Presleigh Keplinger- Reflection #6

            While watching the documentary “Promises,” I couldn’t help but feel feelings of thankfulness and gratitude for growing up in a country where I don’t have to fear violent retaliations from my neighbors.  It also provoked feelings of sadness and almost anger that these young, innocent children are growing up in an environment in which they are almost forced to share the same views of their elders.  Throughout this film, the Jewish and Arab children were portrayed as happy children, playing with one another and acting how children in America would act.  But once they began to show the interviews with these children, I began to notice how informed they were of the current war going on between the Arabs and the Jews.  Some of the children expressed views and opinions that seemed far beyond their age.  It was sad to me how persistent some of these children were to gain their land back.  It was almost as if they were trained to have these views by their parents and elders.  This is sad to me because this is how the vicious cycle continues and will continue on into the future.  Each group practices ethnocentrism, thinking that their culture and their group is better or more right.  I did really enjoy how some of the children got together to spend a day together.  I thought that this helped open up their views of the opposing groups and brought together two groups that wouldn’t have ever come into contact.  This was, however, the only time the got together.  I was trying to imagine if all children from these groups got together.  This could bring about a new generation of change.  It makes me hopeful that one day these two groups can see one another's views and express understanding, or at least an attempt to.

Reflection 6- Danny Clare

I have decided to write my Reflection paper number 6 over the video we had the privilege of watching in class called "Promises".  This video was truly amazing to watch and I can honestly say that it has change the way I take everything in life.  Whether it be my religion, relationships, etc., this video made a positive impact on everything I encounter each day.  I seem to ask myself each day now, "how did I get so lucky?".  Life is an amazing thing, and we take everything we have for granted.  

In this video it was really sad to see how scared people could be of each other.  Two religions that are different decides whether people are friends or enemies.  It’s sad but at the same time why don’t we do something about it.  Meeting one new person can change a view on the entire religion.  It happened for the two little boys and seeing that develop should open up the eyes of the two separate religions and see how they can come together as friends but have different views of religion.  Something as small as inviting someone over for dinner can turn into many others doing the same thing and changing the religions into having friendly encounters instead of worrying if one will be shot or not.

Danny Clare

Reflection #6

I Shan Yeh
COMM 211
Reflection 6

Reflection 6- Promises

    The documentary- Promises is a really great documentary that described the life of different kids from different region in Israel and Palestine, and meanwhile the producer try to let children from these two region experience the intercultural communication of different places together, and show them there is no “absolute” thing that is exist.
    I remember when I was in about those kid their age, I never think of going to school have to pick certain number bus, because downtown area is dangerous and may cause you die. Or leave their original place because they got kick out from another country. They know the situation is like and be careful with it, which is I have never been thinking any of this on my head when I was young. They are mature, and they are confused.

    Children should live in the worry-free zone, these children are just having so many negative information and thought about life. I really wish they could live without worry or judge other people who is different than them.

    This documentary not only demonstrate the tense situation between Israel and Palestine, but in fact is the same as any other countries in the war zone, too. I really hope some day those situation in every corner of the world can be solve so the children can play without worry.

Reflection #6

      I decided to write a reflection on the documentary we watched in class, Living on One Dollar.  I am planning on doing my research paper over this documentary and another. Therefore, I have been doing a lot of back research on this film.  I thought I would share some of the interesting things I found out about this project through this reflection.  When I began to research, the first article I came across had information about the financial situation.  Over a billion people in this world live on less than one dollar a day.  Another shocking number is at least 80 percent of the world lives on less than ten dollars a day.  However, more than 80 percent of the world’s population is living in a country that is working on increasing incomes and working on solutions for poverty.  The final fact that I will share is less than one percent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and it never happened.  These are numbers that influenced the production of Living on One Dollar.  Another interesting fact of the film is how the idea started.  The creators Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci were sophomore economic majors (as mentioned in the movie), studying economic development in different places.  The two were sitting at a bar in their hometown brainstorming things they could do to understand extreme poverty for their upcoming summer vacation.  The first statistic mentioned above, lead to the concept of living under a dollar a day for two months in Guatemala.  If this is something you are thinking about in a bar as a college student, it really is your passion.  They applied to about 13 funding places, but got rejected by all of them.  Their families even began to doubt the trip leaving them devastated by the lack of support.  At the least minute, Whole Planet Foundation (Whole Foods) agreed to fund them.  My favorite part about this documentary is that even though it focuses on poverty, they avoid making the audience feel guilty.  This documentary empowers and gives confidence to younger generations to make a difference in global poverty.  

Alek Nyberg

Comm 211

I found the video about the middle eastern children of varying ethnic groups to be quite fascinating.  That entire movie was a bit of an eye opener to me, for their life is pretty much completely the opposite of ours over here in America.  What struck me the most was how much these children had been influenced by the media, their parents, and the fact that they were not allowed to intermingle with each other freely.  Sure there are some aspects that exist over here in the states, such as opinions and biases being passed down from parents and the media, but over here in the states, we have the freedom to intermingle, the freedom to communicate with one another in order to shatter these biases.

The entire problematic situation over in the middle east is that there is a lack of communication.  Blockades have been put up in order to stop people of various backgrounds from communicating with one another.  In doing so, everyone involved has no appreciation or knowledge of anyone else, and this only allows biases and hatred to grow, for there is nothing there to subside those feelings.  The conflict cannot be subdued unless communication is possible.

I found it wise for the director to have just the children meet up and talk with each other, for I feel that is the safest bet when facing the people involved in this situation.  The children are still moderately innocent, they may have been faced with the biases, but they have not lived with them long enough for them to permanently become a part of them, which I feel would be the case with the adults.  The fact that the children realized that they were completely wrong about what they thought about each other proves that proper communication can solve nearly any problem.  The future of that region lies in their ability to communicate.

Reflection on Language #5

As a student of languages, I have mixed feelings about how some suggested that the world would be simpler if we all spoke one language. I have studied French, and also Spanish. While I’m nowhere close to fully tri-lingual, I can do bits of communication and comprehension for both languages.

With this issue of language being debated, in the interest of preserving the culture of all languages, I think it best if all cultures keep their historic language. To further ease communication, I believe raising bilingual children, or multi-lingual children will be the best way to proceed.

Within my own childhood, I've experienced the language my grandparents spoke at home. While my parents worked, and after school, I stayed with my grandparents a few blocks down. Though my grandparents were both born here in the United States, Their parents both came over as young adults and settled in a traditionally Polish town, Platte Center, Ne. This is where they grew up together, and then eventually fell in love and got married. Although they both worked, and spoke English, as soon as they came home, the spoke in Polish to their 5 kids, and even to this day, my father can say a few things in polish from his childhood. As devout Catholics, Sunday mass was a necessity every week, and Latin was mixed with Polish when in church mass. Even as I was growing up, the church I attended still spoke Latin, and there as still a few prayers I can recite from my childhood In Latin.

With this, I mean to only point out that language is very specific to the people who speak it. The language is important to cultures, and I believe that the best way to inspire true INTERcultural communication is to make others open to the languages of others, and not shut down and simplify by teaching only one language. Knowledge is a gift, and the more we can learn about others and their language, we set the world up for a better future.

Reflection on Pop Culture #4

With the chapter being on pop culture, I feel like those of us in America really understand how negative our pop culture is, and how it makes up appear to other places in the world. Here, to be skinny to the point of it damaging health is considered beauty. Why is that? Looking back at other pop culture fads from historical times, people did crazy things to “be beautiful and in style.” 

In medieval England, being a plump woman signified having enough food to eat, which indicated wealth and good health for childbearing in women. Also, having pale alabaster colored skin indicated high class women, as the laborers of the fields were tanned from being in the sun all day. Go to the 1950’s for example, Bridget Bardot, a famous model, took the trend of pale skin, and spent much time lying on the beach getting a sun-tan. When she did photo-shoots then in her “scandalous” two piece bikini, women saw her tan, slim figure, and ever since, slim and tan has become the “beautiful” look for the last 75 years. 

At least the women who stayed inside all day and ate had better health, than the women of today who put their lives on the line, from skin cancer, to near starvation with eating disorders to be “beautiful.” Look at any "high fashion" runway in the world. The models are all slim as can be, with the younger looking girls being the focus. Many are so slim, that they do not even have womanly curves because of the anorexia and binge-purging lifestyles to stay thin.

Who defines beauty? What a beautiful person looks like? Who shows the nation ideas of what “beauty” really is? The media and pop culture, they poison the minds of young girls and set them up for a lifetime of feeling inadequate and ugly. Pop culture should promote “healthy” women and not skin &bones for fashion. 

American pop culture is flawed, and any culture who believes they should follow our media is entirely wrong. Health should never be sacrificed for beauty!

Reflection #3

In “Jihad v McWorld” the author Benjamin Barber strongly compares the struggle of Jihad to the popular culture of the McWorld. These ideologies are far from similar, with Jihad being resistance to pop culture, while McWorld is all about their same ideals being spread worldwide. If you look, McDonald's is located in over 100 different countries, and not only that, they have more than 36,000 restaurants. They are taking over the world seemingly, and the “Jihad” resistance-struggle is resisting this mainstream takeover.

To individuals who strongly believe in their culture, this drastic shift from individuality, to the mainstream forced culture is unwelcome. From American and other western countries, we push our very different culture and way of life on many other nations who are very dissimilar to ours. The media is very destructive tool, forcing ideals of American-ology being the best for people, but in reality, is that true? We have so many of our own political and social/race problems that we leave unsolved, from prejudices and hate crimes, we are a national many of thousands of cultures, that “add a little bit of flair to the salad” whereas Jihadists extremists I believe generally have one cultural background that they focus upon. We can not push western culture on countries who do not want any part of it. 

Reflection on Promises

       In class we had watched the documentary "Promises" about the children growing up in the city quarters of Jerusalem, and how the different religions of the children affected their daily lives. To me, it seemed very sad to see these children place so much hatred upon each other, and how they spoke so many violent words about death to those not of their religion. To me, this seemed like a type of ethnocentrism, but from the religious aspect, not race. Religion in the holy land has always been a struggle. 

       With  the tensions exhibited by these young kids, it really worried me for the future of these nations. With all the hatred towards the orthodox Jews, non-strict Jews, Muslims and other religious groups, they are setting their children and grandchildren up for decades more unrest and bias, and also many years more of violence and bombing on buses and shootings in the streets. 

     

To try and fix this, the producers of this documentary traveled to the Holy City, and began integrating ideas of intercultural communication with the children in hopes of removing the walls of distrust for members of the other groups so that hopefully someday, these kids would grow up, have kids of their own, and pass along ideas that people of other faiths truly aren’t as evil as their adults have perceived them to be. 

Erika Beedle Reflection #6

Erika Beedle

Comm 211

Reflection #6

            My freshman year in high school I watched a documentary titled “Promises,” and my freshman year in college in my Intercultural Communications class I watched it again.  Both times I watched the documentary I asked myself the same question; why has this problem not been fixed yet?  If both the Arabs and Jews just simply talk to each other, progress could be made.  As I watched this documentary in high school I remember feeling sad for these young children and how this problem affected everything about their life.  But after a few years, I forgot about this documentary and the children.

            As I watch it four years later those same feelings of sadness come back to mind.  I started thinking about how in those past four years since I last watched the documentary how my life has changed.  I have graduated high school, starting college, and America has its first black President.  What has happened to those children in the documentary? How has the conflict between the Arabs and Jews impacted their adult lives?  In Nepal this summer it was amazing to me that the Buddhists and Hindus live together in peace.  Both of these religions impact the daily lives of their followers, similar to Muslim and Judaism.  After thinking about our class discussions is when I began to ponder the power of intercultural communications.  The people of Nepal, both Hindu and Buddhist, live, learn, and prosper through communication.  Little things, such as getting children together to play soccer can go a long way.  I do not know what has happened to those children in the documentary but I hope they share their intercultural experience with others and increase communication between the religions. 

Reflection #6

Audrey Beedle

COMM 211 – Reflection 6

            I remember watching the documentary “Promises” awhile back in middle school.  At the time, I was a little younger, and although I understood the general idea of the story, I don’t think it really hit me until watching it again at a slightly older age with more experiences and insight.  I really appreciated and took notice of the carefully ordered clips in the film; the creator was very intentional in how he portrayed this conflict in Israel.  It started out as showing these very likeable, young children, some Arab, and others Jewish.  They all seemed very friendly and easy to talk to.  You wanted to be on their side and you assumed they were just innocent children.  Then, as you get to know the children a little better, it is clear that they have very strong opinions that are influenced by their families and surroundings everyday.  Many of these children were more articulate than the average American adult when speaking about their country’s history, religion, and current territorial conflict.  It was truly shocking to hear the words come out of their mouths, as if they’ve heard it said millions of times before.  They are what seem to be, “trained,” to recite the story of their ancestors and family members, who lived through the conflict and violent times of war over the land.  Both the Arabs and the Jews feel that the land is rightfully theirs. 

            The most frightening/shocking thing about the film was the desire for violent vengeance from these children.  A few of them had peaceful natures, and wanted to meet with the other children in order to solve the dispute by communicating and befriending one another, in order to peacefully share the land.  At the same time, other children were threatening to kill the opposite group, refused to meet them, and continued to explain why the land was “theirs.”  The film made me very thankful for my country.  For the ability we have had to live among people with drastically different views, beliefs, and cultural backgrounds, relatively peacefully for many years.  Of course, the United States is not perfect, and religious/cultural intolerance are a real issues that affect people today, but most Americans are not living in constant fear and desire for retaliation against their neighbors.  I am extremely grateful for this.

Reflection #6

As we have already covered popular culture and communication, I decided to reflect about the documentary, "Living On One Dollar." I was not in class the day the documentary was shown, but I watched it on my own and was amazed. I have witnessed cultures and poverty similar to the village they lived in in Guatemala, but I have never truly experienced that poverty. These men spent their whole summer living to understand what life is like truly living on one dollar a day. They figured out the economic system, tried to grow their own crops for sustenance, and talked about the different loan systems used to help support communities. Prior to watching this film, I was aware of what micro-finance loans were and have given Kiva loans, but I have never truly thought about the impact these loans have on businesses. Micro-finance systems truly are the only hope for small businesses to start and survive in many parts of the world. Unlike many forms of charity, micro-finance loans allow individuals to receive assistance and then take responsibility to create something for themselves. When an individual pays back a loan, they get to feel the satisfaction of being self-sustainable. This film opened my eyes up to the impact micro-finance loans and other global resources can have on families across the world. It's incredibly easy for many Americans to give a $20 loan, and when people come together for a common cause, that all adds up and great things can be done. I strongly admire the college men in this documentary that risked their lives to better understand the lives of others. Through their experience, they learned that though their cultures and economic circumstances are different, they shared similar values with the people in Guatemala. This is one of the foundations of intercultural communication. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and the next time I make a Kiva loan, I will think more about the impact that is having on the individual and family.

Chapter 6

Reflection

Language plays an important role in intercultural communication, but it is also a barrier of communication when people do not speak the same language.  The nominalist position is the view that perception is not shaped by the particular language one speaks. The relativist position on the other hand is the view that the particular language individuals speak, especially the structure of language, shapes their perception of reality and cultural patterns. The qualified relativist position is the view that the particular language we speak influences our perception but does not completely determine our perception.

There are types of ways in which we communicate, high context and low context. High context communication is a style of communication in which much of the information is contained in the texts and nonverbal cues rather than expressed explicitly in words. Low context communication is the style of communication in which much of the information is conveyed in words instead of nonverbal communication.

When communicating we often tend to use slangs. Slangs are an informal way for communicating and we often only use it to selective groups or individuals we feel comfortable around. An example of this would be the fact that I use slangs “sup” when talking to close friends and I would refrain from slangs when talking to someone like my lecturers.

In a community like Lincoln Nebraska there can be many different languages spoken but there is usually one language which is dominant that everybody can understand. For example English. This language will be known as the Lingua Franca.