Last Spring in Jordan, I asked my host sister Zaina what she wanted me to tell people about Jordanians when I got home. She told me, “Make sure everyone knows we don’t ride around on donkeys”.
Last class, we discussed how, for the vast majority of Americans, their view of the Middle East is almost completely defined by the lens in which the Middle East is portrayed by the mass media. Americans might be able to check portrayals of say, President Obama with their own reality by seeing him in person or experiencing his policies firsthand by way of simply living in America. However, the general American population is completely disassociated with the Middle East and relies completely on mass media to define the Middle East and events taking place in the region. Further, because the average American has ‘the Middle East’ grouped as one homogenous region in their mind, what is true in one country is therefore true in another. Consequently, what is happening in Iraq is happening over the entire Middle East; it is unsafe to travel there. Syria is part of the axis of evil; they must hate Americans. Arabs and Islam are associated with turbans, backwardness, and oppression; we need to help Middle Eastern women liberate themselves and take off those hijabs!
However, what is also humiliating was having American media pumped back into the Middle East. Arabs love American television. They receive everything from CNN to the Sopranos to 24. Arab women cite Oprah as one of their biggest role models. Thanks to the miracle that is international telecast, Ann Coulter arrived one afternoon on my Jordanian host family’s television screen. One reporter quoted an old quote back to her, "I believe our motto should be after 9/11: Jihad monkey talks tough; jihad monkey takes the consequences. Sorry, I realize that's offensive. How about 'camel jockey'? What? Now what'd I say? Boy, you tent merchants sure are touchy. Grow up, would you?” My host mother turned to me- I just hung my head. Arabs know they are being erroneously depicted and yet feel powerless to change it. American media and popular culture does not just affect Americans- it is broadcast around the world and the people we characterize see it every day.
Does this change the conversation? Should our class focus on American media and popular culture's effects on America, or would it be beneficial to look at media's externalities internationally?
P.S. However, of course there are positive examples in American media as well. While this clip from The Daily Show is about Iran and Persians rather than Arabs, the general satirization of American ignorance about the Middle East is still funny.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-june-17-2009/jason-jones--behind-the-veil---minarets-of-menace
2 comments:
I think its a very interesting point that you raise, because while we can say that other countries in turn do that same type of stereotyping of Americans (us as obese, gun weilding cowboys) the fact of the matter is that our media is so much more powerful than any other media source world wide, we have the capability to control what the entire world thinks about pretty much ANYTHING. As always, with power comes responsibility and I think it is our responsibility as an educated nation to portray nations as they actually are. We should be using the media to accurately inform and not as a tool for propaganda or brainwashing. If our media refuses to properly educate those who rely on television and newspaper to form opinions (most of our nation), then how can we expect anyone to know the difference between Iraq and Jordan? Where does the blame really fall?
I think this is an interesting point, which is largely raised in the book. You are lucky to have had a host sister so closely linked to such issues, but being an international student myself I can relate. While the focus of Epic Encounters is the Middle East, I think it is important to recognize that these stereotypes happen in every part of the world. Look at the representations of Canada, a country literally border-lining the states, and yet I STILL get asked if I live in an igloo or have a totem pole outside my house. Similarly, the representations of Mexico right now, a country that is basically in our backyard here, and rumors are running wild. "Don't go to Mexico, you'll get shot." I've been warned several times since I mentioned my interest in visiting. I think that this raises issues about our world and the media. What is unbelievable to me is that, in a world where we have to much information at our fingertips, it is amazing how many of us are willing to believe one very limited side of the story, generally presented by media. I think that this novel, combined with our own experience should make us realize the importance of factual research and looking farther into things than just watching a news broadcast or a television show.
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