Talk:Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States

Personally
I personally think articles about stereotypes are very difficult to write, what do you want to write? How many people of one group of people have a certain stereotypical feature about people of another? Where to get the data, are there big data about this? Don't think so, because we want to overcome stereotypes not catalogise them. So you can write about how bad they are - where is the information? This article is supposed to be about stereotypes of arabs and muslims, and the only thing a reader can find here is about how some people think, that there is an unfairly high amount of arab or muslim villains in western movies. Wow, how absolutely useless! But even in a different Wikipedia article where this information might fit the title, don't you think that for example Russians or Germans or rich people also got a fair amount of the villain parts? Doesn't matter though, because that's not what this article should be about.

I say delete! (And rewrite if you want.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.179.29.155 (talk) 02:05, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Hello. This page is directly copied/pasted from Ethnic stereotypes in American media. I created it because I believed this subtopic deserves its own focused page. Also, I want this new article to be able to explore racial stereotyping in all areas of public consciousness, not confined to just "media." Since it's basically a direct copy/paste it is obviously in need of extensive editing to make it an independent article, so please contribute. Thanks! --Drenched 19:44, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

I was wondering if it would perhaps be better, to rename this page to Arabs and Muslims instead. The reason being that, there are various stereotypes (presently) prominent within some of the especially Western/American media, in reference to many Arab and non-Arab Muslims as well (i.e. Muslims of African, South Asian, Central Asian and European descent). Silver crescent 01:23, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
 * That sounds like a good idea; this title was directly copy/pasted from the main page & I agree that it isn't ideal. In the discussion page of Stereotypes of East Asians, (renamed from Stereotypes of Asians), I was considering moving stereotypes of South Asians from the Asian page to this page since they are often similar since stereotypes tend to be appearance-based.  Do you think it'd be a good idea to incorporate South Asians into this page?  And if so, what precise title do you think would be best for this page? --Drenched 16:16, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Adding the stereotypes of South Asians section to this page would make sense, when it comes to generalizations in regards to the skin color, looks and clothing wear of most/all Near Easterners and South Asians. Although, according to some research that I've done, during the past few centuries, South Asians were mostly represented as Hindus (and Buddhists to a smaller degree) to most of the "West" and the so-called Arab/Muslim-Indian/Sikh "towel head" mix-up is pretty much a recent phenomenon. Furthermore, I've heard/read stories about how, aside from some South Asians, a few dark complexioned Italians and Latinos were also assaulted/had their property vandalized after being mistaken for "terrorists" in the post-911 period, but stereotypes of both ethnic groups are in completely separate articles.

There's also a certain amount of difference, ethnicity wise and racially speaking, between each side (i.e. Arabs aren't the same as Indo-Aryans and Dravidians). Both regional groups do very much have certain (visual and cultural) stereotypes in common, but I find that their representational differences outweigh their similarities (at least historically speaking). I don't think that that the South Asian article should be on the "Asian" page, because the Near Eastern section then might as well be there too (since it's located in Southwest Asia). I'd personally create a completely different "Stereotypes of South Asians" page and rename this one to "Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims". Also, including everything within the same article, especially title wise, would be a little complicated. Silver crescent 02:19, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
 * All right. It sounds like South Asians are currently without a home in the stereotypes pages then, but at the moment there doesn't seem to be much content about them anyway.  I suppose when someone comes up with content, they can create a seprate page for them.  I am going to move this page to "Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims" as you suggested. --Drenched 00:03, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

arab sorceror
somebody should add the stereotype of the arab sorceror that has persisted somany times in this world. america hates abrabs and does not want them here.

Balance in article
While I understand the current situation, there still needs to be some balance, per WP:NPOV. I really don't know how to go about doing that, though. I have fond and positive memories of programs I saw on film and TV as a child, that actually made me want to be Arab or Persian and to visit the Middle East. I still do. Here is a list that I found on Wiki: (I'm not sure if there are negative stereotypes in the above, as I'm remembering them from a child's POV) - Jeeny Talk 04:22, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Aladdin (film)
 * Sinbad the Sailor
 * Aladdin and the King of Thieves

=
=====

"Where they cut off your ears, if they don't like your face", not very positive is it?
 * Aladdin (film): I don't know how this is a "positive" view of Arabs. The theme song "Arabian Nights" goes:

United States
Everything in this article seems to be about the United States. I propose to change the name of this article to Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States. Comments? Hmains (talk) 18:43, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I tend to agree with that assessment. The scope of the discussion and references is considerably more limited than Anti-Arabism, for example. CasualObserver&#39;48 (talk) 05:58, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Well the U.S is the only one i see doing these things. This is all true about the taking Arabs into custody at the airport for no apparent reason. I have never been on an airplane trip without having to be checked. My aunt and grandma were kept in the airport for hours when they should have been with my grandpa. ;'( Its brutal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.83.198.66 (talk) 18:25, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Food for thought, American textbooks, et al
I ran across an article named American School Textbooks – How They Portrayed the Middle East from 1898 to 1994, while chasing something else. The article starts a few page-ups fromhere. It occurs in the American Educational History Journal, Volume 35, Number 1 and 2, 2008, edited by J. Wesley Null, and easily seems to comply with RS. The article provides reasons and an historic review of textbook usage and how improper stereotypes are born and continue to live. Also, a review of how Islam is taught in the US, Interpreting Islam in American Schools, finds similar stereotype inaccuracies here. I briefly added these into the lead, but more discussion is likely needed in a 'textbook' section. Negative stereotypes go well beyond popular culture.

Another example of stereotyping/discrimination affecting Arabs in the US concerns relative political strength and lobbying. "The acknowledged weakness within the political community of the Arab lobby vis-à-vis the pro-Israel lobby is demonstrated by the following example. In 1988 John Sununu, an American of Arab origin, had to declare that he did not harbor anti-Jewish sentiment when he was chosen as a candidate for the position of White House Chief of Staff under President elect George Bush Sr.(126)  It is inconceivable that an American Jew, in the same position, would be called upon to make a similar pledge in relation to the Arabs.  However, this gap began to close in the mid-1990s, when for the first time, a US President Bill Clinton, addressed the NAAA." Regards, CasualObserver&#39;48 (talk) 07:23, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

The whole thing was very much negitive and one-sided i thought. I dont think it's the neutral apeal wiki strives for.

75.179.186.249 (talk) 04:09, 29 October 2009 (UTC)Jade Rat

Schools do teach wrong things. The schools dont know what's happening and is just making stuff up. Teachers are making students choose sides. My teacher actually made all the students make a whole project on whose side they choose Israel(Jews) and Palestine(Muslims). The way the teacher tought was just despicable.

Name of page a stereotype
THe name of this page is a stereotype, that arabs and muslims are in one category. Only 20% of the world's Muslim population is Arab. 122.105.47.93 (talk) 13:26, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Incorrect Film Info
Edited the Back to the Future reference, Doc Brown refers to them as Libyan nationalists, not terrorist. Also deleted reference to Black Hawk Down as the antagonists are Somalians, not Arabs.Cplbeaudoin (talk) 01:06, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

This isn't even about stereotyping
Compare this article to that of Stereotypes of African Americans and Stereotypes of Jews and all you get is the idea that lots of people think negatively of Arabs and Muslims but no actual stereotypes. Consider these stereotypes of African Americans. Those are real stereotypes but this article has almost none. "Bombers" and "bellydancers" is all. Not much to have an article about. 1 Historical archetypes 1.1 Blackface 1.2 Sambo 1.3 Mammy 1.4 Mandingo Negro 1.5 Sapphire 1.6 Jezebel 2 Modern stereotypes 2.1 Deviant, radical, righteous 2.2 Drug lords, crack victims, evil 2.3 Watermelon stereotype 2.4 Welfare queen 2.5 Magical Negro 2.6 Black women This article could use a lot of work, imho Ridingdog (talk) 02:41, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20060713205508/http://iml.jou.ufl.edu:80/projects/Spring01/Chebli/page4.htm to http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring01/Chebli/page4.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 19:53, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring01/Chebli/page4.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 12:06, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: MIT 398 Intercultural International Communication
— Assignment last updated by Kaltham alsayed (talk) 15:54, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Race in America, sec 2
— Assignment last updated by Everlark13 (talk) 13:12, 27 March 2024 (UTC)