Society and Culture of Muslims and Christians

 

According to the interviews I took, Christians and Muslims have a very interesting culture just like any other religion. Yes, they are perceived to be more conservative, but even that depends on the person, generation, upbringing or environment.  We all have a few friends belonging to Muslim and Christian religion. We might have different judgements about them.

What I have come to observe is that religion does not matter today as much as it did before. The preceding generation must analyse a person knowingly or unknowingly based on the religion. But today’s generation doesn’t really care about the culture and background and only assess the person seeing if they ‘vibe’ or get along with us.

Living in cities and towns must not really show us the other side of cultures. Every culture is practiced at extreme levels in villages and even in cities, but rarely. Be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, villagers have their own orthodox ideologies and are still practicing things. One of the persons (45 years old) I interviewed had an eye opening experience to share. This was when he was in his late 20s. He was at his hometown, a small village in Beed district, and was having a tea party with his friends early in the morning. The Mosque was pretty close to where they were seated. And so when the early morning ‘Namaz’ , the Muslim prayer, started with the loud speaker all of a sudden, one of the friends sitting got startled and blocked his ear out of stimuli, naturally, to protect his ears from the sudden loud noise from the Mosque. It was pretty evident that he didn’t mean to disrespect the prayer. But the Muslim guy standing right behind got offended and slapped the friend tightly, leading to a fight.

Another such experience that I had was when I was around 16, with one of my Muslim friends, that means belonging to today’s generation. He got offended because somebody threw a piece of paper into a dustbin just because ‘Allah’ was mentioned somewhere in the middle of the sentences on the paper. According to him, the paper should have been deposited into a river. Once he even got offended because someone offered him their tiffin food during ‘Roza’ and a teacher had to step in and resolve the fight. What’s more?... His sisters are not allowed to listen to music or dance! That was something hard for me to digest.

So such experiences makes people wary of the Muslims and avoid even mentioning anything about their religion for the fear of offending them. At the same time, one of my best friends is Muslim and I feel very free to talk about anything at all.  For me, this is a critical topic to talk to talk about because I really don’t have enough wisdom and knowledge about it.

Talking about Christians, we have seen complete opposite sides of them, some are very orthodox and conservative while some are very liberal and open minded. But one thing I observed is that we have started to celebrate Christian festivals like our own, like Christmas, Halloween and many more to come. Western cultures depicted on movies and shows are more likely to be the reason for such influence.

In the end, I would say that culture only depends on the person, generation, upbringing or environment. One might follow their religion very strictly, or they might be very open minded about everything around them.

Disadvantages of Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism is the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the internet. Citizen journalism of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the internet. Citizen journalism was made more feasible by the development of various online internet platforms. New media technology, such as social networking and media-sharing websites, in addition to the increasing prevalence of cellular telephones, have made citizen journalism more accessible to worldwide.

·         The rise of internet has opened the door for citizen journalism, this form of participatory journalism is usually limited to online publications.

·         While the international media often welcomes content from citizen journalists, there are times when it seems to hinder professional reporting. The ease with which citizens can upload content online makes it infinitely impossible to verify sources and information, and has given rise to an onslaught of fake news. US President Donald Trump’s use of Twitter to broadcast information has been impulsive at best, with numerous instances of nefarious or dubious information gracing his social media account – only to later become fodder for mainstream news articles. Sifting through what is true or not has made traditional media – and their ability to independently verify information indelibly more important. Even amidst the social media storm – and often thanks to it – news outlets are using tried and true techniques to check information uploaded online before republishing it. Dr. Allan, Professor and Head of the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, says that media houses can verify images by taking them apart or use methods to check whether a person was where they claimed to be.

·         The safety of the citizen who is sharing the information could be at stake, both – physically and digitally.

·         Since the citizens are not professional, there is a high possibility that they are unaware of the legalities, rules, norms, protocols and moral laws of journalism and thus may get themselves into trouble depending on their content.

·         Citizen journalism can create chaos amongst and between communities if the content is offensive.

·         One of the main limitations of citizen journalism is the various security concerns regarding data privacy and the vulnerability of digital communication, including how easily electronic communication can be intercepted and surveyed. The collection of meta-data, such as location of the mobile phone users, can be problematic as these data can be used to build a complex profile of the users without their knowledge.

 

The perfect french press coffee

Tea is too overrated in India, coffee is the real season these days. The flavour is blossoming all over the world. It is definitely an amazing refresher coming is varieties of styles each favouring different individuals. French press coffee is one of a kind.

Believe it or not, adding ‘French’ to a name adds on to its essence, no? Sounds classy and …beautiful.. As the name suggests, a French press coffee is brewed with a French press. A French press, also known as a press pot, coffee press, or coffee plunger, is a coffee brewing device patented by Italian designer Attilio Calimani in 1929. If you want to experience the coffee with all your five senses, without impurities, then French press is perfect! It doesn’t soak up flavour and adds tiny bits of coffee grounds in the coffee that percolates flavour and thus makes your coffee even more powerful. French Press coffee drinkers praise this method of brewing because of its superior taste and drinking quality.

Caffeine does wonders to our body energy. Coffee has many health benefits, so a perfect French press coffee only magnifies those benefits, using coffee to its fullest. It is rich in methylpyridinium, a powerful anti-cancer compound and it is a perfect anti-oxidant rich solution to help in concentration, decrease reaction time and improve short term recall in the morning. French press coffee not only maintains your health, but boasts it as well. Pick your favourite type of coffee, Cappuccino, espresso, Americano, or anything at all, French press coffee will get the best of you! 

Identity

Identity is something that describes you. But sometimes, we let the society decide it for us all. And we let them decide the high and low positions of the identities. This is where intersectionality comes into play. Intersectionality, originated by Kimberlé Crenshaw refers to how different categories of identities link with one another to create discrimination, oppression, and domination, consciously or subconsciously.  For example, a foreigner who is not fluent in the new land's language and is also identified as gay is more likely to experience discrimination among the other majority of identities due to their biased opinions and narrow mindsets. 

Privilege is something one gets not because he deserves it, but mostly because he is simply born into it. It is just an advantage of belonging to certain highly respected categories that are looked upon for decades. A universal example would be the male dominance in the world, especially in underdeveloped and developing countries. Another common example would be the white dominating over the black. Did you know? Michael Jackson was originally dark-skinned and decided to bleach his skin white? Imagine the weight of such discrimination if even the world-famous artist had to abandon his own skin color!

Although we have all come to realize our mistakes and think broader, some of us still want to use face creams that can make us fair, don't we? And we still secretly wish to be fairer. Believe it or not, we all want to be praised by others, no matter how much you say that you don't care about what they think. The environment we live in will always affect our desires, directly or indirectly. 

Identities are varied. Some are discovered, some stay concealed. But as we move on and accept the reality, we realize, that in the end, we are only human. The world is developing, the mindsets are opening up. Gay marriage is becoming legal in every country now, we are practicing the use of the respective pronouns - She/her, they/them, he/him, women empowerment is flourishing everywhere, citizens are fighting back for justice (George Floyd case), we are finally celebrating the acceptance of the different identities and looking ahead because we have probably realized, there are bigger problems in the world that need our attention. 

Yes, dreams do come true.

No, I am not talking about the dreams you have after you have had a good peaceful sleep during the day. Well to be literal, even they do come true sometimes to which we call Deja-vu. But that is still a mystery.

What is not a mystery is that your ultimate aim and motive can be achieved. Your dreams can be achieved, that is if you want to.

You don’t have a particular dream yet? Do not worry, because that is just not possible. We all have desires and aspirations. One might just take a while to identify and accept them. Because trust me, it's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. Once your goal is set, get ready, one hell of a ride awaits you!

   Let’s talk about Water. We know its basic benefits and its crucial role. But have you ever thought of one of the main characteristics of water? ‘It ALWAYS finds a way to flow, it never stops.’ It is yet another example of nature taking its course. Similarly, let there be your initiation towards your desires, rest, nature will take its course. It is but natural, that if you want something so badly that you are willing to do anything and everything for it, literally nothing and nobody can stop you from getting it. Not your parents, not your friends, not your weaknesses. Believe in yourself, have courage, and know that you deserve all the opportunities in the world, it is your job to seize them. Let your dreams lead you. After all, YOU are the sculptor of your life.

Cherish your dreams, they are the wishes your heart makes.

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”