Mid-Eastern Parenting

I, like much of the class I assume, felt a sense of fondness towards the father of the narrator. He as kind, loving, and cared for his son in a way that a father should. This is something that was a bit odd to me. Looking at everything that I “know” about the cultures and traditions of Middle Eastern society, a father should be strict and would not she I would just not expect him to show so much love and kindness without any kind of angry or punishment for his sons actions. This just goes to show that, as discussed in my previous blog, although I do not feel that the Arabic writing on buildings is wrong nor do I feel that Mid-Eastern people try to take over everything; all of us still have some kind of stereotype and in many cases a prejudice towards others.

The father was my by far my favorite character in the book. He was so kind and understanding towards his son, I only wish my father was so understanding when I ran the lawn mower into our above ground pool and punctured the thin aluminum draining the entire 4,000+ gallon pool into our yard. I got screamed at for days about that and yet I feel as if the father in the book would have simply given the narrator a talking to and maybe a simple lecture about being more careful or something along those lines. In a way, he is the perfect father; kind, understanding, wise, calm, and patient. These are all qualities that all of us should possess and they are qualities that I would not have thought of when you asked me what a typical Mid-East dad would be like. Until reading this book, I would have likely said that a father in the Mid-East would be strict and maybe not show how much he cared all the time. There were times in the book where I was sure some sort of physical punishment would occur but alas, I was wrong. As a I said in my previous blog, one of the only ways to rid this world of stereotypes and prejudice is to demonstrate and educate people, something this book seems to do very well.

"Real Bad Arabs..."

While watching the video "Real Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People" my mind was flooded with thoughts. It was not the stereotypes themselves that surprised me, it was how strong rooted they were. Every single one of us have our own stereotypes and prejudices towards each and every culture, race, and ethnicity that we encounter; whether we know it or not. Some of these stereotypes are brought on by our upbringing while others rise from what we see others doing. In this case, the media seems to have a powerful influence over what we think about the mid-east and its people.

I have been watching movies for year that depicted terrorists or rebel groups of Middle Eastern people. Until watching this video, the thought of racism or prejudice never crossed my mind. Looking at the video made me realize just how skewed the view of the Mid-East has become. I myself know a few people that crack jokes about or discuss how “those people just want to take over everything” or “why do they have to write in Arabic on their shops, how do we know it’s not a secret message”. This is something that often occurs, especially when people around me are discussing Dearborn and its large Mid-Eastern population. This video really shows just where some of these stereotypes must have been developed

Hollywood has a large impact on what American society does and how the people act and even dress. This is yet another reason I would not be surprised if the stereotypes presented in movies is the reason that many Americans have prejudices towards people from the Mid-East. The images from movies combined with other forms of media, in large part the news, will continue to reinforce stereotypes and I don't know if anything can really be done about it. The only thing that I can think of is better education about people from the Mid-East and positive views of them in the media.