Stereotyping of Muslim and Arab-Americans

As human beings we strive to create order and understanding in our lives. One such way that we organize information is through the use of stereotypes. Stereotypes form in many ways and for many reasons. Often times theyare used as “cognitive shortcuts” that are put into affect when interacting with others. Individuals learn stereotypes from a very early age through the process of socialization. These beliefs are deeply embedded in the structure of society and the culture.
The Muslims and Arab-Americans have continuously had stereotypes applied to them. They have been categorized and branded as terrorists and dangerous people. This stereotyping of this group of people has been going on for many years. However, it reached an all time high after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The United States government has been suspicious of Arab-Americans since the early 1970s. The government began monitoring Arab-American’s communications, joining their political groups in order to gain information, arresting people on false pretenses, and watching influential members of the Arab-American community. Most of the actions of the United States government was illegal, and all of this was done because of stereotypes about this particular group of people. When the stereotyping began in the early 1970s, it was a reaction to the Israelian-Palestinian conflict. During this time period, there was extreme fighting between the Palestinian and Israeli people. The United States government got involved and tried to help make peace between the two groups of people. The conflict between the groups is what kick-started the stereotyping of Muslims and Arab-Americans as terrorists. However, once the 9/11 attacks happened, the negative attitudes towards and the stereotyping of Arab-Americans and Muslims only deepened. However, there was a distinct change over time in the stereotyping. After the 9/11 attacks, just by being a Muslim or Arab-American, and belonging to that religion and particular ethnicity were reason enough for legal and cultural scrutiny. Before this time, the government focused on an entirely different aspect. The stereotyping was done mainly towards immigrants and activists and did not include all Muslims and Arab-Americans. This shift in stereotyping was definitely because of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The stereotype of Muslims and Arab-Americans being terrorists and dangerous people is seen frequently in popular media of today’s society. Hollywood makes movies in which this group is continually portrayed as the bad guys. For example, in the movies Back to the Future (1985), Broadcast News (1987), and Patriot Games (1992), Muslim and/or Arab-Americans are shown as the enemy who does some horrible act like murder innocent people. Current movies such as The Kingdom (2007) still negatively portray this group. In this particular movie, a group of United States government agents are sent overseas to investigate an attack on an American facility in the Middle East. In the movie the attack on the facility was by a Saudi terrorist group, thus furthering the negative portrayal again. Another example of the media playing a part in the stereotyping is in the movie Rendition (2007). In this movie a Muslim-American is taken by the United States government to a secret facility and tortured. The man was taken by the government on suspicion of having links to terrorism, and they tortured him with the hopes that he would give information about acts terrorism. In reality he was a United States citizen and businessman that grew up in the United States and had no ties whatsoever to terrorism of any kind. However, because of his ethnicity he was a suspect in the eyes of the government. This portrayal over and over in the media creates an environment that is conducive to stereotyping this group.
The September 11th terrorists attacks created this stereotype of all Muslims and Arab-Americans being thought of as terrorists. This stereotype has caused the target group to suffer greatly. Every single Muslim and Arab-American will be considered as “one of them” for who knows how long.