Every day, Americans are bombarded with information from both electronic and print media. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate the truth from what is untrue. The media has been known to exaggerate information, and in some cases even falsify it.
The problem with most of the information we receive is that it does not come from primary sources. It is mediated, and this means that it is also subject to corruption. What we believe to be the case is never wholly so because every account, whether visual or verbal, is simply an interpretation of reality and not a replica of it. While some interpretations tend to be more accurate than others are, none is ever entirely accurate.
Even in the most accurate and objective cases, the media may be biased and only show the things that are likely to give a positive image of its nation. They may also get tempted to show the worst possible image of the people or countries they perceive to be their enemies. Some of these media houses are influenced by the government and prevailing political situations, making them increasingly unreliable in providing information objectively. This leads to the question of how one may gain access to the right, uncorrupted information.
In order to show this clearly, this paper will focus on how the media depicts the Middle East, and the effect it has had on the people.
Media Representation of the Middle East
The representation of the Middle East by the media is biased and inaccurate. The representations of the media of Middle Easterners by the United States media have been very influential in the construction of several negative stereotypes, which portray them as exotic, carnal, enigmatic, unpredictable and even violent.
After the 9- 11 attack in 2001 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, such images have continued to be intensified through well-structured networks of film and television depictions. In this political and historical context, images shown are heavily loaded with ideological propaganda. They are constructed to transmit, articulate, promote and legitimize information and knowledge about the geographical location. The information is also subject to manipulation by political apparatuses and government control.
Many of these images represent ‘difference’ in the popular culture and been elaborated to locate and classify Middle Eastern people in the sphere of ‘Otherness’. Culture depends on giving different things meaning by categorizing or assigning them to a particular position within a given classificatory system. This marking of “differences” forms the basis of the symbolic order called culture. In this context, it is crucial to have binary oppositions for maintaining difference. The media tends to exaggerate these differences in a manner that will sell the news and movies.
The marking of differences is articulated inside clear boundaries. It normally does not tolerate unstable, ambiguous, or hybrid spaces that result from indeterminacy. Stable culture requires that things stay in the place appointed for them. Symbolic boundaries keep these categories ‘pure’, thus giving different cultures their unique identity and meaning. What usually unsettles culture is the existence of matter that is out of place, leading to the breaking of unwritten codes and rules. The media strengthen these boundaries, by showing how different the other group is.
The process of purification often legitimizes intolerance, racism and exclusion. It also assigns marginal identities to the individuals who fail to conform to the norms and values of the Western nations as a cultural and a geographical space. In this view, symbolic representations are therefore necessary to maintain this difference. Some of these differences are imagined. Much of the information presented by the media is exaggerated, and may be marred with half- truths and lies.
Throughout centuries, symbolic boundaries were very powerful in the maintenance of separation between individuals and nations. Since its very first contacts with Arab people, the West has come up with a set of stereotypes, which depict Arabs as violent and uncivilized. One of the most pronounced texts capturing this historical encounter come from the 12th C. epic French poem by the name ‘The Song of Rolland.’ This was the time of Enlightenment, when philosophers ranked different societies along the evolutionary scale from the lowest being ‘barbarism’ to the highest being ‘civilization’. It greatly contributed to vulgarization of the ideology.
Many media experts found in the U.S. would argue that the American media coverage of the Middle East is within worldview, especially as far as Western audience is concerned. The coverage remains negative and stereotypical, and will continue to be so, unless cultural differences between the Middle East and the United States are redefined and this is properly negotiated with the media. This is because negatives sell, and most people are not interested in the truth. Showing the audience the true picture could lead to disinterest and reduced sales, and the media is more interested in making money.
In the U.S., in spite of the fact that many Arabs have considerably contributed to the well-being of the nation for the last two centuries, many negative representations of people from this ethnic group continue to abound in intensity and scope. The images constructed and manipulated all through time, have delegated the Arabic people to second-degree American citizens, who are unable to embrace secular ideals and the Western worldview. This is not true. Some of the American Arabs living in America are not any different from the other Americans, and even conform to their culture.
Representation is a very complex phenomenon. This is more so when dealing with groups with cultural differences. It will engage emotions, attitudes, and reactions, and try to control the fears and questions of the viewer. It also promotes sets of cultural values to respond to the fears or anxieties of their viewer.
Middle-Easterners in U.S. popular media are defined according to such cultural and historical paradigms. On top of being barbaric and violent, they are also depicted as being overly emotional, bloodthirsty savages. Mainstream images of Arabic people in American media operate in accordance with dynamics of culture-based distortions. They are always portrayed as being closer to nature and not culture, and genetically incapable of showing ‘civilized’ refinements. The notion of ‘Naturalization’ implies the impossibility of the Arab people to embrace culture. They are therefore imprisoned in stability, which is quite unnatural for them. According to this media, they are incapable of embracing any cultural emancipation.
Staging Cultural ‘differences’ and Ethics of Representation
In the representation of cultures, the relationship between power and knowledge is fundamental. Power operates within institutional apparatuses and their technologies and techniques. These apparatuses consist of developing strategies to form relationships between the other and the self and articulate them within spaces of cultural antagonism. In the production of most knowledge about the Arab world, this has been applied, since most of the media outlets within the U.S. express their ideologies within this framework.
This system has also been used in the production of knowledge on the Middle East as part of American scholarship on the ‘Orient’. These scholarship techniques have contributed to the formation of images, which have been seriously contested by the scholars from the Middle East. One very vocal critic of Western representation of the ‘Orient’ is political activist and scholar Edward Said. He offers new perspectives on the reading of images and symbols that were developed by Westerners during the 19th C and 20th C.
Most U.S and other Western media and movies portray Arabs in the worst light possible. They do not b9other to show the beauty of the Arabic culture or the many great contributions of Arabs to America. They only focus on the negative aspects of these differences, portraying them as religious fanatics, belly dancers and suicide bombers. In other cases, they are portrayed as millionaires obsessed with their sexual drives, whose primary motive for coming to the West is to conquer women. An example of this seen in the movie Taken, where wealthy Arabs purchase female sex slaves kidnapped from France.
This stereotyping process is exclusive and it expels difference. These differences are shown to be abnormal, pathological, and unacceptable features that need to be reformed and changed. The members of the mainstream group then try to impose their own cultural agendas on other group, which in this case, are the Arabs.
The connections between the Middle East and the United States have historically been strongly determined by their stereotyping strategy. Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the media bombarded television viewers with all types of information that related to the urgent need to liberate the people of Iraq from tyranny, intolerance and corruption. Constructing the identities of the Middle Eastern people became the main tool used to promote imperial ideologies by legitimizing this invasion.
Self-representation
The U.S. media is not the only one at fault. Middle Eastern media also gives a biased perspective of the Middle East. Privately owned media stations such as Al-Jazeera are considered the symbol of free speech and democracy. Many people view it as well balanced and presenting both sides of the story. The motto station is ‘the Opinion and the Other Opinion’ . Unfortunately, Al Jazeera is not immune to biases, and it also tries to appeal to the beliefs, sentiments, and values of the Arab audience. This often puts them in a dilemma, where they have to choose between telling the truth, and offending their people.
In some of the Arabic media, the Middle East has been portrayed as victims of the U.S., and their acts of violence against America as retaliation. They claim that there is a conspiracy against the Middle East, and this forces them to be on guard at all times. This has created parallels between American and Middle Eastern media.
Consequences of Media Portrayal of the Middle East
The negative portrayal of Arabs has led to discrimination against them. Americans now see them as the enemy, because they have been portrayed are violent, greedy, unscrupulous, slave-traders who enjoy abusing women. Few Western movies give a leading role to Arabs. They are always the villains and terrorists.
In the movie G.I. Jane, directed by Scott, he world become a better place when countless Arabs are killed. This gives the impression that Arabs are indeed a hazard to our society, and the world should get rid of them. Companies that are leading in family entertainment are also contributing to this perpetuation of anti-Arabic stereotypes. The effect of this is that Arab-American children cannot feel proud of their Arabic heritage. These images dominate the American culture, change people’s way of thinking, and shape their minds to become more intolerant of Arabs.
The media has encouraged intolerance and discrimination against Arabs all over the world. People are no longer comfortable with the idea of travelling in the same bus as Arabs, due to fear that they could be suicide bombers. Some people have gone as far as not hiring Arabs. Other children, due to their Arabic descent, are criticized and mistreated in public playgrounds. This is making life increasingly difficult for American Arabs. This has also affected American Arabs psychologically.
Getting Objective Information
One of the reasons why it is so difficult to get accurate information is because most of it is clouded by the reporter’s personal judgment, sensationalism, and other external influences. In some cases, for instance, the movies, the producers tend to focus on the most recent event and then blow it out of proportion. They want to give the people whatever is most likely to sell at that particular moment in time.
Usually, the truth is boring and bland. Most people are not interested in the truth, but would rather have something likely to catch their attention. Extremism sells, and this is why most media tend to focus on it. Where enough information cannot be found, they may exaggerate the existing information, making it appear much worse than it really is. This is because for them, all that matters to ensuring that their sales remain high.
This makes it quite difficult to get objective and accurate information. However, it is not an impossible task. Since both groups are likely to give contradicting information, it is important to get this information from a neutral source. An example of this is foreign media. This is because they tend to be less emotional on the matter, and can therefore report objectively. Comparing information on the internet also helps to get a clearer picture of the situation. One must also not rely on only one source of information for everything. Comparing information will ensure that one does not get a myopic view of the matter in question, or the world. It would also remove any false sense of security that comes from not knowing the truth.
Conclusion
In order to differentiate the correct information from what is false, it is important to have some background information on the culture being shown in the media. This will make it easier to tell whether the information given is true or not. For instance, knowing more about the culture makes it possible to view Arabs as people, and not simply threats to security. It is also important to compare information from both parties and fins a middle ground. This gives a clearer picture of the situation. One must also not allow emotions to cloud their judgment when looking for this objective information. Getting the right information gives the observer or listener the ability to look at the world form a better perspective.
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