Sample Essay On Breaking Free From Generalizations

A stereotype, according to Wikipedia, is “a thought that may be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things.” It may be very unfortunate but nowadays, generalizations about a particular group are pretty common. In fact, in this highly technological world, we have seen how the media became the biggest source of information that have influenced people to label others in a particular stereotype—putting them in either the positive or negative light. In Gretel Ehrlich’s essay About Men, for example, she pointed out some of the assumptions thrown by the public against cowboys. She narrated how the community sees these men as tough, rugged, hard-drinking. She explained how these notions have overshadowed the ranchers’ reality—that they can be afraid too, that they can be nurturers if needed, and that they have the softness that the rest of the world refuses to see.
In our world today, I believe that it is the Arab community that is deeply affected by a stereotype presented in the Western cultures. With the Western media’s negative representation of these individuals in the news, the general public will automatically lose their interest in their culture because the Arabs are thought of as terrorists and careless, uneducated people.
It is perhaps one of the saddest things to realize that many of the media sources referred the terrorism operations to Arabs or Muslims. As we have seen in the latest terrorist act which is Boston Marathon bombing, a lot of TV show personalities linked this operation to Arab people until the government found out the truth—that the Arabs have nothing to do with the said violence.
Negative stereotyping has also reached the film industry. In fact, I saw more than one movie that present the Arabs in a terrible way. Usually, these people would be characterized as terrorists who even came from schools that teach young students about violence. Some would be portrayed as uneducated, rich kids whose goal is to scare people off for fun. These are the ones who only care about pleasure and not the money. Well, I personally enjoyed the movies as part of my pastime, but I feel sad whenever the media represent people from other countries in that manner.
In fact, most of what the media represented about Arabs is wrong and I think this is kind of misrepresenting their reputation. As we know, there are many sources of media and not all of them represent the Arabs on that way. With more and more people becoming more educated and understanding the difference between what is wrong and right, I believe that the repute of Arabs and their culture will get better in time. Since we see a lot of Arabic celebrations with a large American following and amazing Arab food that are getting popular anywhere in the United States, I can see a cultural appreciation from the Westerners. In fact, I have had met many people who are not affected with what some media sources are trying to say about the Arabs for they are totally interested in the Arab’s religion and culture.
In conclusion, I strongly believe that stereotypes can negatively affect many people, whether what is said about them is true or not. I feel sad whenever I meet someone who holds a wrong idea about Arabs especially when the reality is totally different. We should not worry, though because a lot of people are getting more educated and are opening their eyes to what is going on in the world. As I mentioned before, not all of the media sources embody the Arabs in a negative way. Happily, luckily, there are many who still represent the Arab people in a more positive light and who work hard to show it to the rest of the world. Long live!