5.25.2021

 To further understand the severity of western culture's underlying bias against Muslims, I finished watching Reel Bad Rabs, which is a documentary which focused on Hollywood and their portrayal of Arabs. Throughout the watching, I was baffled at the overly-used and repetitive stereotypes of the rich and stubborn and was curious as to why this group of people is still being prejudiced into considering them as future possibilities of causing crime. Many countries have had consequential actions in history, whether it be World War or other discriminatory wrong-doings, and yet I strongly disagree in judging one's reputation based on what headpiece they're wearing. Especially in the movies showcased in the documentary above, where Arabs always wore an orthodox-looking veil and shroud was quite shocking to see that such an image had been ongoing for a tremendous amount of time. As someone who has seen Alladin, I was very much crushed when learning that the lyrics had contained definite bias towards people who are Muslim, and agreed on the striking contrast of  facial features between the western does-eyed main characters and the sharp-eyed and bloodthirsty eyes of the Arabs. Knowing that my image of Muslims was subconsciously created through numerous years of consuming TV, I felt that I could only trust myself and any other news about Muslim people, through the stories of actual Muslim people. I believe that it is hard for us who are not Muslim, to fully deduce their normality from just movies, so if I was to propose a solution, it would be for an opportunity to engage with the actual community, and gaining a spectrum of views from opposing sides. In this way, I will be able to reach out better when obtaining further information about how they are feeling.

Speaking of getting ideas from people that are close, I did remember that one of my Uncles is indeed Pakistani, meaning that he is Muslim. As someone who has heard about him from their mother, I recall my parents telling me that my Uncle and their Japanese family had a hard time moving abroad, probably because of the tiny spot of Arabian blood heritage, which is why they are still living in Japan to this day. The other day, I saw a Japanese news program that enlightened audiences about the Indian community. Through understanding the lives of Indian people being normal and happy, I was able to acknowledge and become more open-minded about embracing Asian foreigners. Hence, I believe that media is a huge factor in subduing the out-of-control discrimination against Arabs.  However, as seen in past classes,  it is hugely difficult to persuade large news agencies which correspondents are of Jewish descent. In a world where there are many more Muslims than Jewish people religiously, I wondered why other Muslims in the world aren't viciously retaliating towards the current situation in Palestine-Israel.  Perhaps it's because of western society's tendency to cooperate with the Jewish, wavering support from people in those countries. 

Overall, being revealed the dark truths about the torment towards the Muslim community was truly devastating, as the photos of Muslims being thrown away like inhumane scraps of dirt, made me realize the severity of Arab dehumanization. However, as leaving in an optimistic note, the video also emphasized recent movies which have respected the Arab tradition, leaving audiences with a raw and legit experience of how Arabs live their everyday lives. They have shown that recent innovations in the Hollywood industry and the rise of the younger generation who have acknowledged the friction between Islam and Judaism, are starting to appear in movies as well, which makes me hopeful that the future of this bias will be kept as a prehistoric event. I hope that politics and racial discrimination both encourage each other to sustain a healthy relationship. Otherwise, I fear that these biases will never fade away, as each side in the Palestine-Israeli conflict is monitored by the press with a significant bias towards on a particular side, (Especially in America due to their past historic events and bounded relationship with Israel).