/ by Riham Omar and Khodor Awarki
Montreal - Canada
05/03/2007
Introduction
We are definitely entering the new era of Anti-Arabism. Be it justified or not though, what images is the world seeing from Arab countries? In the US most images we see are Arabs killing and getting killed from car bombs/invasions and the Royal family smiling with people from the administration.Anti-Arabism is prejudice or hostility against Arabs. According to The Guardian, "anti-Arabism" is considered to be the same as anti-Arab racism and the terms are used interchangeably in the media (Whitaker, Brian. Why the 'rules' of racism are different for Arabs, The Guardian.).Anti-Arabism is commonly associated with islamophobia.Some common themes in Anti-Arabism are:• Arabs are primitive/dirty • Arabs are sub-humans/non-humans • Arabs are murderers and terrorists • Arabs are brutal • Arabs are untrustworthy and treacherous • Arabs are fanatics/uncompromising • Arabs support terrorism
So it seems the combination of these criterias are the causes of this anti-arabism wich rise dangerously in USA.Knowing that all Arabs are most of them are like this through the USA media and on the worldwide sites of internet, it's a logical thought process for the West that dislike us and they are misinformed...According to a 2001 poll of Arab Americans conducted by the Arab American Institute in USA, this research was published in 2003 (http://www.adcma.org/2003%20Hate%20Crimes%20Report.pdf) , there is "32% of Arab Americans reported having been subjected to some form of ethnic-based discrimination during their lifetimes, 20% reported having experienced an instance of ethnic-based discrimination since September 11. Of special concern, for example, is the fact that 45% of students and 37% of Arab Americans of the Muslim faith report being targeted by discrimination since September 11, 2001.According to the FBI and Arab groups, the number of attacks against Arabs, Muslims, and others mistaken as such rose considerably after the 9/11 attacks (http://cfrterrorism.org/policy/hatecrimes.html). Among the victims of the backlash was a Middle Eastern man in Houston, Texas who was shot and wounded after an assailant accused him of blowing up the country and four immigrants shot and killed by a man named Larme Price who confessed to killing them as revenge for the 9/11 attacks. Although Price described his victims as Arabs, only one was from an Arab country.Arab Americans also experienced backlash as result of other terrorist attacks including the bombings of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and even in events where Arabs were not involved like the Oklahoma City bombing, the Iranian hostage crisis, and the explosion of TWA Flight 800. According to a report prepared by the Arab American Institute "In just three days after the Oklahoma City bombing...more than 200 serious hate crimes were committed against Arab Americans and American Muslims. The same was true in the days following September 11."Eric Boehlert has accused the US media, in particular Fox News, of "pandering to anti-Arab hysteria" by "fudging the facts and ignoring the most rudimentary tenets of journalism in their haste to better tell a sinister story about lurking Middle Eastern dangers" (Boehlert, Eric. The prime-time smearing of Sami Al-Arian , Salon.com). John F. Sugg has accused prominent media terrorism expert Steve Emerson of persistent anti-Arab prejudice and of rushing to accuse Arab-Americans after the Oklahoma City bombing (John F. Steven Emerson's Crusade, Fair).Prominent conservative commentators in the United States have voiced hostility towards Arabs. Bill O'Reilly has described Iraqis as a "prehistoric group" and "primitive" (http://mediamatters.org/items/200406180005 ).Michael Savage described Arabs as "non-humans" and "racist, fascist bigots" and advocated a nuclear attack on a "major Arab capital" ("Savage: Arabs are "non-humans" and "racist, fascist bigots"", Media Matters, Fri, May 14, 2004.)Earl Krugel and Irv Rubin, two members of the Jewish Defense League, classifed by the Department of Homeland Security as a terrorist organization (http://www.tolerance.org/maps/hate/state.jsp?S=NY&m=3) , planned to bomb Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa's office and the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California.Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the USA society:First we must admit that the Arab Americans have an identity crisis. There are very few books about Arab Americans, where they came from, who they are. Additionally, fifty percent of the Arab American population immigrated to America in just the last 35 years. They still think of themselves as Egyptians, or Palestinians, or Lebanese, etc. They must ask themselves whether they should begin to act like Americans and relate to others like Americans. Children are often the biggest victims of this as they are expected to fit in with the others kids in their schools while at the same time cling to their Arab identity at home. Second and third generation Arabs, he said, have already gone through this and now identify themselves as Americans. But even those who are fully assimilated should be celebrated as part of the community as well. Its important also to see the role of Hollywood in the misinformation and the rise of these stereotypes on the American society in particular and on the world in general. Hollywood has been accused of using a disproportionate number of Arabs as villains and of depicting Arabs negatively and stereotypically. According to Godfrey Cheshire, a critic on the New York Press, "the only vicious racial stereotype that's not only still permitted but actively endorsed by Hollywood" is that of Arabs as crazed terrorists (the Whitaker, Brian. The 'towel-heads' take on Hollywood, The Guardian. Friday August 11, 2000.)The 2000 film Rules of Engagement drew criticism from Arab groups, described as "probably the most racist film ever made against Arabs by Hollywood" by the ADC. Paul Clinton of the Boston Globe wrote "at its worst, it's blatantly racist, using Arabs as cartoon-cutout bad guys".Jack Shaheen, Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University, documented these trends in his book The TV Arab , which identifies more than 21 major movies released over ten years which show the U.S. military killing Arabs. These include: Iron Eagle (1986), Death Before Dishonor (1987), Navy Seals (1990), Delta Force 3: The Killing Game (1991) , Patriot Games (1992) , Executive Decision (1996).Althought, Jack Shaheen, in his book Reel Bad Arabs, surveyed more than 900 film appearances of Arab characters. Of those, only a dozen were positive and 50 were balanced. Shaheen writes "Seen through Hollywood's distorted lenses, Arabs look different and threatening." (Shaheen, Jack. Reel Bad Arabs, Interlink Publishing Group, 2001).Shaheen writes that "television's image of the Arab is omnipresent and is becoming a part of American folklore." He also writes that Arabs have "consistently appeared in American popular culture as billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers.".Arab Muslims are fanatics who believe in a different God, who don't value human life as much as we do, they are intent on destroying us (the west) with their oil or with their terrorism; the men seek to abduct and brutally seduce our women; they are without family and reside in a primitive place (the desert) and behave like primitive beings. The women are subservient — resembling black crows — or we see them portrayed as mute, somewhat exotic harem maidens. The movies which Shaheen identifies as the three worst in terms of negative portrayal of Arabs in modern films are:Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987); "Arab thugs... plan to ignite Los Angeles... killing millions." True Lies (1994); "Arnold S. INC." shoots dead Palestinians like clay pigeons. " Rules of Engagement (2000); "a film which "justifies" US Marines killing Arab women and children." In response to 9/11, previous negative portrayal of Arabs in the media (including their Muslim and South Asian counterparts) may have incited hate crimes against the Arab-American community. That is why, the old anti-Semitic theme of the fat, grotesque Jewish banker or merchant have in western media been replaced by the obese oil sheik, (The Other Anti-Semitism by James J. Zogby in Sojourners magazine).Racial profiling emerge in USA, the country of freedom and liberty:In the wake of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack the issue of "racial profiling" has become political, as the urgency of preventing terrorists from boarding aircraft has risen in USA.Racial profiling of people with a Middle Eastern ethnic background was proposed by a New York Congressman on August 15, 2006According to a Gallup poll conducted shortly after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, 71 percent of blacks, and 57 percent of whites, supported racial profiling of Arabs and South Asians at airport security checkpoints. Another poll conducted in 2002 by the survey group Public Agenda found that in the post-9/11 world the public rejected some forms of racial profiling more strongly than others. The survey found 52 percent said there was "no excuse" for profiling of blacks, but two-thirds said profiling of Arabs and South Asians was "understandable, but you wish it didn't happen." Even so, the survey found most people were uncomfortable with blatant profiling of Arabs or South Asian airline passengers.. Racial profiling has become an oversimplified focus of discussion; more recently, productive alternatives including passport profiling, behaviour profiling and age profiling have become topics of consideration. (The Racial Profiling Data Collection Analysis Resource Center at Northeastern University and should racial profiling be accepted as a law enforcement practice? .)Conclusion:We conclude at the end of this presentation that from few years ago in Advertising Age entitled "Untapped Markets: Ethnics in the US." Among other things, the article defined a category of consumers in American society which it called the "New American Pioneers." It was a list of new groups or "others" - including Arabs. What this indicates, is that the Arab community is large enough to be identified as a consumer block; but then the article went on to advocate that advertising for these groups occur in "ethnic" media. In other words, that they are not yet strong enough to be taken it into the mainstream. The third area in which there is an obvious push toward conformity is the news media. We now see Asians and Blacks on TV, but we don't hear Black vernacular or Asian accents. On-air talent is expected appear like the general population - the dress and appearance is conservative and the language is plain English without accent. In this society. There seems to be a "rite of acceptance" which brings about a need to put aside some of the ethnic identifiers in order to be accepted into the mainstream. That, of course, has implications for people who are put in the position of having to chose to change their names, dress, and other things. So what does all of this mean to the Arab American community?, we suggested a number of specific actions that the community can take to change its image: 1) Counter negative stereotypes by offering positive alternatives. Use articulate spokespeople to intelligently identify the community's values. Most other groups have an ongoing, very controlled, very focused effort to do this. 2) Sensitize producers, directors and writers. If they don't know what they are doing, and many of them don't, tell them. Individual responses do matter to media people. A well-written, thoughtful letter explaining that offensive programming has turned people off as a consumer group, and is wrong, will have an impact. 3) Show solidarity and monetary clout. A group does not necessarily have to be very large in order to do this, it just needs to be focused. The World Jewish Council is a good example of this. It is a small group, but it sounds big, and its acts like it has a lot of clout. It lobbies very effectively and gets paid attention to. 4) Get Arab Americans into the ranks of writers, directors and producers. The most extreme change of images takes place when people from the ethnic group begin producing the media. On-air talent who are identified as "Arab" would also be very helpful in letting the general population see a positive image and letting them know that Arabs are good people. Name recognition carries a lot of power. 5) Focus on messages outside of the Arab American community instead of keeping them just within. It is fine to have Arabic radio, television newspapers and magazines, but in order to reach the greater society, we must begin to target messages outside of the Arab community. 6) Sensitize non-Arab viewers to negative stereotypes. If you see something that bothers you, talk about it with the people around you. Most people don't consciously notice a negative message unless it is about them or unless it is brought to their attention.
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