Is there a bias in the media representation of Arab and Muslim families? Sadly, yes. Arabs and Muslim families are often stereotyped and negatively represented in the Majority of mass media coverage. This include theater and other creative expression outlets. It results in a widespread fear of anyone from Arab or Muslim background who now constantly take upon themselves the burden to defend their humanity and defend their differences from the general population. This research paper will focus on Negative stereotypes associated with Arabs and Muslims, uneven premature exposure to social injustices in young Arabs and challenges in parenting not often faced by non-Arabs and non-Muslims Americans.
Arabs and Muslims in America are often stereotyped due to the media representation of individual crimes being generalized. For example, many people became suspicious of Muslims ever since the terrorist attack of 9/11. The negative media coverage of the terrorist attack has resulted in general suspicions of Arabs and Muslims in general, resulting in widespread fear, discriminations and many other injustices to Arabs and Muslims within the America society (Green, 2017). Maybe we should revisit the meaning of the word “representation” before we proceed to better understand the implication of any kind of representation. In his work entitled “The work of Representation”, Stuart Hall basically states that representation is using language to say something meaningful about a given subject in order to represent the world meaningfully to other people. The meaning associated to
Arabs and Muslims is that they represent a threat. Such negative meaning is built from the constant media representation of Arabs and Muslims as “bad”. Most of the time the people who throw bombs in movies are Arabs or Muslims. In addition, there is a double standard in the portrayal of most mass shooters in the media. Shooters accused for their actions are often from minority groups, especially from Muslim or Arab backgrounds; whereas White shooters often get the privilege to associate theirs evil actions with some sort of mental illness.
For example, the largest mass shooting in modern US history happened last October 2017 at a concert in Las Vegas. It resulted in 59 deaths, over 500 injuries and the shooter was found dead in his hotel room. According to an article in the Huff post, many people complained that the Washington post and other media outlets portrayed of the 64 year old shooter as a country music lover and other human attribute associated with the killer were not as harsh as the common negative portray of all the other killers, especially from Arab and Muslim backgrounds. The prototype of terror attacks were brown, with facial hair, while white killers like the Las Vegas shooter who murdered 59 people was personified. We will later discuss how such negative media representation have a negative outcomes on daily interactions of Muslim men and women in America.
Moreover, in the talk about representation, the widespread understanding of Arabs and Muslims’ notion of clothing is somewhat hypocritical and thus has a negative impact in the notion of the female beauty. In their article, “A Brief History of the Veil in Islam”, the blog entitled Facing History and ourselves claim that the veiling of women started way before Islam. Women from different cultures and faiths used to veil per custom or just for modesty. Muslim women in particular use the niquab, burqua and hijab to veil in honor of their Muslim identity. Yet, the American society has developed a sort of paranoia with the veiling of Muslim women, which has been associated with either a sign of oppression by the patriarchal Arab and Muslim society or to terrorism since the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.
The gendered American notion of beauty has negatively shaped how women who wear the Muslim veil are viewed. The hypocrisy is that the American society seems to tolerate the fact that women from various backgrounds have historically developed different ways to represent their relationship with God, yet the same American society seems to have only a singular definition of oppression-the veiling of Arab and Muslim women. Since veiling is more problematic when worn by Muslim women than by women of other faiths, Muslim women constantly have to defend their humanity and decision to veil as a personal choice rather than a sign of patriarchal oppression. First lady Bush claimed in 2001 that actions should be taken to “save” Afghan women from covering themselves, without thinking that veiling could possibly be a personal decision to portray modesty, a personal relationship with God.
The former first lady Bush failed to consider the possibility that the veiling of Arabs or Muslims women could be an authentic sign of confidence in their veiled beauty, unlike the widespread American belief that the less clothing, the more confident and beautiful. It seems like many other religions in America have double standards in their representations due to the commodification and the religion being widespread, making it easier to see a wide variety of practitioners, while the burden of the representation of Muslims is limited to being identified as either “good” or “bad”. According to a podcast by Taz and Zahra on what it means to be a good or bad Muslim, it seems like the “good Muslim” is far from the faith, doesn’t act Muslim and is as Americanized as possible. Nowadays, younger Muslim and Arab kids are sort of lost since they have to live up to that “good” or “bad” media representation of being. This dichotomy of Muslim being either “good” or “bad” and the general American view of Arbs and Muslims affects family relations and the innocence of Arab and Muslim children.
The negative media coverages have resulted in an uneven premature exposure to social injustices in children from Arab and Muslim background compared with children from other backgrounds. This reminds me of the time 14 year old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested in September 2015 after his homemade clock invention was mistaken for a hoax bomb at school. He later sued and even met President Obama, but the mental and moral damage done to the kids due not only by being arrested in front of his classmates and suspended from school, but also by the all experience of being arrested and treated as a terrorist. The all story just reveals how early Muslim kids experience defamation of character due to islamophobias and social stereotypes even at school where they are supposed to learn and get inspired to turn into the best version they can possibly be. The family later sued the city of Irving, Texas but the case was quickly dismissed due to lack of evidence.
Unfortunately, this story raises the possibility that Kids from non-white backgrounds are prematurely exposed to social injustices. James Baldwin wrote an open letter to his nephew, warning him of the sad realities of what it means to be a young black man in America. Baldwin warns his nephew of the loveless America made of white people he referred to as “fellow countrymen” who claim innocence and refuse to take account of their criminal actions against other citizens who have become invisible to them. The ignorance of the struggles and humanity of other individuals Baldwin warned his nephew about, are not strange to the realities of many Arab and Muslims in America. The social Islamophobia that followed Trump’s election didn’t just stop at bullying Muslim children at school, but some Muslims homes were also vandalized (Chami, 2016). It is understandable that such widespread Islamophobia could results into individuals from Arabs and Muslim upbringing to question the true meaning of a Muslim identity in America.
Aziz Ansari clearly portrayed this dilemma in the TV show “Master of none.” He stared as the lead role, Dev, a 30 year old guy in New York City, following his professional, romantic and mostly non-religious approach to his Islamic upbringing which disappoint his religious family. There is a scene in the third episode titled “Religion” where toward the end, Dev’s parents are socializing at a mosque after prayer. Dev’s Dad was socializing with other Muslim men from various racial background, while Dev’s mother was surrounded and socializing by other Muslim. At the same time, Dev was drinking and socializing at some sort of happy hour with his friends from different racial backgrounds; girls and boys in the same midst. This scene speaks at the divergence in center of interests between Dev and his parents. There could come a time when anyone could rebel against their cultural upbringing, but their assimilation within the American culture does not erasure of any negative portray.
For example, despites the fact that Ahmed Mohamed assimilates to American ideologies thought in his local public school, Mohamed was still considered the primary suspect at the least fear of a possible terrorism occurrence. Even in his 30’s, Dev the main actor in the TV show “Masters of none” seems confused about his identity. Dev complained that he could neither relate to his cultural upbringing nor to the American viewpoint of Muslim men as “controlling” or “potential terrorist.” Dev ends up expressing his wish to be a “good” Muslim and not necessarily religious, which speaks more at the American definition of “good” Muslims as those who are not fervent practitioners of their faith compared to the “bad” Muslims who are fervent in their Islamic faith. Such expectations and our current social temperature makes parenting more challenging for Arabs and Muslim Parents.
