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Analysis Of The Arab, The New Boogeyman

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The Arab, The New Boogeyman
A persuading essay on Western media’s way of re-framing the Arabs
Laila Alkaf
Writing 101
Ms. Sana Sayed
22 November 2015

The Arab, The New Boogeyman
Media is the most powerful and influential industry in the world; it affects our daily lives in numerous ways, from television to radio to print. Over the past decade, media has immensely developed in the Western countries such as Europe and especially America, and unfortunately the American media has victimized the Middle East. Media barons sometimes abuse the power of Hollywood to set deceptive ideas and judgments through movies and visual media. In addition, their news feed channels are highly successful and are aired internationally, …show more content…

Television is considered to be an element of entertainment, and it is the quickest and easiest way to brainwash a wide range of audience. In this case a lot of American comedy shows include judgmental jokes and false accusations of Arabs. Most forms of media only include such revolting concepts without even the most basic background of the Arab characterization. Although some manage to somehow see humor behind these media tales, others feel disturbed, offended, and even violated. Moreover, many parody drawings are found in daily Western newspapers and magazines, showing offensive jokes about the tragedies that are taking place in the Middle East. Sadly these insensitive view points provoke ongoing feuds between Arabs and Westerners, where in the end their media would frame the Arabs into starting these disputes, resulting in a never-ending cycle. One might object that media does not stereotype people based on race because some people are supposedly just naive and constantly paranoid from the media, or because they interpret media on a personal level. Others would support this fact by saying that a person’s current cultural and political ways are the actual root of this problem. However, according to old Hollywood films, it is evident that even back then the American media associated the Arabs with wrong …show more content…

Media, through all its different forms, in some way or another affects every being. There is no real reason why Arabs have always been the target of media. For the people affected by such sorts of media; we can only hope for a better change and that light is shed on what it is genuinely like for an Arab to be an Arab, and for once to not be defined by extremists. References
Shaheen, J. (2013, September 29). Arab and Muslim Stereotypes can be changed by the entertainment industry. The National. Retrieved from: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/arab-and-muslim-stereotypes-can-be-changed-by-the-entertainment-industry
The Vision Capital. (2014, August 25). REEL BAD ARABS: How Hollywood Vilifies a People [MP4]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKD3CnPJNOE
Shaheen, J. (1984). The media’s image of Arabs. In Shine, A., Abusalim, A., Sayed, S., McArdle, J., John, M., Brown, M., & Frederick, D. (Eds). Majlis of the ‘Others’ (2nd ed., pp. 41-43). London: Pearson Education

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