Nanoosh English-68
" Its never too late, be patient and have faith in god."
"Baby Steps are wise steps."
Inquiry research:
As it known, actors and singers nowadays have a huge influence on people, especially teenagers. Can one famous person positively change or inhance the image of Arabs and muslims?
What will be the first thing that pops in your mind when you hear the word Arabs? to be more specific the word Saudis. There are a lot of people who gained this negative image about Saudis through the media and it effects. This picture shows how do other cultures view Saudis in general. People still think we live in desert, however, the percentage of people who still live there is less than 10%. In addition to that many says that Saudis are rich, so why still living in deserts if you can offer city life? Also other cultures still think that our main transportation is the camel, which is wrong we have cars, buses, and taxies; camels are slow and they don’t have turning signals.
Being intelligent and knowledgeable is something cultivated inside humans. We all want to be able to discuss things, have educated conversations, or even argue with one another. People gain information from different kinds of resources such as books, movies, radios as well as other people. However, not every single piece of information we hear is necessarily true; some may be, but many may not be. I have always heard people passing wrong information from the media. I remember my friends used to argue with me about soccer, movies, and politics by bringing information and ideas from the media. However, these are considered as normal arguments. What if we had a huge argument? A huge argument, which may cause a big fight, not just a fight between two people, best friends, or relationships. Fights where countries start to hate each other, fights when races start to dislike one another. Can the media really have such enormous negative effects on people? Does the media have the ability and the power to deliver a single story to people’s minds about certain things? I have been wondering my whole life about what is the effect of media on the perspective of non-Muslims toward Arabs and Muslims? After extensive research regarding this topic I have found out a lot of interesting information that spreads between people; some are pros, but unfortunately others are cons. There are many misconceptions that other cultures and races think when it comes to Arab people and Islam.
What is the effect of media on the perspective of non-Muslims toward Arabs and Muslims?
There are misconceptions such as all Muslims are Arabs and all Arabs are Muslims; this is nothing but a generalization. A Muslim is a person who embraces Islam as a religion he/she can be holding any nationality in the world as well as speaking different languages. On the other hand, an Arab is someone who dwells in an Arabian region and speaks Arabic as his/her mother language. In addition to that Arab countries include several religions, for example, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. However, the majority of Arabs are Muslims. According to islam.about.com, “While Islam is often associated with Arabs, they make up only 15% of the world's Muslim population. The country with the largest population of Muslims is Indonesia. Muslims make up 1/5 of the world's population, with large numbers found in Asia (69%), Africa (27%), Europe (3%) and other parts of the world.” The following table shows the population of Islam in different countries including non-Arab countries:
Furthermore, the non-Muslims Arab exist, but they are few. According to wiki.answers.com “the non-Muslim Arabs are spread in different countries. However, there are no more than three percentages of them in each country. On the other hand, Lebanon as an Arab country contain around 30% of Christians, 11% of Arab Kuwaitis are not Muslims, and 6% of Egyptians are Christians.” Why do you think everyone is misunderstanding this point about Arabs and Muslims? Is it because they actually went to an Arab country and figured it out or they were friends with Muslims people? No, it’s because stereotypes believers keep transporting information to one another from wrong sources. “The Media” keep passing this single story about Arab and Islam from channel to channel just to stamp the incorrect information in people’s mind".
Another bullet that the media fired to the world against Arabs and Muslims is they all are uncivilized and ignorant. How it is possible for an ignorant person to invent Algebra? “Algebra comes from the Arabic word al-jabr. The Latin name for Al Khwarizmi, which was “algoritmi”, roughly translates to “algorithm” or “equation”(invention.yukozimo.com).. In addition to that, Ibn Sina, was the most famous physician, philosopher, encyclopaedist, mathematician and astronomer of his time. Also, he is known as the prince of science and he wrote almost 450 works on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving works concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine” Accodring to trincoll.edu
Let’s take a look in one of the countries that nowadays consider as a big tourism spot, Dubai. How come an uncivilized Arab city has the tallest offshore structure in the world and the highest building in the world known as Burj Khalifa? There are a lot of people who spend their vacations in Dubai, is it because the poor tourism they have or the bad attitude that is offered from the country and the citizens? The “uncivilized” people are known by their generosity, greeting, and their love for guests. For example, they must treat their guest perfectly by offering them the best food and make them feel comfortable and not strangers.
There are certainly Arabs who live in desert or small cities, but that doesn’t make them barbarous. It’s exactly the same as the any rural who live in small town or a village. These people prefer the quiet zone of the country; they got used to stay away from crowded places such as traffic and malls. As a person who viewed rural people as ignorant rednecks according to the media, here I knew that other cultures view Arabs as uncivilized and ignorant. Years ago, I have never met a redneck person, but I have just seen them via movies and read about them in the Internet. I had a single image toward them as being uneducated, rude, and racist. This image hasn’t changed until I moved to the United State of America. My classmate was the best in class and he was a redneck. After getting to know them I have finally changed my perspective toward them. The media have a huge influence in manipulating the reputation of things, especially in a harmful way. Ask yourself what if all the people who still think that Arabs are uncivilized went to an Arab country, will they still have the same perspective? People should seek right knowledge and ideas and prevent the media to keep destroying their brains.
Why do all Arab females wear a mask? Do you wear it even at your house, in the shower, and during sleeping? These questions are derived inside the head of those who know nothing about Muslim women. The mask is called “Hijab” which is “the traditional covering for the hair and neck that is worn by Muslim women” (Merriam-webster.com). Every other culture thinks that all Muslim women must wear Hijab or to be veiled. This is actually incorrect because there are a lot of Arabs who don’t wear the Hijab. For example, the majority of Lebanese women who are Arab don’t wear Hijab as well as Moroccans, Libyans, and Bahrainis. We know that Islam requires women to be veiled, but nowadays, it depends on how strict the family is; therefore, not all people follow those rules. Everyone makes sins and mistakes. After the negative images in the media about the Hijab, Muslim women started to lose confidence. They felt unsafe wearing the Hijab in public, when it used to be their power to defend themselves. Hijab can be a sign of piety, but it can also show the strength of a woman and how faithful she is. The message of the media about Hijab caused the Hijab to be banned in public school of France and government buildings in Turkey. How can femininity have a large impact and be able to scare governments and society? How can countries and people let the media take over and control things based on lies?
The big bomb that the media had a strong negative impact toward Arabs, Muslims, and Islam was the decade after 9/11. It is commonly known that Arabs are Terrorist among, males, females, and even children. This is the single story that the media kept developing and delivering on a golden plate to the world. However, what people should consider is the following: did people have positive perspective toward Arabs and Islam before September11? Do people who still believe that all Arabs are terrorists considered as ignorant?
Americans got affected the most by the terrorism attack and changed their attitude toward Arabs, Muslims, and Islam as a religion. I don’t blame them. The American media has greatly affected the view of Muslims and Arabs because of the long lasting conflict that happened on “9/11”. The media has painted the picture that the war on terrorism should be reflected in judgment of all Muslims unrightfully. Any female wearing Hijab or any male in a turban gets a bad judgment from people and it reminds them of the “individuals” that were responsible of 9/11. On the other hand, there are many terrorist attacks that were done by non-Arabs, and non-Muslims, but they didn’t get the attention from the media, why? According to washingtonsblog.com “there were more Jewish acts of terrorism within the United States than Islamic (7% vs 6%). These radical Jews committed acts of terrorism in the name of their religion. These were not terrorists who happened to be Jews; rather, they were extremist Jews who committed acts of terrorism based on their religious passions, just like Al-Qaeda and company.” Even if Muslims have actually done terrorist attack, they should not have the full attention from the media. Why did the media ignore the other terrorism attack from Latinos, Jewish, and so on?
Muslims and non-Muslims were treating each other nicely with respect. Racism was following the path of extinction, when suddenly the table turned after the attack of media due to the terror attack from Muslims. According to muslimsocieties.org “For the first time in 10 years since the attack of September 11, several incidents happened in the United States that was indicative of rise in public anger towards Muslim Americans. Americans seemed intolerant towards Islam and their fellow Muslim Americans when the controversy over the Islamic Center in lower Manhattan erupted in the summer of 2010. Hundreds and thousands of people came out on the streets of New York and other major cities around country to protest the construction of a mosque that was located a few blocks away from Ground Zero. The media conglomerate took this story and ran with it like never before.”
Media's effect.
Many people know about the mass shooting at the Dark Knight Rises, the terrorist attack that happened in Colorado from a non-Muslim guy, which caused the death of 12 people and injured around 60 others. Why didn’t the media circulate this incident as all Americans are terrorists? Why is all the light being focused on Arabs and Muslims? We all know that terrorism has no religion[KA1] . We should not let only negatives lead the world and change our view of others. [KA1]This is great! I would make this bold or have it stand out from the text in some way. We all know “the mass shooting the dark knight rises” the terrorist attack that happened in Colorado from a non-Muslim guy, in which caused the death of 12 people and injured around 60 others. Why the media didn’t circulate this Incident and said all Americans are terrorist? Why all the light and the vision are focused on Arabs and Muslims? We all know that terrorism has no religion. We should not let small negative lead the world and change our view to others.
It is not necessary that the most powerful and diverse sources nowadays to be truthful or to be trusted. The Media has the skills in manipulating people’s mind by changing images and transporting single stories. For a long time, the media has been a spotlight in every country. People view each other in a wrong perspective based on the media. The media broadcasted a big misconception about Arabs and Muslims, which is the relationship between the both. It’s not true that all Arabs are Muslims and vice versa. Also, The media told the world all Arabs are uncivilized, but the sad thing was people believed it. Uncivilized and uneducated people exist everywhere, but why focus only in one spot of the world? In addition to that, the media stabbed most of Muslim women by distort the reputation of Hijab, these women were insulted and felt unsafe due to the negative image that was in others mind toward Hijab. Last but not least, the media played a huge harmful role in representing the image of most of the Arab men by saying they all fall into one category, which is terrorism. The world should be one nation full of collaboration and love; we must not judge a whole based on one, we should seek the right knowledge and information, and we the people lead the world.
Citation
1-Huda. "Muslim Population - Statistics About the Muslim Population of the World." About.com Islam. N.p., 2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
2- "What Percentage of Arabs Are Jewish Christian and Muslim?" WikiAnswers. Answers Corporation, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
3- "Who Invented Algebra?" Who Invented Algebra? N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
4- "Avicenna." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
5- "Hijab." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
6- "Difference Between Muslims and Arabs | Difference Between | Muslims vs Arabs." Difference Between Muslims and Arabs | Difference Between | Muslims vs Arabs. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
7- "Terrorist Attacks on U.S." Washingtons Blog. N.p., 01 May 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
8- Amiri, Mohammed Abid. "Islam and Muslim Societies." Islam and Muslim Societies. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
