Fairfield County Culture Entry #5: Drumroll please, FINAL REFLECTION!

After this both fun and academic exercise, one can draw that Fairfield County’s culture, as well as the culture of the US as a whole, is very unique to the rest of the world. The things we value and the ideas we surround ourselves with come to define who are as a group, and come to outline our own cultural boundaries. Some of the things are, without a doubt, representations of our flaws. However other things are a little better, they are things we can be proud of as a group of people.

Sadly while examining our culture, I found a couple of things to be disturbing. For example, the vast amount of ignorance that my foreign friends tend to associate with America is pretty true for the most part. A large part of our society plays upon our inability to take interest in the world outside our “cultural bounds”. As portrayed by my analyzation of the yahoo article, which pretty much catered to selfish Americans who would only read news articles if it only involved how much money was coming out of their pockets, many people were ignorant of the Arab Spring and Islam in general. They fail to see the meat of the religion (halal obviously) and focus on only the exterior stereotypes that the media chooses to broadcast. Americans do this about many issues happening around us, and it’s a practice that many should rethink indulging in.

The trait or character of being well rounded and knowledgeable about the world around us, or even our own backyard, is highly undervalued among the cultural group that is Fairfield County. What we value is for more irrelevant, as highlighted by batman, the materialistic bags of water that’s calls itself humans look toward shopping or television for interest. Men value money, women, cars, expensive suits. Women value shoes, shopping, Ellen or Pretty Little Liars. Only a small percentage of us value our own ideals or even bother studying and defining what we truly believe in.

The ideals of a terrorist, albeit a little crazy, is an ideal that is strongly held. Yet many people choose only to look on the surface rather than underneath the man in the turban to ask what he truly was thinking at the time he blew his brains out. Due to this, people wrongly judge an entire religion and group of people, without even looking at what they define themselves by.

However we do value things that should be held important. We value female empowerment, and ideal not valued in other parts of the world. We value our family, our relationships, and love. As proven through our shows and movies, we will go to great lengths to defend what we love most, whether if it’s our country, as in Homeland and Unthinkable, or our children like in Finding Nemo. What we as a culture should hold most proud, is our belief in ourselves and in our own abilities. It’s this sense on independence and perseverance that defines people of Fairfield County. No matter if there is racial divide or a physical obstacle in our path, the people of our cultural space, as evident by the values we choose to impose in our media, have the ability to get through any challenge that lies before us.

Every society has its flaws, it’s only after defining those flaws that we can truly target what we need to change so that we as a society can become better. As part of a society, every person has the responsibility of changing their society’s flaws bit by bit. No one has to devote their entire life to it; however small changes made by everyone can eventually form into something much bigger. I believe the flaws of our society lies entirely in the education. If we all, including me, took the time to observe other cultures and not just what’s happening on our favorite show, Fairfield County and America would be a far better place. I don’t believe there should be a single excuse why we should call Muslims, “Islams” (and neither should you). To a certain degree, we should all pledge to look into the world outside of our interests, or we will always be criticized just as “Americandude74 “was. In doing so, we will not only gain awareness of events happening around us, but we may even change what we value as well. With kids in Africa starving, what use is looking at cuff links all day? By becoming well-rounded as a group of people, we can surpass our simple materialistic values and even come to cherish our ideals.

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Fairfield County Culture Entry #2: Oh great, an Ogre! A lesson from fairy tales

The Ogre…oh the horror! No, in this trilogy everything is not as it seem. Shrek is not only an entertaining set of movies for all ages, but it also holds an abundance of societal beliefs that explain the rich liberal society we live in today.

Throughout the movies, the common theme is that love holds importance above all else. In the first movie, Shrek is given the option of fighting for his love or simply accepting his land and living in peace, however he chooses to risk his life to save Fiona. This is a reoccurring theme in many fairy tales and stories, that love is a value held dearly and more important than even our lives at times. An alien could even say that we Earthlings revere or honor the love in our life. (But then again, why would an Alien watch Shrek?)

Shrek, throughout the movies, plays the part of a rough ogre who only wishes for peace. This goes to prove the common misconception that ogres are aggressive, which represents that stereotypes do not apply to everyone. Shrek’s difficulties could be applied to the stereotypical racism of African Americans or Latinos.

In the movies, Shrek and Fiona find true love, as well as donkey and dragon. Each person is from a radically different species, which in life is supposed to represent nationality or ethnicity. Shrek and Fiona are looked down upon by the King and Queen at first, and have to face both dissatisfaction and rejection before Shrek proves himself worthy of being Fiona’s husband.

Yet, even though some of the notions are deemed ridiculous by society’s perspective, for example the wedding of donkey and a dragon, which not associated with something so different as a donkey, they still get married showing that no cultural or ethnical obstacles can truly stop you from fulfilling your dreams and uniting true love.

Unfortunately, at times the ethnic divide that Fairfield County has cannot relate to this cooperation due to the many conflicts that occur because of the mixing of the so many different cultures Fairfield has. At other times, Fairfield County is the perfect blend of races in a kind of melting pot of cultures (Original, I know)

Fiona, a woman of great beauty, has two sides to her that represent that beauty is only skin deep. While during the day she’s a beautiful princess, at night she’s an ogress that is associated with disgust or unattractiveness. Shrek falls in love with her while she’s a woman and even though Fiona’s other bachelor turn away from her after seeing her transformation, Shrek does not. (Surprisingly of course) Shrek’s love does not disappear, supporting that beauty is something much more than what lies before our eyes.

Throughout the films, the idea of female empowerment and independence is shown both by Fiona’s strength as well as her mothers. In the third movie, the princesses are all gathered and held captive while Shrek is in trouble. To save him, they decide to depend on their own power, showing great strength in a time of need and taking up arms against the soldiers holding them captive. This is meant as a message encouraging female power and success, a value that Americans and people within our society uphold with much vigor.

Almost as if made to be analyzed, Shrek provides ironic moments left and right, disproving old and less liberal societal notions and supporting not only self-reliance, but also the right to be our own person. Of all the rights embedded within our society, this is the strongest ideal that we should all keep close.

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Fairfield County Culture Entry #4: He touched the butt

Here comes a movie I’m sure can all revel in the memory of, Finding Nemo! Yes, time for a pleasant flash to one our favorite movies of all time (I’m sure at the die-hard fans you are; you've all seen it in 3-D). Although I’m sure you know it, the plots about a clown fish, Nemo, with a tiny little problem (laugh with me if you get the joke).

 Since he’s a little different, he’s treated differently from the other fish. His dad is over protective of him, restricting him from having the fun other kids his age have. Often in society, those with physical disabilities are often treated differently, although they are capable of much more of the same things as the rest of us. At young ages, they often get picked on as well.

 After he gets captured and taken away, Nemo finds the courage and gains the confidence needed to believe in his own abilities. He finds himself in tank full of other fish, and the leader, the most respected one of all, has a deformity of his own. Nemo learns from him that our physical aspects are only our exterior, and that they should stop us from being what we want to be.  Although initially portrayed as a curious but unconfident fish, he overcomes his challenges and matures into his own person.

The sharks in the movie go against their stereotypical nature. Usually the blood thirsty and evil villains, the sharks start out pretty nice and only desire to be friends with the fish. Although this quickly changes after they smell blood and their true nature comes out, they made a valiant effort at what Pixar wanted to be a “don’t judge a book by its cover” moment.

Marlin, the usually cautious fish, defies his entire character to go out and save his dear son. In his effort, he did almost everything he told Nemo not to do in the beginning (is that hypocritical or what?) but he decides to sacrifice his life for the love of his son. This theme of love over everything truly portray the familial ties we as people value and cherish above all else.  Although normally a simple kids movie Finding Nemo subconsciously gives kids (and us), valuable lessons about life that we should all come to understand.

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Fairfield County Culture Entry #1: Muslims, Terrorism, and a Yahoo page

One day I was skimming yahoo news, bored out of my mind and waiting for school to start so I can go to my awesome APLC class, when I saw an article about the Arab Spring. It was a little story about how it started and its affects so far but when I got the bottom, I can’t say I didn't get mad. In one of the comments by “Americandude74”, it said, “If all the Islams died, we would have a better world”.  Now, rather than blatantly adding to the comments of the other anonymous people over the internet who also felt a little offended (especially at the failed usage of islams), I looked at it from another point of view. Why are so many people, like Americandude74, so ignorant? Why do so many people fail to educate themselves of the entire issue, instead of little segments like “Muslim”, “destruction”, “attack”.

Ironically, the name Americandude74 fits the man perfectly, because all over America we see this same trail of blind anger funneled by media. The new popular series homeland, and the movie Unthinkable, observe a common pattern that only aids in the spreading of these stereotypes. In both these movies, there is a terrorist plot to launch an attack on innocent bystanders. However it just so happens that the terrorist has to be Muslim (a coincidence?) The same Muslim terrorist has to also be from the Middle East (perhaps another coincidence?)

I’m sure as one of my readers; you can see that pattern that’s going on here. Even more intriguing, if singling out Islam as the culprit for terrorist activities was not enough, the ethnicity of these terrorists always happen to be from the middle east.  Many people take the movies as facts and will forever be brainwashed by what happens on the screen.

The yahoo article went on and on about the Arab spring and its consequences, but as we all know, there a typically a few inaccuracies in yahoo articles. The article took the complicated issues of the Arab spring, full of loop wholes and betrayals, and turned it into a piece centered in specifically on how it has the spring has affected oil prices. While this is news worthy, it is nowhere near as news worthy as educating the public on the events that have transpired and the lives that have been sacrificed to gain the freedom we all take for granted.

Many people read this article, and fail to look further into the overwhelming issue that is unfolding in our very own world! They only look into what they want, which would be how much they have to pay at the gallon the next day. The article is simply only written to attract attention and nothing more, its purpose fulfilled the editor goes on to fill the article with fluff.  The pictures in the article lacked emotion and power; it was only a simple picture of a gas sign. It had nothing to do with the war being fought in the Middle East and barely even exposed the issue at hand.  

Alas, this is a yahoo news article, how much can we really expect.

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Fairfield County Culture Entry #3: Batman or Jesus?

Of the more recent superherofilms, by far the most epic could only be the Batman trilogy. Filled with suspense,action, and cool gadgets—the three ultimatums to bring guys to the theaters. Thehandsome Christian Bale with his heroic and rock hard abs aren’t too bad forthe ladies either. As Batman Begins,we learn that Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is the son of one of the richest andmost influential men in Gotham City.

Howeverbeneath all those cool batarangs and roof tops that batman seems to enjoyleaping off, and all the money in his pockets, he’s able to not only portrayhis manliness and power but also his ideals.

BruceWayne, son of the man who’s basically a God-like symbol in Gotham City, whichis evident from the way that the many of the big towers and peering buildingsare named after him. Thomas Wayne, Batman’s father is like a God figure in themovie, making Batman his son, or in the Christian faith Jesus. This cannot be trueras we see the personality and actions of Batman. Of course, during the day,he’s billionaire bachelor Bruce Wayne, able to seduce any woman and obnoxiouslymake it rain, but during the night he’s a man who is a savior to the innocentcivilians of Gotham City from evil. Sounds a bit prophetic to me.

Eventhough the classic ironic theme of a selfless rich man is evident elsewhere insociety, but it is the most well known in Batman.

Here in FairfieldCounty, there lives a great wealth gap. When have we seen the uber cool Batmanlike individual, usually that Bill Gates type of man here in Fairfield Countyfighting crime and saving the lives of innocent civilians from the evil joker? Yeah,not many times before. But the idea of the wealthy actually not being heartlessdwellers in the county appear quite often. Batman acts upon his good naturerather than being a stuck up rich kid and becomes the hero to the people ofGotham, representing the Prophetic idea of how Jesus was looked upon as thegreatest and most influential savior.

Ultimately,we believe that the rich don’t usually “stoop to our level” and usually, albeitselfishly, box themselves into their own world. However, Batman reveals to usthat this theme was rampant and defined the actions of the villain whospecifically tried targeting the rich upper-class who forced those like catwoman to survive on stealing. However Bruce Wayne ironically defies this andshows that stereotypes are not all true and that you cannot simply judge a bookby its cover or a man by the mask he wears. Sometimes you have to walk a milein their shoes to know the difficulties they face.  Bruce’s contradictingcharacters represents something much more deeper, as a rich man his desirescenter around nice cars, beautiful woman, lavishly spending sprees and niceclothing, the society held idea of what any guy wants. However in Bruce’sworld, he does not hold any of these things as value, choosing to live in aprison in the dark crevices of Bhutan (Yea I didn’t know that was a countryeither). 

Bruce issomeone who puts his values above simple materialism, a trait that not manypeople have. 

Apartfrom this we see Batman struck by the words of the district attorney HarveyDent who tells Wayne that “you either a die a hero, or live long enough to seeyourself become a villain,” and for the trilogy this is a turning point. Afterthis, Batman sacrifices himself for the safety of the people of Gotham.

 If someone were to honestly analyze thesociety we all lived in, let’s say an alien, it would probably see a bunch ofmaterialistic bags of water only obsessed with the next Ellen DeGeneres show orthe next new apple product.  However this does not apply to everyone, andthere are plenty of people who value their beliefs over the tangible world,although none of them look uber-cool doing it like our dear Batman.  InBatman, the happy ending is when the villain is locked up and the people of Gothamare safe. Unfortunately Batman never has a happy ending; he is constantlyvigilant of defending the peace, never resting to protect the city--a type offoil character to various societal beliefs that are held in place today. Fromthe selfless rich man to the idealistic young bachelor who devotes his life tofighting crime. I would scoff at anyone who dared try finding anyone like thatin Fairfield County; it’s one of those things that only happen in movies.Although millionaires are galore in this part of America, not many of them makeheadlines devoting their money to good causes; Fairfield County is VERYstereotypical in that sense. But hey, you never know, there could be a Batmanlurking around and leaping off of roof taps with his batarangs. 

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Muhammad's Last Khutbah Outline

here is my outline, which I had to write out because I was not able to post it online.

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We fear, but what else is there?

There have been many influential and inspirational activists who have committed themselves for the sake of what they believe it whether it be fighting for their human rights, or trying to fight against fear; each activist has definitely succeeded in one thing, being an activist. Two particular influential and inspirational activists who dedicated their lives to their work were the wonderful Aung San Suu Kyi and the incredible Malcolm X. Aung San Suu Kyi’s Freedom from Fear speech accentuates the idea of fear playing a great role in the development of a nation and person, while Malcolm X’s The Ballot or the Bullet speech reveals that the white man is the reason behind the oppression of the Black community; it is revealed through these two texts that the oppression and development of individuals are based on fear.

Even though Aung San Suu Kyi and Malcolm X’s speeches emphasize fear as the biggest obstacle for an individual, they both have some differences as well. Suu Kyi believes that “the root of human responsibility [is based on] the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path,” while Malcolm X believes the root of human, particularly the African Americans’ responsibility is to go against the false promises of the white man and get their deserved rights, by going “towards either the ballot or the bullet,” to make that change. Suu Kyi sees action as going against fear that leads to corruption, and Malcolm X believes in going against the apparently “most powerful legislator,” the white man.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s Freedom from Fear speech powerfully underlines the idea that “it is not power that corrupts but fear.”  Suu Kyi believed that fear was the reason behind the development of a nation, but most importantly an individual. Suu Kyi’s quintessential revolution starts in the “spirit, born of an intellectual conviction,” which means that the basis of fear comes from the mind. Suu Kyi says that not only does fear result in corruption, “deviation from the right path,” or “aberration due to ignorance,” fear is also the main obstacle in an individual’s path from doing what’s right. Suu Kyi’s political philosophy supports this idea of fear being the main obstacle to the right path for an individual, which she has ultimately overcome. Malcolm X implicitly states that the reason behind the lack of activism in the Black community was because of fear of the white man. He, like Suu Kyi believes “in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary,” because to overcome fear “merely bodily courage [isn't enough] but absence of fear from the mind” is essential too. Both influential activists believed that fear was the reason behind an individual’s choices to do right, or do nothing. However, both activists’ speeches complement each other in the sense that both believe that fear is the greatest obstacle holding an individual from acting against injustice, whether politically or mentally.     

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