Don’t wanna be an American idiot

Americans need to get over themselves.

Those aren’t my words (although I agree with them), but the words of Christy Quirk, an American who has lived and worked in the Middle East for over a decade.

Christy, who works for the Democratic party, conducts focus groups in Middle Eastern countries; she has worked in places like Azerbaijan, Yemen, Syria and is now located in Istanbul. During the focus sessions, she talks to concentrated groups of people about their opinions on Democracy and politics and has some invaluable insights into a culture most Westerners know nothing about. 

“You know, Americans always talk about how much other countries hate us. But really, people here don’t think about us that often.”

She knows this because it shows up in the polls. Christy said that when Middle Eastern voters cast their ballots, they are thinking about the issues that matter most to them – and that doesn’t include the War on Terror or any other American conflicts.

“Osama Bin Laden was totally an American problem. People here, for the most part, don’t care about Bin Laden. They have bigger things to worry about,” said Christy.

What exactly are Middle Easterners concerned about? The same things we are.

In the U.S., a vast majority of votes are hinged on one issue: the economy. Christy said that in the Middle East, it’s the same story. They are worried about finding jobs and bringing home enough money to support their families; unemployment hurts the same way in the Middle East as it does in the U.S.

But it’s understandable; from half world away, Americans can be easily misguided about the state of international affairs, especially those in the Middle East. I’ll confess, I’ve learned more about this culture in the past few days than I did in my entire semester of lectures. Plus, it doesn’t help that the media often grossly misrepresents the Middle East which makes bridging the culture gap that much harder.

“I’ve seen reports on T.V. that the news has just butchered; I don’t even recognize what they’re talking about,” said Christy.

This means that journalists bear a heavy burden. We are responsible for accurately telling the stories and connecting them to people who otherwise wouldn’t care.

And Americans should care. The Middle East is a vibrant culture with a magnificent history and to label it as nothing more than a hotbed for violence and terrorism is not only naive, it’s unfair. Truthfully, no one can form a purely objective opinion about this region, but we can try. So why not step outside your worldview and look at the Middle East through a new lens; I bet you’ll like what you see.