1) What did you learn from the “Arab and Other Middle Eastern Americans” article? Be specific and provide examples from the reading.
The biggest thing I learned from the article is how not even secretly embedded in the systems of the United States is the oppression of Middle Eastern individuals through numerous methods that are blatantly supported by government statements. The article mentions a good few of these, such as the generalization of anybody from the ME being Arabic, obviously making Israel seem holier than the rest of the land, while excluding obvious exceptions such as the Persians, Assyrians, the genocide victim Armenians, Turks, Kurds, and many more. Such associations, and the lies portrayed by the United States post-9/11 for the sole purpose of making money from invading Iraq, have made life very difficult in the US for people of both Middle Eastern descent and immigrants from the region.
2) Discuss something you learned and/ or can relate to from 1-2 of this week’s videos.
The largest thing I realized from the video is how even a 6-year-old is affected by the post 9/11 propaganda that plagues the US about the middle east, and the pre-9/11 propaganda that somehow to an extent is still believed (the myth of ME-Africa being primitive) and used to directly or non-intentionally by the propaganda receiver to harm its targets. I relate to this immensely as a queer individual who from the age of 5 I can remember it being made clear to me that I wasn’t a girl–as much as even then I felt some sort yearning to be a woman–but society decided to follow the propaganda of gender in Abrahamic religion to say that there was no way I could be a woman, and made sure I was clearly told it.
3) Discuss the article on “Literacy Reform in the Middle East.” Provide examples from the reading.
I think the largest thing I see in this article is making a bold assumption–that literacy would solve many issues present in the Middle East, which is a factually absurd conclusion. Of course, literacy and education would be a great thing, however I don’t thing the sole existence of literacy can solve problems such as colonial warfare in Israel, religious government in Afghanistan, general unrest in the region, added onto to having millions displaced. Literacy is good and still should be a goal to achieve in the region– but it’s presumptuous to believe that literacy alone could help solve these problems when the lack of it is a symptom of said problems.
4) Share your source on this topic–let us know what it is, why you selected it, and why it matters
The destruction of Iraq’s education system – This article is extremely important to understand how devastating the Iraq war was for specifically Iraqi citizens. George W Bush knowingly lied about Iraq having WMDs and having involvement in 9/11, all so him, Dick Cheney, and an unknown number of individuals, directly made money from the Iraq war, a war on education more than anything. In the name of profits, the Bush Administration bombed Iraq mercilessly, including much of its education system, and led to the situation of mass illiteracy that exists in the country–a situation that the US likes to pretend it’s solving while being the one to make it what it is.
The destruction of Iraq’s education system – This article is extremely important to understand how devastating the Iraq war was for specifically Iraqi citizens. George W Bush knowingly lied about Iraq having WMDs and having involvement in 9/11, all so him, Dick Cheney, and an unknown number of individuals, directly made money from the Iraq war, a war on education more than anything. In the name of profits, the Bush Administration bombed Iraq mercilessly, including much of its education system, and led to the situation of mass illiteracy that exists in the country–a situation that the US likes to pretend it’s solving while being the one to make it what it is.
