'I'm going to try and make this as unbiased as possible...but seriously where do people get their views about other countries/continents from ?! '
They often say that "get to know someone before you can judge them"..surely this applies to countries/continents!
First and also irrelevant:
Why is it OK to call someone who is from any country within Africa, an African yet in England most refuse to be referred to as European ?
What if some preferred to be referred to be from their country of origin as well like the English?
What then ?
They often say that "get to know someone before you can judge them"..surely this applies to countries/continents!
First and also irrelevant:
Why is it OK to call someone who is from any country within Africa, an African yet in England most refuse to be referred to as European ?
What if some preferred to be referred to be from their country of origin as well like the English?
What then ?
This picture was sent to me and I thought to use this as a test as part of my investigation and the results were in fact funny. Most people could not find the 4th person, and they tended to be more Westernised than those who did find him. Some found it funny yet most found it quite offensive, and ,considered it racism. But that is for another blog!To the main course:
At this moment in time for a piece of coursework I have decided to investigate about Africa in the media. The things I'm coming up with actually make me want to cry. No joke.
Instead of google searching, I decided to ask real people as I see them, what their opinions on Africa were.
One person said "I would love to go South Africa, but it is such a dangerous place"
This may trigger anger within people from this area but it made me think.
What does it mean ?
Why are there still so many negative views of continents such as Africa and Asia?
How much of that negativity is true ?
I, myself come from Zimbabwe and I am very proud of that fact.
I hear all sorts of horrible and nasty stuff about my home country but it has never made it love it less.
Yet a fellow Zimbabwean commented saying "Africa is behind in time" when asked to elaborate, they said "As much as I love being African, I'm not proud of it. They need to become more modern, get up to date and move away from the past" I was puzzled about the way one could feel this, having left Zimbabwe at a much older age than I did. I realised that the length of time that one got accustomed to another culture, didn't actually make a difference. The mentality that a person has about their own culture is cultivated from what they actually know about that culture.
As I got deeper into discussion with this person, they showed me a view of Africa from a fellow African, I had personally not experienced before. I have met people not so proud to be African but I had never met a person who love being African yet not proud about the vast amount of culture that comes along with it. It was sad to note just how much this person almost detested being linked to Africa and its 'ancient ways'. Wow!
I guess I could turn into a psychological thing, to say that depending on how much time a person from Africa had spent here and been accustomed to the ways of the Western culture, they would either recognise the extremely dark person next to the first white boy, or not.
But as I asked around. That is pretty much the response I got.
The more exposure one has about Africa, the more they obviously learn about it.
So is it essential that people learn more about a culture, if yes, then who is more qualified to teach about the real Africa ?
Would you go to Dentist for heart problems?
So why are people being taught about Africa by people who not only have textbook knowledge but have no experience of what it is like to be from there?!
By viewing adverts of 'poor children' starving in several parts of the world, why do many assume that Africa is the first place to find such horror?
Is it not true, however that there is a great deal amount of starvation and disease in Africa?
Is it also not true that there many people orphaned and left young particularly in Africa?
If I can add a personal thought, I suppose it is difficult for a person like me to hear any negative opinions about Zimbabwe or Africa because if I'm honest, I never saw what I see on TV here. I never experienced a person dying in front of my eyes and felt helpless.
To me, yes, Africa is 'behind' modern wise, but I never knew there was anything 'wrong' with it till when I came here. Does this mean, I am naive ? Does this mean that maybe I am the one who needs educating about my country/continent?
The subject of Africa in the Media is a very controversial one. Yet what I personally find most upsetting is that fellow Africans whether by birth, origin, parents or grandparents, have no idea about the richness that Africa has without the need for it being the same 'moderness' as the Western countries.
If one not from the UK said anything negative about UK they would be told to go back to their own country, yet the amount of people that slave away, go into debt to go to these peoples countries is unimaginable!
I guess the most common thing that some people mistake often is how Africa is a continent and not a country. I wonder out of all my readers, who would have noticed the title of this blog was incorrect?
If Africa is a country, so is Europe.
Instead of google searching, I decided to ask real people as I see them, what their opinions on Africa were.
One person said "I would love to go South Africa, but it is such a dangerous place"
This may trigger anger within people from this area but it made me think.
What does it mean ?
Why are there still so many negative views of continents such as Africa and Asia?
How much of that negativity is true ?
I, myself come from Zimbabwe and I am very proud of that fact.
I hear all sorts of horrible and nasty stuff about my home country but it has never made it love it less.
Yet a fellow Zimbabwean commented saying "Africa is behind in time" when asked to elaborate, they said "As much as I love being African, I'm not proud of it. They need to become more modern, get up to date and move away from the past" I was puzzled about the way one could feel this, having left Zimbabwe at a much older age than I did. I realised that the length of time that one got accustomed to another culture, didn't actually make a difference. The mentality that a person has about their own culture is cultivated from what they actually know about that culture.
As I got deeper into discussion with this person, they showed me a view of Africa from a fellow African, I had personally not experienced before. I have met people not so proud to be African but I had never met a person who love being African yet not proud about the vast amount of culture that comes along with it. It was sad to note just how much this person almost detested being linked to Africa and its 'ancient ways'. Wow!
I guess I could turn into a psychological thing, to say that depending on how much time a person from Africa had spent here and been accustomed to the ways of the Western culture, they would either recognise the extremely dark person next to the first white boy, or not.
But as I asked around. That is pretty much the response I got.
The more exposure one has about Africa, the more they obviously learn about it.
So is it essential that people learn more about a culture, if yes, then who is more qualified to teach about the real Africa ?
Would you go to Dentist for heart problems?
So why are people being taught about Africa by people who not only have textbook knowledge but have no experience of what it is like to be from there?!
By viewing adverts of 'poor children' starving in several parts of the world, why do many assume that Africa is the first place to find such horror?
Is it not true, however that there is a great deal amount of starvation and disease in Africa?
Is it also not true that there many people orphaned and left young particularly in Africa?
If I can add a personal thought, I suppose it is difficult for a person like me to hear any negative opinions about Zimbabwe or Africa because if I'm honest, I never saw what I see on TV here. I never experienced a person dying in front of my eyes and felt helpless.
To me, yes, Africa is 'behind' modern wise, but I never knew there was anything 'wrong' with it till when I came here. Does this mean, I am naive ? Does this mean that maybe I am the one who needs educating about my country/continent?
The subject of Africa in the Media is a very controversial one. Yet what I personally find most upsetting is that fellow Africans whether by birth, origin, parents or grandparents, have no idea about the richness that Africa has without the need for it being the same 'moderness' as the Western countries.
If one not from the UK said anything negative about UK they would be told to go back to their own country, yet the amount of people that slave away, go into debt to go to these peoples countries is unimaginable!
I guess the most common thing that some people mistake often is how Africa is a continent and not a country. I wonder out of all my readers, who would have noticed the title of this blog was incorrect?
If Africa is a country, so is Europe.
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