Blog assignment 3

This class has taught me a lot about not only what social justice is, but also how it is so differently perceived by every individual within every culture. One of the most intriguing or surprising things I have learned in this class is how different each person’s conception of social justice is, and that we often forget to consider this when trying to “help” others. Here in America, especially in progressive places like San Francisco and Denver, we are taught that we should have a right to do whatever we want, say whatever we want, and wear whatever we want. We think that this is what defines our freedom, which is what we tend to think of as happiness. Since we so value our freedom to dress however we want, for example, we believe that we should fight for Muslim women to have the same right. By doing this, we assume that they want to expose themselves more, use clothes as a form of expression, and enjoy the type of relationship with clothing that Americans have. What we are forgetting to acknowledge is that they might not want this freedom. If we see from another perspective, we might realize that by staying covered, these women are likely less judged by their looks, and perhaps more for the things that really matter like personality. In fact, it seems unlikely that these women would have to deal with the catcalls that so many American women have to deal with. On a deeper level, we should also consider that most Muslim women likely believe that we are sinning by exposing and decorating our bodies, and thus they are the ones making the right choice and showing self-respect. Yet, we want to convince them to want what we want, and to fight for the rights that we consider an important part of social justice. To me, this is so interesting because something that we so value as social justice might actually be something that other cultures fear and look down upon. Clearly, our ideas about social justice depend on the culture that feeds our minds.   

Blog Assignment 2

            Over the past decade, Americans have been slammed with more and more media that discusses the Middle East and Islamic beliefs. On nearly every news channel, we can see some kind of story about Muslims and terrorists who have committed some kind of violent acts, or are plotting to commit some kind of horrible attack. Because an overwhelming number of these stories—or all of these stories—focus on the fact that the terrorists are Muslim, Americans have begun to see Muslims and terrorists as the same thing. What we aren’t seeing is the media that explains how many of the religious people are opposed to violence, and how holidays like Ramadan are meant to be a peaceful, holy time focused on kindness and reflection. This article is about how the recent terrorist attacks by ISIS completely go against what their religion and Ramadan is all about. The good Muslim people are terrified and devastated because as these things are happening in their countries, to innocent people including women and children (who should be protected), they are all being seen as villains. In reality, the vast majority of the Muslims are victims. It is important for Americans to get a better understanding of what this religion is truly based on, which is not this type of violence. In fact, Islam sets very specific rules for when war and violence is acceptable and how it should be carried out. Islam teaches that it should be used in self-defense, to fight oppression, or when an Islamic state has been attacked.  When used, it should be done with discipline and should do as little damage and harm as possible, avoiding the harm of innocents. This, sadly, is the opposite of what ISIS is doing, yet we easily categorize them with the vast majority of Muslims.

Article:  http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-ramadan-war-muslim-leaders-condemn-islamic-state-attacks-call-holy-month-time-1990904

Project Benchmark 1

Child marriage needs to be abolished in countries such as Malawi and Bangladesh.

Due to the severity of rape, sexual abuse and sexual harassment in 3rd world countries such as Malawi and Bangladesh, parents seem to feel it is justified to marry off their young daughters even before the age of 18. Although our culture is quick to scorn when we hear about child marriages, they are seen very differently in other cultures. In essence, very young girls in many countries are subjected to verbal and physical abuse to the point where many are psychologically traumatized and, as a result, even committing suicide. This is problematic to the point where parents feel safer that their daughters be married very young, in order to reduce the amount of physical, verbal, and sexual abuse by strangers. In fact, parents have to choose between the “lesser of two evils” so that their daughter can be safer, healthier, and kept out of some harms way. For example, if a young girl is not married, she may be exposed to “acid throwing” or rape where it is considered normal and acceptable to do these horrific acts to young girls. Having a young girl married is considered “protection” even though her husband usually subjects her to the same physical or sexual abuse. This complicates the issue of child marriage because while we tend to think that girls should have the right to be protected from early marriage, we might not consider what horrible things early marriage can protect them from.  

Articles:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/03/africa/seodi-white-child-marriage/index.html

http://mic.com/articles/120720/bangladesh-is-one-of-the-worst-countries-for-child-marriage-for-one-horrible-reason

Introduction blog post

Hello, my name is Todd Keeler and I am from the San Francisco Bay Area. I am currently a senior studying Communication Studies and minoring in Sociology. The best class I have taken at DU was Communication in the Workplace because it was a fun class and the teacher engaged the class in interesting discussions. I decided to take this class because I want to learn more about social justice. My favorite place that I have visited was Mexico City because I was exposed to many different cultures in a small time frame. I appreciated hiking up the pyramids, meeting different people, and exploring new places.