Overreach argument: Western society has continued to fail at comprehending cultures throughout the world, especially in the Middle East.
Claims:
“I came to realize that despite their many virtues, Americans are not very good at understanding other cultures” (page 2).
“International financial networks, multi-national corporations, media conglomerates, and the Internet have now created a world in which it is impossible to keep one culture isolated from the rest” (page 4).
“Muslims are considered to be violent” (page 27).
Summary of claim:
Ernest claims that with the advanced current technology that almost all nations have, there should not be a reason as to why certain cultures, mainly Islam should be a mystery or understood the wrong way. Ernest says that there are “at least 5 million American Muslims and 10 million European Muslims” in today’s world. Aiming at the fact that the “West” should be more educated on the “Muslim world” since there are that many Muslims surrounding us. This claim matters for the larger argument because there is this continued false perception of many cultures including Muslims that the West often portrays. This leads to the negative Western views of Islam.
