- I am an Egyptian 22 year old, I grew up in a well educated family and went to an american school and will soon be graduating from the american university in Cairo. I feel that my upbringing in this sort of environment has had an impact on who I am today and what I will become in the future. Also the sports that I played throughout my life have had a huge impact on me both mentally and physically and have greatly shaped me and in the years to come as well. My upbringing in those environments has made me feel like I was brought up in two extremely contrasting cultures which are the Egyptian and American cultures. Both have had a strong impact on me as well, but the more influential culture is the Egyptian. Also, being in AUC has positively impacted me as well. For example it has made me realise how fortunate I am for receiving an education like this one as well as always pushing me to become better and want to always learn. Also my friends have influenced my taste and preference in almost everything because I was brought up with them from a very young age.
- Throughout the course one thing has clearly struck me and has actually opened my eyes as to how true it is. This already known revelation is the “one sided story” video by Chimamanda. Ever since watching the video I have come to realise how many people including me already have a one sided opinion or perspective of almost everything, whether the opinion/perspective is formed by oneself or influenced by family, friends, or the media. For example, many americans are highly influenced by the media, especially how the news is portrayed.
- I took the religion implicit association test, and the results that i got were as i expected. I also took the gender-career implicit association test and got the results that i was expecting. But i feel that the test is somewhat inaccurate because you can not test ones biases with a “computer game” because this is based on memory. For example I would get mistaken between the buttons because I had already memorised the buttons and associated them with the instructions in the first part so when i did the other parts it was not a matter of biases it was a matter of not mistakenly pressing the wrong button because i had associated them already. Also it does not test how you actually feel towards those topics. I do not feel it was the best experience in order to point out ones biases as there are better ways to know them, because as i said it does not know how we actually feel about those things and only tests us based on how we can associate images and words with a given identity.
- some of the biases that i see around me in my daily life is that some Egyptians are biased against christians, i feel so because they are a minority in Egypt. Another bias is ones against people with disabilities. This is something i see occur very often when people with disabilities are around who tend to get stared at in an awkward manner and be treated differently either with disgust or with empathy. Furthermore, a case of systematic bias that i notice is against muslims abroad who are living in western countries where they are treated differently and have hate hurled towards them. Moreover, the potential harm that can come from this behaviour is extreme. Meaning that if an individual could go to extreme cases of radicalism and seek revenge towards those who are biased towards him and feel that he is not being treated well or it can lead to depression and suicide as it is evident in society.
- I do hold some biases some of which i would prefer not to mention. But one bias but not a strong bias is one towards women. Where i do believe that women are equal to men but in some situations men would be superior to women. For example, men are more inclined to become successful in their careers than women due to the different ambitions and pressures faced by both.
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Omar Shiha 