Not-so Hidden White-Centrism in Western Media

I will focus on the article, “Arabs and Muslims in the Media after 9/11: Representational Strategies for a “Postrace” Era.” I will not talk much on the short story we read mainly because I have just read it and the read was a lot to process. By talking about it now, I do not think I will give it justice. It was a beautifully written story and incredibly visceral, acting like a horror tale with the writing of a family’s tale covering her body, yet unable to be understood and eventually leading her down the path of brokenness and insanity (ever-so basically stated).

Regarding this article by Evelyn Alsultany, though, the very the first paragraph reminded me of a question my brother asked me before I came to school, “Why do you think so many people refer to non-Christians, people living in the Middle East, and really anyone who is not white or Asian as an ‘Arab?’” This is a blanket term, used incorrectly, for this “enemy” of their way of life. The “their” in this case referring (as I have encountered most often) the white person’s idealized form of the United States, although this same thing is encountered greatly in every European country, especially those like England, France, and towards the East in places like Hungary. Why is it that the term “Arab” is used though? Not only does that term group up countless different groups of people into a single category, but that category is also incorrect. Iranians and Indians and Filipinos and so many other nationalities are grouped up into this single term. I tried looking at previous conflicts and historical or pop-cultural references and could not find a single definite reason for why that is the operative term when grouping up so many different people together due to the basis of their (in the person speaking’s mind, similar) skin tones. Yet, however, this term is used widely and even has different connotations. To many, it is a term of “us vs them” where the “us” is whites or Americans, and the "them" is “Arabs.” Others use the term “Arab” or “Arabic” when referring to people in or around the Middle East, not actually thinking about the fact that they are incorrect in saying that.

The purpose of this me writing about y confusion is not to ultimately ask, “why does racism exist when the people do not even know the slightest thing about what they hate?” My point in bringing this up is that the Media produces these very same inaccuracies and focus on the same elements of a certain topic (i.e. how women in the Muslim world are treated).

While right-wing media sources like FOX news have spread fear at this ever-encroaching “other” to its aging viewer base in such ridiculous ways that their points can only be “intellectually” justified by the thought, “if someone was to say something so ridiculous then it must be true.” And while their continuous tactics of fear-mongering have aroused fears and suspicions in their viewers of so-called “Arabs,” although that term is very often interchangeable with the term, “Muslim,” as its meaning ultimately does not change but these specific people using it. However, left-wing media focuses on these same stories, putting their own spin on it. Instead of outing Islam outright, only stating that it is not “all Muslims” who do X, they instead consistently attempt to show their “open-mindedness” towards accepting Islamic peoples while all the while patting themselves on the back as they (and their viewers) live in a more accepting country. They find loopholes in saying that the people are good but the system they live in is not, while never actually going deeper into defending that point.

The arguments towards the “us and them” mentality that all Media outlets still have reminds me of a movie I just watched, American History X, which has one stand-out scene where the main character logically justifies white nationalism. The arguments he makes are logically sound but the facts that he uses to defend his points are twisted and untrue. It is really pride and anger that drives him to this idealized hatred he embodies. And while I am not trying to say that all news outlets are secretly white nationalist organizations, I do say that they embody limiting degrees of that same white-ethnocentrism.

Arguments are always made for why American culture is better than that found in Saudi Arabia with Sharia Law (which is then assumed to be the same in other Muslim-dominant countries). Yet arguments are never made for why some elements of the “other” culture are actually good; they just pay lip service by saying that “it is not all bad” and leaving it at that. These arguments against non-Christian cultures are prevalent and their effects are very much the same, regardless of the source, as the effect is basically the same. People in the countries the Media speak on are shown to be either cruel and backward or innocent but too weak to help themselves. And while plenty of problems occur in these places to which there is no doubt, to focus solely on evils that prevail on them and its power over the innocent, our understanding of this “other” culture is tainted and we begin to fear what we think we understand. These things serve as propaganda for this Western-focused mentality. And this does not stop at Arabs and Muslims, but also for any non-white foreign nation with influence and power (including Russia). As open as we say we are, or as the Media says it is, the effects of white-centric and Westernized thought are still prevalent.