Stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims as Terrorists - Essay Example

When in the plane and one sees a person of Arab or Muslim descent, one feels nervous about riding the same plane with him, fearing that he may be a hijacker or worst, a suicide bomber. With the 9-11 tragic attack and knowing that said incident was instigated by the Al-Qaeda, a group from the Arab descent and Muslim religion, one then started to stereotype all men from the Middle Eastern race as terrorists. One view Arabs and Muslims as enemies of Americans especially after 9-11. Obviously, this stereotyping of people from the Middle East as terrorists is a mistake.

One cannot generalize that since a person comes from the said race, then he is a terrorist or an extremist. This stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists may be reduced if American films will stop portraying them as such. Terrorists in films do not necessarily have to be from the Arab race. Aside from being stereotyped as terrorists, Arabs and Muslims are also viewed as being oppressive to women. An illustration of this is that Muslim men can marry as many women as they want which somehow strengthens the view that Muslim women are only considered as sex objects in their country.

A stereotype of a Muslim woman is that she is subservient to the Muslim male and cannot express her opinions. There is however a clear mistake in this argument because in other Muslim countries women are allowed to participate actively in politics and other social issues. Muslim women all over the world are becoming more vocal and open about their political, legal and social rights (TeachMideast, n.d.). Another stereotype which I observed is that of Blacks or colored people. In America, even if the country prides itself of no longer having racial discrimination, one still finds a number of citizens who still are guilty of stereotyping Blacks.

Blacks are often stereotyped as being dishonest, criminals, drug addicts, prone to violence, dirty, lazy, unintelligent, vulgar and living in the slums, among others. On the positive side, they are stereotyped as being good athletes, musicians, and dancers.