The passage that stood out the most to me in Berry's first essay was passage XXIII "We must not again allow public emotion or the public media to caricature our enemies. If our enemies are now to be some nations of Islam, then we should undertake to know these enemies. Our schools should begin to teach the histories, cultures, arts, and languages of the Islamic nations. And our leaders should have the humility and the wisdom to ask the reasons some of those people have for hating us"(Berry 8). This stood out to me because I feel it is a true statement. In the media we are always hearing about negative events caused by groups such as ISIS. These news reports are highlighting only a very small percentage of the people who practice the religion of Islam. However, people see this stuff on the news and immediately think that anybody who is part of the Islam religion is also a terrorist. Nobody actually takes the time to learn about their culture, or religion, or anything. They think in stereotypes based off of the negative connotations from terrorist groups.
In Berry’s second essay I thought his ideas were the best when he was talking about the two principles of a local economy being neighborhood and subsistence. Berry goes into what he believes makes a viable neighborhood and the idea of subsistence but I believe he explains it better using the example of an African Village. Berry quotes Albert Schweitzer, a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary in Africa, who knew the economic situation in African Colonies, “ ‘These people could achieve true wealth if they could develop their agriculture and trade to meet their own needs’ Instead they produced timber for export to “the world economy” which made them dependant upon imported goods that they bought with money earned from their exports”(Berry 32). I felt this example effectively proved the point he is trying to make in this section. A local economy needs to set its primary focus on filling the needs within while only exporting any surplus that may occur while filling those needs. For a local economy to be successful the neighborhood needs effectively practice subsistence.
Berry believes that a local economy needs a viable neighborhood and subsistence. Well what exactly is subsistence? The dictionary definition of subsistence is the action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level. Understanding this word is important to understanding this section of the essay because the whole idea of Berry’s local economy is based off of a community as a whole being self-sufficient before profitable. In order for the local economy to be most successful it first needs have a high level of subsistence. Which means maximizing its own production capacity. Only importing items that cannot be produced locally and only exporting items of surplus.
Berry uses Albert Schweitzer as a source in his essay. I wanted to know more about this person and find out who he is. Schweitzer received his doctorate in philosophy in 1899 from the University of Strasbourg. 6 years later he decided he wanted to go to Africa as a medical missionary and began the study of medicine at the University of Strasbourg. He received his M.D. degree in 1913. In 1952 he received the Nobel Peace Price for his humanitarian work.
Hey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was really good. Apparently we were thinking alike while writing Journal 4, because I found that passage XXIII spoke to me as well. Additionally, I also looked up one of the sources that Berry used. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one that is curious about these people.
Hello Andrew! Thanks for the interesting insight! In your second paragraph I found your comments very interesting. The main point that stuck out to me was the reference too Albert Schweitzer and his comments on the African tribes and people he was working with. The fact that even back in the day he called out that if these people would work on providing for themselves and not worry about importing or exporting they would be much better off. Thanks for also bringing up Schweitzer, he sounds like a very interesting person, and someone that I also might want to do additional research on.
ReplyDeleteHey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you about providing for our country first and only then exporting the rest. I talked about this in my essay as well. I think we should worry about taking care of our country and our people and after that is taken care of worry about sending what we have left to other countries. I don't think that our main concern should be producing goods then immediately sending them off to other countries.
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI also liked the passage you pointed out. Could you imagine that blowing up all over the news networks? "The government now wants to teach Islam in our schools!" There are many people who would be misinformed at the main goal and very unhappy if that was the case. But I think it makes perfectly good sense, the more you know the better you can be! Even if it is about our enemies.