Much of our information about the Middle East comes to us through our television sets on the evening news, or in our morning newspapers. How does this news get made? Of course, “news” is just that—events around the world are reported as and just after they happen. You may have noticed that most of these news events are negative, perhaps because crises seem to us to be more newsworthy than good tidings. Journalists often learn that “if it bleeds, it leads”—that accidents, wars, explosions, and the like get the big headlines, because they sell papers and boost rating

What were the Middle Eastern or Muslim characters like in these shows and films? Most of the time, they are depicted as backward, dangerous, fanatical, and stupid. The opening song lyrics of Disney’s Aladdin originally included the lines, “I come from a land, from a faraway place/where the caravan camels roam/where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home." It was changed to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home”—leaving the stereotype “barbaric” label, without the gory details. Or think of the famous scene in Indiana Jones, where an Arab character faces off against Indiana with a dazzling display of swordsmanship; Indiana shrugs, pulls out his gun and shoots the backward show-off.

What were the Middle Eastern or Muslim characters like in these shows and films? Most of the time, they are depicted as backward, dangerous, fanatical, and stupid. The opening song lyrics of Disney’s Aladdin originally included the lines, “I come from a land, from a faraway place/where the caravan camels roam/where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home." It was changed to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home”—leaving the stereotype “barbaric” label, without the gory details. Or think of the famous scene in Indiana Jones, where an Arab character faces off against Indiana with a dazzling display of swordsmanship; Indiana shrugs, pulls out his gun and shoots the backward show-off.