TOK Moment - Summer '08

I attended a summer program in the states, where I spent a month studying and interacting with students from various backgrounds. I took an American law course with my new friends, and it was very interesting to observe the different reactions and perspectives on various issues. The majority of students were American, yet their diverse cultural origins also contributed greatly to the experience. Many inquired about the lifes in the Middle East and what Arabs thought of certain issues. 

In class, when we studying constitutional law, our teacher asked the international students to research each of our constitutions and find the clause on the freedom of speech. I presented the Lebanese constitution and my international peers presented the Canadian, Swedish, and South African constitutions. Interestingly, all had very similar laws on the freedom of speech, but the reality in each case was different. We then researched other countries such as Sudan and discovered that most countries have very democratic constitutions. From a foreign perspective the reality of the life in a specific country greatly differs from a person actually living in that nation. 

This idea is definitely applicable to the way my friends regarded Lebanon and the Middle East. I showed them Beirut using Google Earth and they were actually surprised to not see a desert. They did not expect Beirut and IC to look the way they did, developed and urban. It's amazing to learn about different perspectives and points of view. 

This ties in to the TOK topics of perspective and even language, as the different cultural backgrounds is what provided the basis for the prevalent diversity.