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Distant Mirrors


            One of the most interesting things that I read about in the last two weeks was from Chapter one in Distant Mirrors. In this Chapter it described an "American's" daily practices. What fathomed me was that the only purely American thing that was in this person's house was a steam radiator (Linton, pg. 2). Everything else, from the chair he hung his cloths on, the soap he used, to the sugar that he poured in his coffee was all either invented or discovered by other ethnic groups. Thinking about that is almost sad to me, because even though "American's" have become more accepting of other cultures and ethnic groups I still think that a lot of Americans think of themselves as "better than", or that their practices are the "right" ways. "Americans" don't give other cultures or ethnic groups any credit for what they have shared with them to get them to the place that they are today. For instance, as stated on pg. 2 of Distant Mirrors, Americans did not even clean their teeth until the Europeans brought it about in the latter eighteenth century. .
             The biggest thing that I got from all of these readings was the fact that "white" Americans saw themselves as being superior. From "A Different Mirror", just because the guy in the taxi was not white, he was assumed as being from another country. Toni Morrison described "race as having the function of a "metaphor" necessary to the "construction of American-ness": in the creation of our national identity, "America" has been defined as "white" (Takaki, pg. 2). Also stated in the text was that by the year 2056, white Americans will become a minority group. Personally, I think that it would be awesome if the "whites" became a minority group. For so long "whites" have treated other ethnic groups incredibly disrespectful, and not really to be revengeful, but I think that it would be good for some people to taste a little bit of their own medicine. I am white, and I have some Indian in me, but I love having other cultures surrounding me.


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