2.) If you are a Palestinian, you are more likely to be a terrorist.
3.) If you are a Palestinian woman, you are Muslim and barley have any rights.
Just because someone lives in Palestine does not make them a Muslim. Around ten percent of Palestinians are even Christian. Most people think Muslims are intolerant and have are not open minded in the slightest. However, there are many different ways in which these Muslims practice Islam. Just like Christianity for example. There are some extremist with every religion, but these extremist do not have to represent all the people who practice this religion. So why do the extremists who practice Islam have to represent and give Muslims a bad stereotype?
Most people think that Palestinians are terrorists because the men wear headdresses and kaffiyahs. Yes it is true that some terrorists wear the same type of clothing as a large number of Palestinians, but again this does not make all Palestinians terrorists. It is so unfortunate that this is such a big stereotype that people who live in the Middle East in general have to battle.
If a woman is from Palestine, she is most likely Muslim and most likely oppressed and has barley any rights. Some people stereotype a Muslim woman completely covered from hear to toe and her face being covered as well. However, not all Muslim woman dress like that. In fact, more Muslim women wear a conservative dress and maybe even a headscarf. Muslim woman do have a say in their family, politics, and in their society.
It is true that Islam always leave people an image that muslin are extreme. I am glad to know that not muslin are like that and also there are other religions in Palestine. Yes, it is wrong to use a few people to represent a group of people. An example I could think about this is that in America, maybe there are still some white people hate black; however, there are more people who don't and they are kind to all races. So we do can't say all muslin are extreme just depends on few people we see.
ReplyDeleteAbout terrorist, I think the idea is pretty same as the view of muslin. It is true that there are many terrorist, such as Osama Ben Laden is from the Middle East. And Israel and Palestine have territory and political problems. These problems cause many dangerous groups and terrorists. However, one thing we can't forget is that there are more innocent citizens who are suffered from the terrorism. Think all people from there are terrorist means we think them as the people who suffer them!
The lack of women's rights seems to be a type of stereotypes in many countries. The thing interested me is that not all women from the Palestine and other Middle East countries cover themselves entirely. So a question could raise up is when we see a women who doesn't cover herself entirely but is from Palestine, how can we notice that? And it that means those women could be seem as American women? Could they make themselves look open but not that traditional as other muslin? I think I will have a try when I meet a Middle East woman, especially if she doesn't cover herself a lot.
I think it's important to keep in mind that what really leaves an image of Muslims as 'extreme' is the media. How much does the media focus on Osama Bin Laden, for example, in comparison with Timothy McVeigh? Of course, this is all discussed in the film Reel Bad Arabs and some of your readings.
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