In the article besieged by "Friends," written by Heather Havrilesky she identifies the problems with the western influence in the Muslim world. Like many American companies, when trying to catch the attention of citizens in other countries they target children. Before 9/11 occurred Heather made a trip to the Muslim community in the Middle East and asked their opinion about the western influence. The majority of the adults present, didn't agree with the influence and were unhappy with the way it was drowning out their own culture. By targeting children, they know they have little clue of cultural relevance and their minds can be easily molded into whatever you may want them to be. She says that places like McDonald's and Dunkin Doughnuts rarely attract adults in the Middle East which is why they stick to reaching out to children. She identifies with the citizens in saying they shouldn't be forced to watch American television all the time. In all honesty, "If we were forced to watch reruns of "Shabab Online" on every channel, we'd be angry too."
After reading this article I couldn't help but to agree with the opinions of Muslims in the Middle East. Often time as a teenager I am unaware of the actions and the influences the United States spreads to the world around us. I believe that when I was in high school, and even now that I am in college, I had very little tendency to watch the news of concern myself with the actions of the United States. I believe most students at the high school age and below, and I would like to venture and say that people in the United States, have a little clue to what the United States is doing. Personally, outside of large events, I usually have no idea what the US is doing. Therefore I would like to say, that even though people might hate the people of the United States, most citizens are unaware of what we the people of the United States are doing. In my personal opinion, I believe I would also be aggravated if lets say the Asian culture was forced onto the majority of us. I am used to practicing certain things, and am very strong in my culture and religion. However, if we were bombarded by the Asian culture I believe we would also have to agree that we aren't happy with the way that the we are forced to do certain things, and that our culture was being wiped out and we were forced to live a lifestyle that we were unaccustomed to. However, the majority of the children in the United States, wouldn't have much of a complaint simply because they haven't gotten to the stage of knowing certain cultural practices and what we necessarily do here. That is why it always seems easiest to target children. Then when the children reach into adulthood they are fully accustomed to the lifestyle you have been instilling in them. This being said I don't agree with the forced American culture we instill in countries all around the world.
