Playing fair

I've realized that my exposure to Jordanian thoughts and opinions, is rather limited to one group of individuals who are relatively liberal in their thinking.

First of all, there is my family - practicing Muslims, they have defined their faith by embracing the modern context.  My host mom and host sister are not veiled, my host mom owns a hair salon, and my host dad tells me that, unlike most other men, he doesn't see it as a shame to cook.  They welcome the idea of living in a pluralist society with a mixture of religions, and are frustrated with the radical Islamists who capture the headlines.

Then there are my Jordanian friends, many of whom are guys my age or older, and the only reason I can hang out with them is because they are more liberal, or aren't very religious.  I am friends with a group of about six Jordanian girls who are conservative, but our time together is limited to our breaks between classes.

When I have conversations with these people, often times I agree with them.  I would like to post some of the things my host sister says about the idea of education and marriage, or my friends' thoughts on the political and societal impact of religion - but these would not fairly assess the opinion of Jordanians.  Most importantly, I do not feel like I have the right to analyze or critique a society because I can't  do that without there naturally being a comparison in my head between here and the states.  Not until I am part of this place can I try to fairly make social observations.