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Arab Defamation in the Media: Its Consequences and Solutions
How—and why--are our entertainment media defaming and dehumanizing the Arabs as an entire people? And how does this damage not only Americans of Arab descent but all Americans of every descent? To begin with, let’s get a sense of what information about Arab-bashing you already have. Here are eight questions for you. 1. How many Arabs have you seen portrayed as bad guys on the screen? 2. How many Arabs have you seen portrayed as good guys on the screen? 3. How many Arab terrorists have you seen portrayed? 4. How many Arabs have you seen portrayed as victims of terrorists? 5. Have you heard of the murder of Leon Klinghoffer? 6. Have you heard of the murder of Alex Odeh? 7. If you are of non-Arab descent, is most of what you know about Arabs taken from the media? 8. If you are of non-Arab descent, have you ever gotten to know an Arab or someone of Arab heritage? As we go along, I’ll be referring to motion pictures and television shows you may have seen. Please ask yourself how you’d feel if your ethnic group were portrayed this way day after day, year after year. Here are some of the things we “know” about Arabs from films and TV. Most of them are rich, right? Not in the real world. Except for a handful of wealthy oil countries, most of the 160 million Arabs in 22 countries earn less than a thousand dollars a year per capita. But they’re portrayed as rich in movies like Protocol, Jew of the Nile, and Cannonball Run II. They’re sort of crazy billionaires, putting American men, women and children in jeopardy. Or acting crudely and stupidly, as in “WKRP in Cincinnati,” “The Love Boat,” “One Day At a Time” and many other series and comedy specials. Another thing we all “know” about Arabs: most of them are terrorists, right? They’re all fanatic maniacs out to brutalize innocent people. And only good old American blood-and-guts mayhem can deal with them. As in movies like Iron Eagle and The Delta Force. Another thing that Hollywood taught us is that Arab men are womanizers! Isn’t that how Italian actor Rudolf Valentino got his big break in 1921? He played The Sheik, a fierce Arab chieftain who kidnaps and seduces a young English girl. However, that “Arab sheik” that our leading lady eventually falls in love with turns out to be no Arab at all, but a Scotsman—because what Anglo-Saxon woman could fall in love with an Arab? By the way, during the 1920s, there were 86 other films in which Arabs were the heavies!
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