The term representation is used to refer to the construction of meaning through various symbols and images (Sisler, 2008). Cultures, races, and religions are represented in different forms of media around the world, but in most scenarios these representations are filled with stereotypes making western cultural ideologies and beliefs as better or ideal compared to other forms of cultural ideologies. The portrayal of Arab- Muslim Americans or Muslims in general, within the media of the United States focuses on the idea of agenda setting and the dominant ideology which frames the perceptions of mainstream America (Gerhauser, 2014).
The United States is a dominantly a Christian society, but in reality there is no official religion of the United States, because there has always been a separation between church and state. The mass media indicates a variety of sources that are specifically designed as a tool for disseminating news and information to a large audience, because the media holds considerable power in order to influence the perceptions of the general public concerning news or social issues (Gerhauser, 2014). This paper will describe how Arabs are portrayed and stereotypes in western media, the history of their portrayal and what it led people to do, including clear examples of the stereotyping, focusing on the Disney cartoon Aladdin, and social media and different news channels.
Oddly enough, after September 11, 2001, there was an increase in the sympathetic portrayals of Muslims or Arabs on American television (Alsultany, 2013). This is most likely due to the idea there was a large population within the United States, who wanted to make it clear to the majority of the population, the United States is not innocent and there are terrorist attacks occurring around the world and none of them received the media attention like the September 11th attacks. In order to maintain the balance in movies and television shows, Muslims or Arabs would be depicted in two ways, one as a terrorist who is motivated by some previous act in their past, and secondly as an individual who is willing to help the United States government and their interests in their region which enforces a positive representation (Alsultany, 2013). The United States has a strong idea of what is viewed as beautiful, which usually includes the individual being young, thin, healthy and white. This idea has been reinforced generation after generation, and has gotten to the point that over the last two award seasons, all of the nominees for the Oscars have been white. They may not all be Americans, but there has not been any minority nominated in two years.
Arabs and Muslims have been stereotyped for over a century (Alsultany, 2013). In the past, the main stereotype depicted all people from Asian and African nations as barbaric and uncivilized. To counteract against these generalizations from the past, the media of the modern world is now able to position its audience to sympathize with the plight of the individual (Alsultany, 2013). This can be viewed as rationalizing the terrorist attack or explaining why the person was motivated to act in a certain manner. This idea has become a common occurrence, because it is quite obvious this is the only way for Americans to understand why the Muslim world seems to always be against the United States and other western cultures, which would hopefully inspire people to work together to find feasible mutual solutions instead of maintaining the us versus them ideology of the past.
In the digital age, video games have risen in popularity to the point it is now considered a mainstream form of media that is now capable of shaping the comprehension and understanding of the world by constructing, iterating, and conveying of various representations to their end users (Sisler, 2008). The violence in video games has evolved to a realistic view, which can motivate the players to kill without any disregard for the people being shot, or the innocent bystanders nearby. In the United States, Arab Americans or Muslim Americans are consistently featured in a negative light, which cannot be made positive by a Muslim going against their own community or society to help the United States (Gerhauser, 2014). This can be compared to the representation or depiction of other minority groups, which is generally focused on these characters engaging in illegal activities and violence. It has been reported, visual media taking place in an urban setting depicts more violence than what is actually occurring, which leads people from suburban and rural communities to believe urban communities are just as dangerous as Arab nations because the citizens are acting in an uncivilized manner.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the hate crimes against Arab and Muslim Americans increased by 1600% between the years of 2000 to 2001, which proves the American society began to take the law into its own hands, while the United States government completed the Patriot Act, which was legislation that targeted these people within and outside of the United States, by legalizing the suppression of constitutional rights (Alsultany, 2013).What needs to be clear, is the Patriot Act does not only effect Muslims, but every American. The Patriot Act was created in a time of fear, and was the only legislation of its kind throughout American history, which involved the American public giving up their right to privacy and the right to a trial of their peers. This also allowed the United States government the ability to initiate the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, by pushing overt propaganda to any already afraid American population stating ideas like “They hate us for our freedom” (Alsultany, 2013).
Another way to push the interests of the American government, there has been a long history focusing on the increased pity for the oppressed Muslim woman. This idea has been strategically used to advance the imperialistic attitudes of the United States, through a highly mediated evocation of outrage for the plight of these women (Alsultany, 2013). What is difficult for some to understand, is the fact some Muslim women are content in their lives and are not in support for a change in their way of life. This can be compared to American women who are in support of political candidates who hold views which are damaging to the quality of life of women by taking away birth control, defining legitimate rape, and support unequal pay for women. In the modern world, these should not be an issue, but they are. More people need to consider how women in the United States and make comparisons. The religion of Islam is quite brutal to women, and these social injustices should no longer exisit, but the United States is allies with Saudi Arabia, which is one of the worst Arab countries related to the treatment of women.
There needs to be a review to develop an understanding of the dominant media that frames the techniques and themes associated with the Arab or Muslim populations around the world and within American society, which can include official United State depictions, which have been vital to the legitimization of discriminatory foreign and domestic policies. This can also be compared to the depicton of Hispanic and African Americans in the media, because it is these depictions which made the War on Drugs and mandatory prison sentences policies which have crippled the urban communities where these minority groups seems to reside in higher densities. Similar to how African and Hispanic Americans have been depicted as drug dealers or criminlas, American Muslims have suffered from the negative construction of the image of Islam in conjuncstion with terrorism, extremism, violence, and hatred toward America has created the national epidemic of Islamaphobia, which involves concerted efforts that are directed to frighten the world of the hostility and enmity imposed by the religion of Islam and Arabs.
There needs to be a consideration to the extremist versions of Islam which have perverted the ideals of the traditional religion, because it is these extremist viewpoints which has allowed the prevalnce of terrorism to flourish in the modern world. With this said, the idea of terrorism is a new phenomenon that was only coined as a term in the late 20th century. What is interesting, is the idea this change could coincide with the increase of mass media, even before the digital explosion associated with the general use of the Internet and most recently social media.
The focus on the role of mass media in the social reproduction of Islamaphobia, which continues to change the way in the media which continues to construct certain events related with Islam and the Muslim world. This invovles the western media sources covering the terrorist attacks against western cultures, but rarely covers the terrorist attacks conducted by the western societies. There is no way to rationalize the actions of Muslim terrorists, but there also needs to be an acknowledgement of the media’s role in the behavior of the terrorists and how the western societies view these terrorists.
An example of apatriotic Arab or Muslim American characters generally results in the individual assisting the United States government in their fight against terrorism including the Mohammad “Mo” Hassain, who is a part of the United States Homeland Security Force on the show known as Threat Matrix. Sadly, even with these positive depictions, Americans will still perceive this character to be untrustworthy since they are betraying their people. Another exampTerrorist Unit on Season six of the show 24, in which the Sleeper Cell depicts the good Muslim which is played by the lead African American character who is an undercover FBI agent who procliams to his collegues that terrorists have nothing to do with his faith. This is a problem, because it means the character needed to rationalize his religion, and allowing the character to defend his beliefs will leave the mainstream American population holding a negative perception of this character and his worth to the show in general.
The main stereotype related to Arabs or Muslims is the idea they are higly intelligent, which makes it likely they would have the knowledge and the skills necessary to create a bomb or other forms of mass destruction. At the same time, Arabs or Muslims are also depicted as people who are able to speak many different languages, which would make it easier for them to blend in within a variety of different societies found around the world. Stereotypes have been found to lower the self-esteem of individuals, impact policies, injure innoents, and encourage the divisiveness through the us versus them concept. When people feel the stereotypes depicted in mass media are meant to harm their self image, they are more likely to suffer from a reduced self-esteem or self worth, because this message has been reinforced over and over again. This also holds true for other minority groups within the United States including the depiction of women.
Neglected media exhibits focus on the strong popular appeal and economic relevance, which emobieds the lack of cultural prestige and scientific coverage, which is only provided to the dominant forces within western cultures. When western cultures discover a new method or tool for war, they are praised for their great work, while the opposite occurs in Arab and Muslim nations. As an example, the United States entered Iraq during the War on Terror with the belief the country had weapons of mass destruction, but in reality there were no weapons found, which meant the reason the United States entered the nation and engaged in war was based on false information. The real question should be, was the Bush administration aware they sent American soldiers on a wild goose chase, which ended with the capture of Sadam Hussein, who the previous President Bush was unable to capture during Desert Storm during the early 1990’s.
Even since the mass withdrawl of American soldiers from Afghanistan, there have been several events which have led to more soldiers returing to the region. This allows the western media outlets the opportunity to continue to spread the fear and continue to perpetuate the Muslim stereotypes these organizations have used to sell their information to Americans and citizens from around the world. Cartoons and animation have reached new heights over the last several decades as the advancement of technology has enabled cartoonists and animators the ability to make characeters look and move like real life actors on a screen.
The Disney movie Aladdin features a young orphan who is living in the gutter of a Muslim community. At the beginning of the movie, the character is depicted as a “street rat” who needs to steal from vendors in a traditional Arab market that still abides by the old brabaric treatment like cutting off the hand of a theif. At the same time, the film also depicts the beautiful princess as a wild stallion, who wants to spread her wings and travel around her kingdom, but since she is a woman this is considered inappropriate at best. The movie also shows how the culture favors those who have wealth and power, because Aladdin receives a completely different treatment when he arives in his home as a prince. These depcitions may not have been terrible, but it was enough to tell children this soceity is uncivilized compared to the American and western societies these children reside within.
Another Arab or Muslim depiction is of the character Apoo from the Simpson’s show which airs on Fox. Apoo’s name is even similar to the name of Aladdin’s monkey Abu. Apoo is depicted as a devout religious character who owns the local convenience store. His saying of “thank you, come again” has become a punchline of Muslim jokes for decades. Once again, the character never conducts himself in a negative manner, but laughing at a character because of the way they smell, dress, or speak are still hateful and hurtful.
Muslim people tend to use lots of strong spices like curry, which not only make the air smell, it seems to linger as it comes out of their pores. Just because the people do not fit into the assimilated view of what an American should be, should not interfere with their American status or the amount they love the United States. Many Americans are only aware of the outside world based on the information they receive through mass media inclduing the Internet, and are rarely interested in making their own educated decisions about people or topics, because they are more interested in hearing what they want to hear. This has become a bigger problem as mass media has continued to evovle, because the increased number of platforms has made it possible for viewers to watch news programs that are inline with their own views and beleifs, but has created an atmosphere which promtes group think and does not discuss relevant news, but fabricated news which can be considered entertainment which means the news channel does not need to make corrections when false information is shared.
There are many versions of simplified complex representations that commonly appear in news reporting, which invovle the use of disclaimers, which are used prior to stories about the oppressed women of the Muslim world. These disclaimers alert the viewer the information they are about to receive can be upsetting, which will get people who are not interested to change the channel to watch something that is more inline with their beliefs. Other versions of simplified complex representations use generalizations like stereotypes to explain complicated concepts and ideas to one again draw the us versus them line in the social world.
Research has been conducted over the past several decades as to whether or not the news media coverage of acts related to domestic terrorism, which are framed and presented differently according to the race or religion associated with the suspect. A few years ago, the two brothers invovled in the Boston Bombing were an example of domestic terrorists who were recrutied online to conduct this terrible act. It was the use of social media and modern tenchology that was able to identify the two people responsible for these actions and eventaully led to the death of one and the arrest of the other. The Boston community came together, not only to capture these people who harmed their city and their residents, but the following year held their marathon with record signups from the people who wanted to show it would take more than a bomb to disrupt American life as we knowit.
Last year, there was an incident where a white male visited a military recruitment office in the southeastern section of the United States, who opened fire killing several. What was interesting about this incident was the reality the shooter was able to climb into his vehicle, drive across town to a different recruitment office, and open fire once again. If this would have happened in a northern state this shooter would have never would have made it to the next location just because the gunman was white. This has been depicted in mass media over the past decade, because it is more common for an unarmed minority to be shot by police than an amred white person. The media is able to show this over and over, but always chooses to supress the stories where the police are in the wrong, or change information. Watching the capture of the Boston bomber is a great example, because as the police approached the location of the bomber, they warn the media to stay back as they go to apprehend the indiviudal, but instead of hearing the police tell the person to come out with their hands up, all the viewers could hear was hundreds of rounds of bullets entering the location.
Some would argue the bombers had it coming, but this does not sound like an American ideal, but a barbaric one in support of asking questions after the suspect is already dead. The American media system has become a perverted system, because the power of media was once in the hands of many, but in the modern world there are only about four media conglomerates who control the media in the United States, which also influences the media in the western democracies in Europe. The media has lost its accountability, because it has decided to focus on stereotypes of minorites including Muslim or Arab Americans. The problem is these stereotypes have allowed the negative perception of minorities and women to continue to flourish in the modern world.
In conclusion, there needs to be a change from focusing on what is a good or mab Muslim, and focus more on the changes created by the extremist groups like Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or most recently Isis. It has been argued the issue with Muslims within the western European democracies has been worse because they are not as productive or effective in assimilating their immigrants, because the United States does a better job integrating these people into their mainstream society. Assimilation is fine, but what any minortiy actually wants is to be accepted for who they are, and not forced into a small mold which has been preapproved by the white dominatnt society.
In reality, Arab or Muslim Americans only account for 1% of American society, with approximately 1.97 million people, who in most cases identify as a part of the white racem even through they are generally subjected to the forms of racism experienced by minorities including racial profiling and cultural stereotyping. Some white Americans feel religious differences is enough to lable a particular group as not white, which has been an issue for those who pratice Judaism, similar to the perceptions of those who practice Islam. The western governments need to take the time to make their media outlets credible once again. Allowing media conglomerates to control how people feel or perceve a particular situation in a manner which does not include the whole truth should lead to some kind of reprecussions for those who continue to push stereotypes to spread fear or to provoke a nation to want to enter war. This can also include those who are willing to penalize the countries of the middle east, which will harm all of the people, instead of specifically targeting the terrorists and those who support them.
References
Alsultany, E. (2013, March). Arabs and Muslims in the Media after 9/11: Representational Strategies for a "Postrace" Era. American Quaterly, 65(1), 161-169, 261.
Gerhauser, P. T. (2014, Fall). Framing Arab-Americans and Muslims in U.S. Media. Sociological Viewpoints, 30(1), 7-35.
Greenberg, D., & Miazhevich, G. (2012, March). Assimilationism vs. Multiculturalism: U.S. Identity and Media Representations of British Muslims Over a 12-Year Span. Communication, Culture, and Critique, 5(1), 75-98. doi:10.1111/j.1753-9137.2011.01117.x
Navarro, L. (2010, Fall). Islamophobia and Sexism: Muslim Women in the Western Mass Media. Human Architecture, 8(2), 95-114.
Sisler, V. (2008, May). Digital Arabs Representation in video games. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 11(2), 203-220. doi:10.1177/1367549407088333
