Although it was discussed briefly, I would like to return to the Merskin reading and the points she made in that article because she made some strong claims that I disagreed with. The setup of how Arabs are portrayed in the media certainly is legitimate, as evidenced by the video we watched and how Arabs are unfairly portrayed as antagonists in film. But, my disagreement with her claims does not rest with this. It rests in how she attempts to paint President Bush as an individual who exploited these portrayals of Arabs in the media and attempted to use it for some sort of gain. It appears to me as though she wrote the title with the wrong word, instead of using Arabs because she should have used terrorists. President Bush clearly constructed terrorists as enemies of the United States. There is no denial of that fact. But, it is simply an unfair claim to suggest Bush constructed the entire Arab population as enemies of the U.S.
Merskin certainly went through all of the necessary procedures to make her claims appear as legitimate. First, she explained how the media perpetuates the negative image of Arabs. Then, she explained the different processes of how enemies are constructed in the minds of the public. Finally, she attempts to draw all of these together and tries to propose that the supposed "evil, war-monger" President Bush purposely used these negative portrayals of Arabs to his advantage. Of course, calling bin Laden "evil" and a "prime suspect" reflects his attitude toward the entire Arab population. Please, give me a break. Anyone who thinks otherwise is duping herself and, frankly, her motives should be examined.
I wholeheartedly agree President Bush constructed the Taliban and Al Qaeda as enemies, but to say that he did so for Arabs in general is foolish. It's unfortunate how something such as the continuing negative portrayal of Arabs in the media, which is a serious issue that should be addressed, can be construed to indict someone with an unfair claim.
-David Lindgren
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I would also agree with this. It's too much of a stretch to say that Bush's portrayal of terrorists encouraged people to see Arabs as the enemy. While it was certainly the case in America where people lashed out against Arabs after 9/11, I doubt Bush's speech made them think that all Arabs were evil just because Bush said that Al Qaeda was evil. While President Bush did some questionable actions in his presidency, I feel as if this writer had an agenda and was biased against him when writing this article.
ReplyDeleteTwo points about this post...I believe that we believe what we want to believe. I think that Bush help facilitated the thoughts against Arab people but I believe that people wanted something to grab onto and agree with. They were already thinking it and Bush put it into words in national speeches. I believe that Bush's speeches could have been a little more aware of the fact that people are going to twist his words to generalize about all Arab people. People want someone to blame and the Taliban was not enough because it was not tangible so they chose the Arab people as a whole.
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