Question #4 Are people of the world more alike than different.
It is very clear to me through our journy this year in your class that people in the world are alike. Just because someone has a lot more money than another person does not take away their primal needs to be loved, wanted, and needed. Although our environments can cause us to act and behave differently, we still feel a connection on a down to earth level over big picture questions like morality and ethical questions. In Peter Singer's share the weatlh. I am pretty sure our class was unanimous on the decision to sacrifice our shoes to save the drowning child and to be honest, who wouldn't? No matter how much or little money you have, your willing to sacrifice your own personal wealth to save the life of a kid. It doesn't matter if your a billionaire philanthropist, or a member of Al-Qaeda, everyone will feel the same urge to save the kid. Even though their outlooks on life are insanely different, they will both come to an instant agreement on subjects such as this meaning that while we can try and say that we are more different or sophisticated than others, we really are all much more alike that we would like to think. In Things Fall Apart, Okonowa wanted to believe that he was better than his dad, that was the public joke of the village. However when things wrapped up, he realized that kind of thinking made him no better than his own man and that no matter how much he strived to be different, he would always be like his dad and I believe this is transfers over to many situations in life where you think you might be better than another person, but in reality, your a lot more similar than you make yourself out to be.
Question #3 What social institutions oppress or limit oppression, and how are they perpetuated?
Many groups, either by purpose or accident, limit the freedom of specific groups of people. Not all groups are even inherintly bad, although their practices have some adverse effect on the people who they were trying to help. Such groups can range from government organizations to missionaries trying to spread their beliefs. Governments have been around stealing peoples freedom since the dawns of time. While the idea is good, giving a small group of people power over a population will never unravel itself the way it was intended. For instance, when the rebels tried to take over Rwanda, their makeshift government instantly proposed a complete genocide on their rival clan, and extermination of ones race can easily be identified as being oppressed. Once more, the rebels were not the only ones. Many developed countries had the power and means to intervene and stop this conflict but chose not to looking out for their own interests. So not only do single governments create oppression, the lack of interest from other parties allows the oppression to continue. Another good example is European governments deciding not to help out the country of Greece in its economic hard times. Greece's people are facing economic depression (oppression!) and again, a lack of interest causes the oppression to continue. To overcome these oppressions is not easy. In the Syria conflict, the in control corrupt government is doing everything in its power to stay in power. The oppressed people however can't break free on their own, and require the use of other governments to help overthrow their own. The problem is when other governments don't want to get involved, they are basically oppressing the people just as much as their own government is because they did nothing to stop it. Conflicts like these happen everyday in many countries around the world and it is unfortunate how few times other countries step in to actually help the people form a soverign nation. Although we tend to think of churches and missionaries as "the good guys", they actually bring their own forms of oppression along with them, directly and indirectly. The churches require the people they are "saving" to leave behind their language and traditions to learn "God's way", many of these "victims" don't want to change their ideals, but really have no other choice because they need the extra food and shelter the missionaries provide to survive. Then when missionaries from developed countries began establishing themselves, they bring with them more than just their religious beliefs, but also their capitalist economy. Shops can start setting up and forcing other locally own places to go out of business because they can't keep up. Then unwillingly, the social life of that societies must conform to that of the missionaries, leaving behind all their cultures and traditions and forcing them to live in this new way of life that most of them don't want to be in. The book "Things Fall Apart" shows just how powerful the force of forgein invaders can be on an underdeveloped country. Just weeks after the missionaries arrived, families started to fight, communties began to fall apart, and the once flowing society was torn apart because of conflicts over beliefs. Almost everyone's lives were forever changed, mostly for the worst, because of these foreign missionaries who actually came with a peaceful intent, and even though they were peaceful, that didn't mean they couldn't have a dramatically negative effect on the society and the lives of its people. So it is clear groups of people who have power over other groups, whether they are good or bad, will always place some form of oppression on those below them. Not only that, but forgein people who bring with them the ideals and customs of their own society to a new one, no matter if they have good or bad intentions, will change their host society, whether it is for the best is up to interpertation.
Question #2 Why should we care about what happens in the rest of the world?
As quantum theory suggests, everything,everywhere is interconnected. This holds true not only for those microscopic particles, but also for all the nations of the world. Our lives are dependent upon other countries' resources without which, we would not be able to uphold the lavish Americna life style. On an even bigger note, the cooperation of the worlds countries is what allows everyone to prosper. In "Things Fall Apart", it becomes apperant that the tribes must cooperate or they will tear theirselves apart before they could even think about dealing with the overwhelming amount of whites invading their lands. This all comes back to the US. Why should we care what we do to their lands and culture? It is quite obvious that we already exploit many countries for their resources because we have power over them. However, this continued exploitation may cause them to run out of that resource and in turn prevent us from obtaining any and thus actually hurt ourselves. Some common theme that dominated many of our discussions was the sharing of your wealth concept. The idea made many of us uncomfortable at first because we believed that we deserve to use the money we earn and not give it to those who couldn't earn it for themselves. However, it later became apperent that its those peoples suffering thats what allows us to gain that money and that by sharing our money, everyone can live an acceptable quality of life. The benefits that come with this are infinite. There will be no wars, little to no preventable famine, all people will be allowed to live no matter what part of the world they live on. The only problem with this is that most of the current wealthy people arn't willing to sacrifice some of their wealth to make the overall world a better place. It is getting them comfortable with the idea that is going to be what allows the human race to continue foward. In the anology with the city of the Amilo, the story tells of how there is a poor hungry child locked up in a cage. No one knows why is there, or attempts to help him, but rather accepts the fact that he must be there for their city to prosper. This is eerily similar to the US's relation with some 3rd world countries. While we might not exactly know how they ended up behind us, it is generally quite obvious, but instead of trying to do something we just tend to accep the fact that we are better off than them and that they can sort things out for themselves. Why should we care about others? We are all connected no matter how far apart we try to distance ourselves from others and we can't survive without the cooperation of everyone on a equal level.
Question #1 What purposes and functions does artistic expression fulfill for individuals and cultures?
Through good and bad times, freedom and oppression, people will always have art to help express themselves and their community. Many of the countries discussed in this trimester mainly faced oppression, which is where artistic expression counts the most. People need to have something to live for, something to make a name for themselves, something to be remembered by.
Something that has always seemed prevalent in any community around the world is that people want their stories to live on, mainly through their friends and family. In Things Fall Apart, Okonowa had to live down the failure of his father while at the same time starting a successful family of his own and one of which he would be proud to be remembered in. This gave him the motivation to become one of the most successful men in the tribe. His stories will probably be told for many generations to come. This is not only part of African culture but human culture in general.
While some people strive to be remembered, some people strive to have others become completely forgotten (which as bad as that might sound is a form of expression). In the Rwandan genocide, The Hutu army performed a small genocide on their rival clan the Tutsis, wiping out hundreds of thousands of lives, millions of stories that will never have the chance to be told again. In Hotel Rwanda, you see just how important peoples stories are to each other and the great perils they will face in an effort to protect them. They serve as a motivating force to help you and your neighbors and give you a common bond, or connection that can help you relate. Art serves to unify the world, while at the same time highlighting each individual for their unique characteristics.
Going off the previous statement, we can use art to find a common thread. One of the hardest things for two cultures to do is find where their ideas match, what seems to be a lot easier is persecute one another for their differences. Two cultures that can appear very different to the eye, can have very similar underlying ideas and beliefs. We must use empathy in order to stand in one another’s shoes to see what common beliefs we have that make us similar. That is why although art is usually used for the individual’s creativity, it can also be used to highlight the similarities we all share as human beings.
Finding these connections to what another is what really allows people to prosper. When you can see eye to eye with your neighbor, you’re much more likely to help them out when they are need. This goes along with the whole sharing the wealth idea and although it seems radical to give away a lot of your wealth to some person on the other end of the world that you don’t really know. You can remember that if you were placed in the same position that you wouldn’t want them to make that choice. Some less radical ideas can also be used with still a helpful benefit to the human population as a whole.
Artistic expression motivates the individual to succeed, while at the same time bringing communities together and serves as a purpose to unite one another.