If you think America is the greatest country of all and our way of living is the best, you are not alone. Many others and I agree, as well. It is easy to grow patriotic pride and love for the United States when you have the privilege to experience all of its opportunities, freedom, and blessings. With this strong amount of patriotism, it can be easy to form judgmental opinions toward cultures that contrast with our own. Judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture is called ethnocentrism. Having an ethnocentric view is almost inevitable, unless you grow up traveling the world and are taught to appreciate other cultures first hand. Despite college professors trying to persuade me other wise, I still have tons of pride in my country and believe that it is the best. But this one word stuck out to me through lectures: ethnocentrism. I used to have an ignorant sense of pity toward other cultures and countries because they did not do things the "American way" and therefor there life could possibly not be as secure, valuable or virtuous. Thankfully, I have been able to learn that just because someone's culture is completely different from mine and what I view as wrong, does not in any way mean that it actually is and that they are unhappy. This is an ideal and somewhat of a revelation to people that I believe needs to be spread.
At first, the idea of "ethnocentrism" was a challenge to accept but the concept first began to sink in after I was shown a cartoon of an American and Muslim woman judging each other for dressing poorly in result of their "male dominated" culture. I am not afraid to admit that, as an American woman, I have presumed that it is terrible that Muslim women let men control what they wear and sympathized for their culture. Despite knowing that American women also dress in a way to seem attractive to men whether they want to admit to it or not, female clothes are designed with the male brain in mind I still assumed that women who dress in burkas or wear a hijab must be more controlled by men and might strongly disliked it. Before learning about ethnocentrism and seeing this cartoon, I have never thought that they could be comfortable with how they dress and have pride in their culture, as I do in mine. Having an ethnocentric view on other cultures can be extremely blinding, especially to things that are truly important. For example, in the cartoon, the women are judging one another harshly for something they are both unknowingly experiencing: the way they both dress can be viewed as highly influenced by men but is something that has been deeply encompassed within both cultures. By harshly judging each other, they are dividing themselves and become opponents.
Having ethnocentric qualities can be healthy but can also risk drawing a critical line between different cultures of people from around the world. Having a culturally relative view on the world is less judgmental and is more uniting. A more open and accepting mind can lead to global cohesion, harmony, and empowerment. Even though all people contain different traits, behaviors, and beliefs which may conflict with ones own, they are still all worthy to be contemplated on with an open mind. Who are we to harshly judge someone else's culture when there are issues within are own? Learning about ethnocentrism challenged my past assumptions and changed my beliefs of being critical of other cultures and people different than myself, in the future.
A person can be both immensely patriotic and culturally relative, the two can go hand in hand and do not have to be competing forces. Being patriotic in ones own culture while having an open mind and respect toward different cultures can lead to a share of beneficial, compassionate, and positive beliefs between cultures and countries.
