Representation of Arabs in American Popular Media - Literature review Example

Representation of Arabs in American Popular Media Name Institution Date Representation of Arabs in American Popular Media Introduction The lack of realistic and unbiased representation of Arabs in American popular media is a deliberate attempt to systematically alienate and dehumanize the entire race, in order to lessen public opposition to American foreign policy with regards to Middle East. The media plays an important role nowadays and it can have a positive or negative impact on individuals. The thesis aims at analyzing the portrayal Muslims and Arabs in the American popular media and to demonstrate the impact of media news on discernment of diverse racial groups especially the portrayal of Muslims and Arabs after the September 11 terror attacks in America. The Role of Media in Stereotyping Muslims Mass media and popular culture in the U.S. have created and maintained stereotypes of the monolithic immoral Arab community. These stereotypes have constructed every Muslim as an Arab and every Arab as a terrorist. With the use of language and representations in cartoons, magazine stories, movies and news , the popular culture and media have taken part in construction of the immoral Arab typecast that included a wide range of assumptions, beliefs, people and ideas (Nacos, 2009). According to Stiffler (2014) the history of media bias and stereotyping in the U.S. follows an apparent course: media bias rises when a certain racial, ethnic or religious group is views as a threat to the national security. For instance Latinos or Hispanics have for a long time been the focus of constant pessimistic media bias. Latest political and popular discourses on migration portray unlawful migrants from Latino nations as a risk to the safety and economy of the nation. Just like Latinos have embodied the migration dispute in the United States, Since 1960s, representations of Muslims and Arabs in the political dialogues and within news media have generally been focused upon violence or terrorism. Following the September 11, 2001 tragedies, Muslims and Arabs were greatly represented as probable terrorists. Since the representations are connected with the United States policy as well as geopolitical situations, it may be harder to fight against these popular portrayals in Hollywood, because the general public might simply accept these stereotypes as a real thing. With this media highlighting on Muslims and Arabs, along with the latest increase in the Islam phobic rhetoric, it isn’t surprising that social workers, religious leaders and educators would identify this constant bias (Stiffler, 2014). Media representation of Muslims and Arabs following the 9/11 attacks According to Shaheen (2008) the representation of Arabs in the post 9/11 Hollywood movies is to a considerable degree, devoid of the classical stereotype and indicates a novel approach concerning the manner in which Arabs require to be represented on the screen. Nevertheless, the civic sphere in the U.S. has greatly experienced corrosion of tolerance in itself of Muslims, Arabs and generally anybody who is recognized as originated from Middle East. Nimer (2009) notes that after the 9/11 terror attacks, American civic opinion had a misconceived generalization of the Arab racial group. Religious and cultural heterogeneity of the Arab nations have been often overlooked. Rather, Americans would recognize Arabs on the basis of their bodily features which aren’t evidently static. Hollywood’s debasing pictures of Arabs and Muslims have had damaging impacts on the lives of these groups in the America’s civic sphere, in regard to the rise of hate crimes and violence. It is therefore important to religious councils to undertake interfaith activities aimed at assisting in shattering these old stereotypes on the Islamic- Arab culture. According to Kellner (2009), Innovative films may display visions of an improved life and offer vital insight into the current time or to theoretical elucidation of human living. Films are a vital portion of modern cultures and are entrenched in essential cultural, social, political and economic dimensions of current age. The Siege film is highly offensive and represents Muslims and Arabs as terrorists. The film displayed the way US policy within Middle East generated enemies who became terrorists. The western meadia has usually projected people of Arab origin in a pessimistic way. Presently, Arabs are viewed as murderers and terrorists as a result of the way the media portrays them. Newspapers and television utilize words like fanatics, extremists and terrorists in describing Arabs. Identification of Arabs and Muslims with terrorism classifies them as enemies since terrorism is utilized by the media in defining individuals and events they disapprove of (Conroy, & Hanson, 2008). According to Das et al (2010), media coverage of Muslims and Arabs in the instant aftermath of the September 11 focused greatly on critiquing the stereotypes along with documenting violations of civil liberties of the Muslim community. Aware that terror could result to bigotry, the shapers of the American civic opinion successfully and self consciously sought to thwart this tendency. A gradual rise of hostility toward Islam and Arabs corresponds with an increase of partisan diversity in evaluations of faith. In looking at what has driven the changing attitude over time, there is an evident interactive effect amid the partisan affiliation, news cycle and absence of first hand knowhow of faith. This is because Republicans and Democrats have the tendency of patronizing devotee media outlets, the media outlets utilized increasingly different frames in representing Islam and people with the minimal individual knowledge about faith are greatly vulnerable to the contending media representations (Ramadan, 2010). According to Torok (2011), the battle on terror initiate after the 9/11 attacks has been reframed as a novel form of warfare, particularly in the light of recommendations of the 9/11 commission report. Conceptualizing the battle on terror as a kind of biopolitics, its regarded a novel form of battle portrayed by increased executive authorities and as a cautiously crafted discursive and cultural project. Policies have influenced several biopolitical spheres, entailing foreign policy which is viewed as being determined by economic liberalism so as to sustain hegemony, therefore resulting to isolation of Muslim populaces. Additionally, civil liberties have been damaged entailing media freedoms so as to enhance security. The role of the media in shaping public opinion and foreign policy People depend on news for information on civic affairs and cues on the way to frame and construe this information. Even when people witness occurrences like terror attacks or when affected by the social economic developments like increased unemployment or high energy prices, they will probably depend on news to explicate the consequences, reasons as well as political implication of what they personally experienced. Decisions on whom and what to be presented in new along with how they should be presented are usually affected by a less extent by ideological bias than by the media houses’ focus upon authoritative voices found at the highly influential positions. National security and foreign policy news are dominated by administration officials, particularly during global crisis involving the U.S. In regard to foreign policy matters, the executive division of the government is usually responsible for regulating access to public information and it can at times misrepresent or conceal truth without being confronted by anyone (Ibrahim, 2010). Public communication and mass media influence public opinion on counterterrorism. In regard to public response to terrorism or violence news, exposure to the television is less prognostic of great levels of horror than personal characteristics of the viewer. It is also evident that great television news consumers have a high probability of perceiving the peril of terrorism in U.S. as great than individuals who do not pay much attention to television news. In addition, people’s evaluation of terrorist attack influence their support for or resistance to implementation of counterterrorist attacks. Following the 9/11 attacks, President Bush expressed the rising loyalty, disparagement of terrorists as well as demand for strict military retaliation (Ibrahim, 2010). Kellner (2006) points out that news followed an overdramatic storyline that rutted the victimized country against the eventual criminal. Based upon the qualitative analysis of the Fox News content after the attacks, America was described as the heroic liberator with the consent of acting due to the injury inflicted by the hostile villain. The threat messages from Osama, his associates and officials in the Bush administration on terror alerts along with other intimidation messages were greatly covered and highly placed by news media, entailing television casts. The news on threat of more attacks affected the manner in which America citizens perceived the intensity of terrorist peril to the U.S. in general and their communities, their individual wellbeing and the well being of their families in particular. The entire amount of the threat messages influence the manner in which the general public positioned terrorism as a key problem faced by the nation. The news coverage and terror alerts along with other threat messaged transmitted by other mass media influenced people’s assessment of job performance of President Bush generally and particularly the way he handled terrorism (Nacos, 2009). According to Gamson and Modigliani (1989) public opinion and media discourse are usually viewed as two parallel schemes of constructing meaning. Media discourse is a fundamental context for gaining understanding on the creation of public view on use of nuclear energy. It assists in accounting for survey outcomes as the reduction in supporters of nuclear power prior to the Three Mile Island, a recovery after the burst of the death of media publicity and the gap amid universal support of nuclear power. Conclusion The American popular media has played an important role in stereotyping Muslims and Arabs. Both the television and Hollywood have represent Muslims and Arabs as terrorists and murderers. The media also played an influential role in shaping public opinion following the September 11, 2001 attacks. The news on terror threats made American to perceive terrorism as a major security issue. References Kellner, D. M. (2009). Cinema wars: Hollywood film and politics in the Bush-Cheney era. London: John Wiley & Sons. Stiffler, M., (2014). Arabs, muslims, and the legacy of media stereotypes reclaiming identity: dismantling arab stereotypes. Retrieved on May 3, 2014 from: http://www.arabstereotypes.org/blog/201307/31-419 Shaheen, G. (2008). Guilty: Hollywood's Verdict on Arabs after 9/11. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch. Nimer, M., (2009). "Muslims in American Public Sphere." Muslims in the West: from Sojourners to Citizens. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 169-86. Print Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. American journal of sociology, 1-37. Torok, R. (2011). The 9/11 Commission Report and the reframing of the ‘war on terror’as a new type of warfare. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, 6(2),137-150. Conroy, T. J., & Hanson, J. (Eds.). (2008). Constructing America's war culture: Iraq, media, and images at home. Lexington Books. Ibrahim, D., (2010). The framing of Islam on network news following the September 11th attacks. International Communication Gazette, 72, 1: 111-125. Das, E., Bushman, D., & Bezemer, M., (2009). How terrorism news reports increase prejudice against outgroups: A terror management account. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 453- 459. Kellner, (2006). September 11, Social Theory, and Democratic Politics. In Media, Terrorism, and Theory, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Nacos, L., (2009). Mass-mediated Terrorism: The Centrality of the Media in Terrorism and Counterterrorism.Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Ramadan, T., (2010). Good Muslim, Bad Muslim. New Statesman, 139, 4988:22-25. Read More

According to Kellner (2009), Innovative films may display visions of an improved life and offer vital insight into the current time or to theoretical elucidation of human living. Films are a vital portion of modern cultures and are entrenched in essential cultural, social, political and economic dimensions of current age. The Siege film is highly offensive and represents Muslims and Arabs as terrorists. The film displayed the way US policy within Middle East generated enemies who became terrorists.

The western meadia has usually projected people of Arab origin in a pessimistic way. Presently, Arabs are viewed as murderers and terrorists as a result of the way the media portrays them. Newspapers and television utilize words like fanatics, extremists and terrorists in describing Arabs. Identification of Arabs and Muslims with terrorism classifies them as enemies since terrorism is utilized by the media in defining individuals and events they disapprove of (Conroy, & Hanson, 2008). According to Das et al (2010), media coverage of Muslims and Arabs in the instant aftermath of the September 11 focused greatly on critiquing the stereotypes along with documenting violations of civil liberties of the Muslim community.

Aware that terror could result to bigotry, the shapers of the American civic opinion successfully and self consciously sought to thwart this tendency. A gradual rise of hostility toward Islam and Arabs corresponds with an increase of partisan diversity in evaluations of faith. In looking at what has driven the changing attitude over time, there is an evident interactive effect amid the partisan affiliation, news cycle and absence of first hand knowhow of faith. This is because Republicans and Democrats have the tendency of patronizing devotee media outlets, the media outlets utilized increasingly different frames in representing Islam and people with the minimal individual knowledge about faith are greatly vulnerable to the contending media representations (Ramadan, 2010).

According to Torok (2011), the battle on terror initiate after the 9/11 attacks has been reframed as a novel form of warfare, particularly in the light of recommendations of the 9/11 commission report. Conceptualizing the battle on terror as a kind of biopolitics, its regarded a novel form of battle portrayed by increased executive authorities and as a cautiously crafted discursive and cultural project. Policies have influenced several biopolitical spheres, entailing foreign policy which is viewed as being determined by economic liberalism so as to sustain hegemony, therefore resulting to isolation of Muslim populaces.

Additionally, civil liberties have been damaged entailing media freedoms so as to enhance security. The role of the media in shaping public opinion and foreign policy People depend on news for information on civic affairs and cues on the way to frame and construe this information. Even when people witness occurrences like terror attacks or when affected by the social economic developments like increased unemployment or high energy prices, they will probably depend on news to explicate the consequences, reasons as well as political implication of what they personally experienced.

Decisions on whom and what to be presented in new along with how they should be presented are usually affected by a less extent by ideological bias than by the media houses’ focus upon authoritative voices found at the highly influential positions. National security and foreign policy news are dominated by administration officials, particularly during global crisis involving the U.S. In regard to foreign policy matters, the executive division of the government is usually responsible for regulating access to public information and it can at times misrepresent or conceal truth without being confronted by anyone (Ibrahim, 2010).

Public communication and mass media influence public opinion on counterterrorism. In regard to public response to terrorism or violence news, exposure to the television is less prognostic of great levels of horror than personal characteristics of the viewer.

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