We've been talking about this of course, in an academic sense, but the other day at lunch I was reminded of how painful and infuriating it is to be on the receiving end of someone else's ignorance. I cannot disclose the details of the conversation - not that I have any interest in protecting this person's identity, but just out of my own sense of professionalism - but 'someone' made some very arrogant assumptions about one of my family members in order to prove a 'point' about a very controversial issue in Turkey. These assumptions were seemingly based solely on the manufactured fluff that passes for this person's brain. I remained calm, but I did not acquiesce: "Sorry, but how do you know that about my family member?"; "No, in actual fact that's not the case"; "I think you should ask for facts before you make assumptions" etc., but this person's motormouth was in overdrive and no listening was taking place, just a vitriolic spewing of prejudice the likes of which I have not heard in some time. 'Education' makes no difference to this particular issue amongst a certain segment of the Turkish populace: it is a blindly emotional, irrational and deep-grained brainwashed response. When you know and love a person who does not possess any of the negative characteristics of a so-called stereotype, you realise just how destructive and unfair such stereotypes really are. I was so angry afterwards that I was unable to concentrate well for the rest of the day; I just kept thinking of the self-righteous look that such people get on their faces as they bulldoze all rationality. And in fact, it makes sense that they just keep on shouting instead of listening, since intolerance cannot long survive when it's confronted with cold facts.I've got an announcement to make: protesting perceived fascism with your own brand of fascism is not the solution. As MLK put it, "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind."
'Martin Luther King smile' by Nelson Piedra, licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic
Dear Sonja,
ReplyDeleteSome people are not thinking too much before speaking, that kind of assumptions form from this i think.
I am sure that he or she didn't think that you will be angry and annoyed about it.
I realised in the class, you are always speaking very carefully about Turkish culture, people, and you are being objective when we are commenting about U.S.A.
But unfortunately everbody is not open to different aspects like you and some people are being very rude while they are trying to describe(or insist?) their opinions to other people.
(maybe this is another way for trying to look like "tough" :) hmm i liked it i will make it blog post , it is common treatment between adolesences. Speaking and trying to prove their opinions without listening)
Have a nice day ^^ I hope this event will be not happen again.
Thanks so much for your comment Ayşe...
ReplyDelete...that's really nice to hear the "objective" bit...cuz I know that every semester, some students get offended by what I say about Turkey...but I certainly draw the line at commenting on people's friends or family!
Unfortunately, this person was commenting on my *Turkish* family...which in a sense is worse...Turks need to tolerate one another first before they can think about improving relations with other cultures...I hate to see these unnecessary divisions...And I think you can be secular without disrespecting other people's religions.
And *most* unfortunately, this person is not an adolescent...at least not in a *literal* sense :D..but you have a good point about how people try to appear "tough".
I definitely agree with Ayşe because you are very very sensitive (even this word doesn't cover your attitude towards assumptions) about any (really ANY kind of) assumption and I don't believe that how someone just comes out and dare to comment on your family. I cannot find a valid reason to comment on somebody else's family.
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry that I stereotyped you this week by asking: do you know the Turkish TV series. I am really aware of that I was wrong but I can imagine that you stayed patient at that lunch.
You are both really kind. :))
ReplyDeleteElif, you did not stereotype me, I was only teasing you. :)) but it was interesting, because most of the Turkish TV programmes I've seen are set in villages where people are in fact not rich; the only exception I can think of is 'Avrupa Yakısı'. But then again, I'm quite fussy about what I watch, so I certainly don't know many of them...as soon as I see shouting or crying, I generally grab the remote! ;)