Question 1: What are Ishmael’s two general rules on how to identify people from our culture? Do you agree with Ishmael when he says that people from all over the world are part of the same culture? Why or why not?
Answer: Ishmael defines people 'from our culture' as normal humans, and people who live in around the same general area. However I don't think that people from all over the world are part of the same culture. We all have different values and ideas for different things such as food and architecture. We all have the same needs like food, shelter, and water. Different cultures view different things as beautiful or bad or ugly, so we don't all belong to the same one, we have different religions that change our ideals or way of ever day life. The definition of culture is : The quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. Not every country's ideas are the same as another, not every country views the same art as beautiful or modern, not every country has the same mannerisms like "thank you" or "hello" or shaking hands.
Question 2: Ishmael disagrees with Mother Culture’s voice that says that humans are inherently flawed. After reading through page 66 of My Ishmael do agree or disagree with him? Why?
I actually agree with what Mother Culture says in the book, humans are inherently flawed. Humans are not perfect and I really feel what is stated in the book about humans not being so simple they do not seemed flawed, but we are not high and mighty enough to develop some Earth saving machine. This put it into perspective to see how we are flawed. We do not have the intelligence to solve the big problems like wars and world hunger but we can make life a bit easier and give our selves some luxuries. We do not have any technology that can save us. So I disagree with Ismael, when Julie mentions the perfection of simpler creatures how they are so basic they live because they are adapted to the simple life
Question 3: Ishmael uses a parable of Tunes and Dancers to explain his idea of Takers and Leavers. Who are these Takers and Leavers and how do they relate to American culture?
Answer: I guess the Takers in the book are kind of like everyone here in the U.S.A because we are all consuming and getting it only from working. Just like the dancers in the story they work for what should be given to us simply because it is a human necessity (in this case it would be food) and we shouldnt have to work for. In which case just like us we work for things we should get anyway. The leavers in this society are more like the criminals. They choose to abandon the laws of the people they live with and try somthing crazy, for better or worse.
2 comments:
I thought Ishmael defined people as from your culture through how they manage food (ex Lock and Key) and if they feel their race is doomed to suffering. But I do like your lengthy answer that thoroughly explains your opinion!
I like how you were saying that humans can fix many problems, but they cannot fix the big ones like world hunger. This links to Ishmael where people try to counter starvation by creating larger food production, which creates more mouths to feed as a result. We cannot cure the things we really need to take care of to survive, though we can solve smaller problems with ease.
Post a Comment