Reflection on ethnocentrism.

     
    
    After seeing the movie named 'The Last Days" in a class yesterday, it again strikes a chord in my mind. 

    This is the second time I saw this documentary. Last time, three years ago or so, I saw it with a casual attitude. Nevertheless, this time, as a college student, this movie is no more a movie itself, it is a reflection, which gives me the chance to think critically about many issues that happened in my life.

    The movie took place in World War II. In the duration of the war, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi government, tortured the Jewish people with cruelty. Ethnocentric and patriotic, Hitler tried his "best" to eliminate the inferior race--- the Jews. The Nazi carried out toxic and fatal gas experiments on Jews and tried them inhumanely, the ruthlessness of racism was totally unacceptable. The racist policy led to numerous death tolls of the Jewish people. They were captivated in the Auschwitz concentration camp, the best known one, where people were faced with the severest condition of living and deprived of the basic freedom. Dying was not even permitted. One of the survivors from the Holocaust in the documentary claimed that, "if a person commits suicide, then a hundred people from the camp would be put to death, as it is the way Nazi tries to make examples to the other Jews." Because of the miserable situation, dying seems like a salvation to Jews. For those who were imprisoned in the camp, they would rather die than to walking dead like a zombie. Nonetheless, even suicide was not allowed.

    Although in the past few years, Germany's Prime Ministers apologized for the violent and barbaric genocide the Nazi had committed during WW II. Nevertheless, damage has been done and for those traumatized, they never forget Holocaust, which is totally unbearable to recall. It is a scar carved in human being's mind.

    In today's society, the concept of  "ethnocentrism" still exists. Take the latest hottest issue, the "anti-Islam" trailer for example, it reflects bias against Muslims. It even mocks on the Islamic divine prophet--- Mohammad. The director failed to respect different cultures and he should feel ashamed by producing such an insult. People from the Arabic countries and Muslims around the world are exasperated about the lack of respect to their culture. Anti-Americans riots explodes and the Islam World is in lasting turmoil. 

    Peace is built on respect. Let us not forget about it.

    From this issue, we learn that people should not center ourselves in the first place. What we need is to embrace different cultures, even if we find them "strange" or "eccentric". Actually, it is us that limit the opportunities to accept other cultures. Feeling towards different culture is subjective owing to the fact that we grew up with a different background from that. As a consequence, we should not judge other cultures merely because they look queer to us. We need to realize that it is the difference that adds colors to our world. Without differences, we would not know the diverse aspects in our life.

    According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social religion, property, birth or other status," every individual is born equally. It is time for us to abandon the preconceived conventional thoughts and learn to fuse with other cultures--- absorb them with our own and progress to a better one, instead of trying to assimilate them.