As I read Barack Obama’s book, I continue to find relevant arguments about our country’s problems. In the ninth section of the book, Obama discusses America’s place in the world. He argues that reality doesn’t end at the US border. Instead, he says that people need to look at the world as a whole. He bases this on the time he spent living in Indonesia as a child. Obama writes, “My mother might scowl at the attitudes she heard from the other Americans in Jakarta, their condescension toward Indonesians, their unwillingness to learn anything about the country that was hosting them” (274). Obama makes the point the Americans don’t make the effort to understand other cultures, and that people think that their beliefs are the only ones that matter. From my perspective, America can never be a world leader if we choose to be ignorant or uncaring of other countries. Latter, Obama talks about how distant the United States is becoming for Indonesia. He explains, “I fear it’s becoming a land of strangers”(279). By not opening up to other countries, the US is secluding itself from much of the world. I just don’t think that the United States can call itself a leader if they don’t lead anyone.
As Obama continues, he talks about the United States military in foreign affairs. He starts off by explaining his ideas to US military reactions. At first, Obama says that opposition from another power causes the military to create a foreign presence. He elaborates, “What America needed, then, were stable allies- allies that shared the ideals of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law”(284). Obama lists instances like WWII where this proved to be true. He says that this is true with the Iraq war, saying, “We need to improve cultural sensitivity… so that Iraqis could see concrete benefits from US efforts”(301). From where I stand, it is much easier to win over a countries populace by helping them. If you don’t help a country after invading it, then you can’t help but expect its people to not like you.
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4 comments:
Obama's words show us his views as a politician. He believes that America is too distant from other countries in that it doesn't tend to understand and share point of views with other cultures. This makes it hard for America to become a word leader in his opinion. I believe this tends to be true since his proof is solid when he says that Iraqis are despising towards Americans because we refuse to understand them, but just to invade them. The Indonesians feel the same way about Americans because we fail to understand them. On my opinion, I agree with Obama and believe that we should be more involved with other nations.
I agree with your point about America not being a world leader if we choose to be ignorant or uncaring of other countries. I think we should respect other cultures, and not force our opinion on them.
I disagree with Mr. Obama in this certain situation. I think that America is as involved with other nations as any other country on the planet. I also disagree with the concept of America as a "world leader". I think that it is a waste of time and recourses to try to solve all of the worlds problems rather than to let them work themselves out. We are already into immense debt, and even though it appears like we are the lone superpower, that could change in a flash. America cannot help every single country on this earth and learn their culture, while teaching every American citizen to respect other cultures. It is impossible. Concerning our military, I think that the idea that people have that it is "our job" to make sure that there is perfect democracy everywhere will lead to our downfall as a nation. It is not our job to be the police of the world, this action wastes huge amounts of recourses and makes the debt climb ever higher. I don't have any disrespect for the soldiers serving in Iraq right now, because they did not have a choice in the matter. But invading and occupying another country for over 5 years just to kill thousands of people and fail in the attempt is a prime example of my point. Hopefully this kind of thinking will come to an end in six days.
Well, for one, we are THE leader of the world. The end may very well be nearing, but we are at the top. Obama should also take into account that reality isn't dealing with others either. We must stay to our own business. Being the world leader does not call for ultimate world control for peace. We'll make too many enemies and get crushed. I hope he doesn't lead us down that path.
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