Reflection~ Friedman Video

Okay so, today I was thinking back about what we had done in class the past week, and I remembered the video. I wasn't originally planning on blogging about it, but now I feel the need to. This video was very well done. Thomas Friedman, who is an award-winning American journalist and author, traveled to Europe post 9/11 to see how America's reputation had declined. I have always known that most Europeans aren't that fond of us, and that was usually because our mannerisms are different than theirs' (generally speaking). I know one of the main things that annoy them is how blunt and opinionated we are. This video gave me a few surprises. Friedman was talking to one of the students from America studying in Paris, and she told him that once the US invaded Iraq, she had gone through some verbal harrassment from the French. They said things to her such as, "Do you have any idea what your country is doing!?" or "What kind of people are you!" as if she represented the American nation as a whole or something. I never knew the French could be like that. I know that in America, if France were to do something outrageous and a French person were in our country, it's not common here for people to be like that. Overall, we are friendly people. Another thing that appalled me in the video was the interview Friedman had with the Muslim French women. They seemed to have some Arab background, but they spoke French fluently. When asked what their views are on bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda attack, shockingly, they replied that they believe he was doing the right thing; he was "fighting for Islam." Okay, first of all, this doesn't look good on a video because it reflects on Islam as a whole. I'm Muslim, and I felt uncomfortable immediatly. Second, fighting for Islam?? A religion doesn't need to be fought for. Just believe what you choose, period. That whole interview just bothered me. I'm sure it gave at least a few other people that watched it the impression that a lot of Muslims around the world think that, and that's not true. Sure, we don't see bin Laden as badly as Americans do, but it's not to the point that most of us support him. Overall, I learned a lot from the video and hope that America's reputation improves over time around the world.