions People in america have about the world surrounding them. It may take global tragedies, like the Rwandan Genocide, or the more recent Syrian Detrimental War, to evoke consideration and a call to action in certain Americans, but for others a similar events may just serve to agree their unfounded beliefs. A very common point of view in America often goes undetected, although belonging to the most dangerous reasons to reject other civilizations. It is the proven fact that no foreign life is well worth saving whether it may risk just one American life. If this goes unanalyzed, it seems almost logical: obviously one should shield his very own nation whatever it takes. However , seeking closer at the concept reveals that an American life is evaluated as being worth more than hundreds, even countless numbers, of some other lives. If one thinks of these kinds of lives in conditions of people, regardless of nationality, it appears clear that saving a large number of lives is usually well worth the potential of risking a single. This was exemplified in the Combined States’ role in the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. While sporting the power to quit the warfare early, they decided it had been too dangerous for People in america to get involved, leaving hundreds of thousands more individuals to needlessly expire (Rusesabagina and Zoellner). In summary, the misconceptions that happen from American ethnocentrism, a view that essentially judges additional countries because of not being American enough, may range from hurtful to fatal. If it’s aggravating, it causes the rest of the world to look down on the United States as a country that rejects outsiders, disregarding the fact that this used to happily be called a “melting pot” of civilizations. It could end up being deadly, possibly as a driving force of hate crimes, or perhaps as a refusal to accept pain on the globe because it doesn’t directly affect natural-born American citizens. If America won’t realize it is ethnocentrism and commence to value diversity throughout the globe, it is going to become isolated from the remaining portion of the world.