Medias_Impact

Medias are always present in the United States. From movies, to commercials or caricatures, they all affect the American way of looking at Arab people. TV news especially, portrait an ugly image of an Arab. For example nowadays, he is known for his terrorist acts that may frighten societies, in particular the U.S because of the previous terrorist attack in September 9, 2001. Medias are working to keep this image and expand it. Consequently, American people would make lots of prejudices about Arabs, making them a threat to the society. Stereotyping Arabs is a major problem in our world. If an Arab dropped a bomb at an airport or an embassy, we can’t say that all Arabs are alike. For example in Shaheen’s text, the author gave the example of the “woman from Sioux Falls” who decided to adopt a baby. It turned out he was Jordanian. What’s important in this accident is that the worker considered this fact a problem. The woman gave all the possibilities that could prevent her from adopting the baby. Finally the worker insisted to tell her the baby’s identity. Through this incident, we can have an idea of the Media’s impact on societies. But people don’t ask themselves, how can a baby, an Arab one, living in a foreign country, adapting to its culture, be a terrorist or a threat' We can conclude that an Arab is now as Shaheen said “a demon“. In another way, Jewish people became the ones that want peace. What’s happening in Palestine is the contrary, but TV news due to political purposes are showing the cruel acts of Palestinians, ignoring the idea that they are defending their territory. In addition, Media’s insistence in that case, not only hid Israeli’s invasion on Palestinian territories, but also switching roles, making Palestinians the ones attacking Israeli territories. Finally the press or the media is now considered as the fourth power in a state or a country. We can see how its role can affect people’s thinking and opinions. And the most important thing is that it concentrates on giving bad image of Arabs. This would categorize the world, limiting agreements between other countries and Arabs.