Ishmael Questions

1. What are Ishmael’s two general rules on how to identify people from our culture? Do you agree with Ishmael when he says that people from all over the world are part of the same culture? Why or why not?
Two general rules that Ishmael states you can use to identify someone of our culture is to look if a culture has their food source on lock and key and to see if the people see themselves are flawed who are eventually going to die. I do agree with Ishmael when he says that people all over the world are of the same culture. I agree with this because even though the people of the world are American, Chinese, Indian, etc, we are all part of the Human culture. We all share the same idea that we need to love one another, and must stick together to succeed.

2. Ishmael disagrees with Mother Culture’s voice that says that humans are inherently flawed. After reading through page 66 of My Ishmael do agree or disagree with him? Why?
After reading these chapters, I do agree with him that humans are flawed. I agree with him because (just going off the book and not other reasons) we keep our food under lock and key and we think that the way we do something has to be the right way. I do not think that we should keep our food under lock and key after reading the story of tunes and dancers. I think that people should be able to “dance” for the amount of food they want and then be left alone. If some people wanted to dance all day, let them dance all day. But leave the people that only dance for a few hours each day to their own business. The second reason I agree with Ishmael is that we always see the way we do things as the right way, and when a different or abstract idea or process comes up, we condemn it right away because it is not the way we do it. Just because we don’t do it doesn’t make it wrong. It just makes it different.

3. Ishmael uses a parable of Tunes and Dancers to explain his idea of Takers and Leavers. Who are these Takers and Leavers and how do they relate to American culture?
The Takers are represented by the regular everyday people in the American culture. The Leavers are represented by farmers and food distributers. Ishmael’s parable of Tunes and Dancers relates directly to American culture because it is how we “operate”. At one time, all the people in the American culture used to be hunters. They would hunt only when they were hungry, and not store excess food. But as time went on, they became Leavers who turned to agriculture to keep themselves fed. Later, these Leavers (farmers) found that they could make money by withholding the food from the public unless they danced for the food (paid for the food). In time, food distributers appeared, who kept the food under lock and key. Even now, this system of food under lock and key still exists, which is why the parable of Tunes and Dancers relates directly to American culture today.