|
Crowd hears how the world views the U.S.
| Posted |
|
on Thursday, November 20, 2008 (CST)
|
|
 By Emily Langness, editor
The crowd was as diverse as the subject matter on Nov. 11 for the viewing of "The Listening Project," a documentary film created to discuss the globe's view of America. Children, twenty-somethings and adults, students, staff and teachers, international citizens and locals all opened themselves up to either a reality check or a confirmation of what they've been thinking all along about the United States.
Falcon Activities and Campus Events' (FACE) diversity committee hosted the event in the Casado Campus Center at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11. The film showcased opinions from a wide array of nations including Afghanistan, Canada, France, India, Israel, Palestine (considered two different nations for the purposes of the film), Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania and the United Kingdom.
Opinions highlighted in the film ranged from admiration to disgust, some praising America’s ingenuity and others condemning the nation for its pomposity.
Following the film, faculty from the religion and humanities division discussed it and comments from the audience.
Ninah Omido, a Friends graduate student from Kenya and FACE diversity chair, introduced the panel discussion asking what causes the negative reactions to America so prevalent in the film.
History Professor Guang Qiu Xu said he has been in many of the countries highlighted in the film and that their opinions of the United States come as no surprise to him.
"They like America," he said, "but they have problems with (its) policies and perspective."
That lack of perspective and openness to new cultures is what turns many foreign citizens off to the United States, said Xu.
Religion Professor Tony Clark, a citizen of Great Britain, commended the audience for their interest in hearing "what others have to say."
"We have to allow our minds to be changed," he said.
Clark cited isolationism as a basic problem in understanding different perspectives.
Jerry Smartt, director of foreign languages at Friends, countered the negativity in the film, insisting that American students view their country with pride.
"We are the most wonderful experiment of freedom and liberty this world has ever seen," she said. "We are going to make mistakes, but you don't have to answer negatively about this great experiment."
History Professor Gretchen Eick encouraged students to take advantage of study abroad opportunities and to be involved in local government.
"Members of Congress suffer from the same ignorance (we do)," she said, "and part of our job is to educate them."
Canadian student Cameron White commented that the American news media covers far less world news than he is used to in Canada, for which Eick suggested watching alternative news sources like the BBC or Democracy Now! She also suggested asking local outlets for more international news.
|
|