Egypt

EGYPT

The majority of people have various ways of viewing cultures. Because

of close-mindedness and lack of cultural education, people have a difficult

time interacting with different societies. I feel that people shouldn't

stereotype because this might lead to misjudgment. For example, I have

personally experienced this type of stereotyping of my Egyptian culture.

Although people view Egypt as a plain desert with camel riders, my

experience from living there shows Egypt to be a developing civilized country

with a great history .

People think about Egypt in this manner because of the media. The

news primarily exposes the uncivilized parts of the country. For instance, the

well known news broad-casting channel CNN showed the circumcising of a

young girl on the television screen. This is a harsh way to introduce a culture

to people. Often, CNN shows cases of the Egyptian desert with camel riders.

This narrow perspective influences the society's view of our culture.

All Giza Pyramids in one shot. Русский: В�...

English: View from Cairo Tower

English: The Nile River in Egypt.

Another example is an article in the National Geographic magazine

about Egypt (written by Peter Throux in April 1993). The writer described

the country as smoggy, dirty, over-populated and with traffic problems. The

article introduced Egypt as a superstitious culture which was graphically

proven in a picture shown in the article. This picture showed the head of a

woman with the body of a snake. This picture gives the reader the impression

that Egyptians believe in black magic.

Whenever the media introduce a culture, they should mention all the

positive and the negative aspects of that specific culture. For instance,

whenever you watch a program about the United States of America back

home, you see only sky-scrapers and big luxurious cities. This doesn't

portray the entire United States.

In reality, Egypt is a mixture of well educated and uneducated people.

I have lived...