The Middle East - 821 Words

The cover page of this TIME magazine, an issue of 1979 invoked purely the orientalist idea of the Middle East. It represented the faulty equation of Islam= Muslim= Arab= terrorist or religious fanatics. From the image of the magazine cover, a man dressed in the Middle-East attire can be seen standing on what looks like a balcony with the landscape of the Middle-East in the background. The image in the background presented the Middle East as underdeveloped in an effective manner. The image in the foreground by the top right corner signified the Middle East as an oil-hoarding society aside from being religious fanatics, violent and underdeveloped just as the total image had labelled the Middle East. The contextual information of â€Å"ISLAM The†¦show more content†¦Refining these stereotypes as at 1979 could have been challenging due to lack of exposure of the public compared to this present age where there is knowledge of other sides of the world apart from sole knowledge of your region of origin. This is made possible by growth in means of globalizing. For instance, the presence of the social media like twitter raises the awareness of the public to what is going on in the â€Å"other part of the world†. It serves as a window to different parts of the world. Despite this awareness, these stereotypes still exist but the public is not as blind as it was 36 years ago. It is crucial to acknowledge that there is a difference between stereotyping and from understanding natural differences in the sexes or cultures. Generally, stereotypical representations tend to be harmless images but the issue rises from the lack of apathy from the public to refine theses stereotypes and this attitude comes with a range of consequences and impacts. Stereotypes are pervasive in the world and have devastating consequences. An example is people and the media being so quick to confuse Arabs, Muslims and Middle Easterners as the same. Stereotyping becomes a problem when it is the basis of categories of how we see others. Holding on to this order of ignorance creates racism,