Do Media Represent Realistic Images of Arabs?

Before reading issue three, I already believed that the media does not represent realistic images of Arabs because there are so many shows like South Park and Family Guy and movies like Harold and Kumar that stereotype and make fun of Arabs. After reading about journalist Gal Beckerman’s and Jack Shaheen’s opinions and research about this question, I believed that Gal Beckerman didn’t really give enough examples to persuade me that the media represents realistic images of Arabs. Gal Beckerman’s whole argument focused on the idea of how bloggers from the Middle East are writing about their lives and sharing that with the world so others have a better understanding about their lifestyle. This showed me that all Beckerman could come up with is how blogging represents realistic images of Arabs, but doesn’t talk about how other media outlets like television shows, movies, and even newspapers represent Arabs. I also believe that while reading through the blogs by Arabs in the Middle East, each of these blogs will be different, because all of these Arabs have the same beliefs, but may have a different lifestyle. In contrast, I believed that Shaheen came up with more realistic data and examples. The focus of Shaheen’s research was the idea of how Arabs have been stereotyped for being involved in disasters such as the terrorist attack of 9/11 that misinterpreted Arabs and Muslims. This misunderstanding between Arabs and Muslims were a big focus in Shaheen’s research. He used examples like videotaped beheadings and messages from al-Qaeda and how people automatically assume that those who are performing these gruesome acts are Arabs. Shaheen also mentioned that the profiling of Arabs has made it impossible for others to believe that they are real people because they are known as the enemy and terrorists. In conclusion, my own personal opinion with the comments from Shaheen’s research I believe that the media does NOT represent realistic images of Arabs because there has been too many situations in which Arabs are mixed up with other groups like Muslims or where Arabs are looked at as terrorists because of 9/11 and the media classifies all Arabs in the same category when they shouldn’t.