|
 |
| |
|
Article on Stereotypes by Randy Salim |
|
 MetroTV news anchorman and reporter Randy Salim was one of the moderators in ICIP's International Seminar on "Challenging Stereotypes in Europe and the Islamic World" held in November of 2006. After participating in the seminar he was motivated to write an article about his own experiences working with the media and with stereotypes. To view the article click below.
Muslims in Redneck Driver Land
Randy Salim (MetroTV)
Atlanta, Georgia, mid May 2006. I was with a group of mid-career
broadcast journalists from around the world, on a 3-week training
program. Our minders made sure that weekends were devoted to taking in
the sights and sounds of the South. The driver helping us do so was a
somewhat friendly man, though closer to Redneck than Southern
Gentleman. This was his umpteenth year driving foreign journalists from
hotel to shopping mall to hotel again, which by his local standards
probably made him a connoisseur of foreign culture. He probably had a
son or a neighbor's son serving in Iraq, or knew someone that knew
someone that died in the 9-11 tragedy, so he's spent the last couple of
years flipping through novels on Middle Eastern conflicts.
He strikes up a conversation with Abdulrahman, a technical director for Bahrain TV - a job that requires spending long hours inside a television control room, gazing at multiple monitors. Redneck Driver thinks that by virtue of ethnicity, Abdulrahman would be interested in listening to him ramble on about a book he read about terrorist cells in the deserts of Kuwait. Abdulrahman listens out of politeness, but later asks me why Redneck Driver would think he'd be interested in such a topic.
A few hours later, back in the van, Abdulrahman is exchanging playful insults in Arabic with Badr, a political journalist from Kuwait. Their voices get louder, as the mock-argument escalates. At that volume, the Arabic language can sound very violent. But we know they're only kidding, so we laugh. Perhaps to join in on the fun, or merely to shut us up, Redneck Driver bellows out from behind the wheel, "Now now. I hope there's nothing terroristic going on back there!" I immediately felt a sharp pain in chest - the pain of biting your tongue so hard, you could feel it in your heart.
How I wanted to strangle Redneck Driver's white wrinkly neck. How glad I was that Abdulrahman and Badr didn't speak English very well. How I regret not lashing out in defense. How sad it was to think that Redneck Driver didn't realize how offensive his comment was (or did he?). How sad to think that in Redneck Driver Land, the words "Islam", "terrorism", "bombs" and "Bin Laden" would always be uttered under the same breath, same sentence and same train of thought. I shudder to think how big Redneck Driver Land actually is.
The above anecdote could be seen as proof that yes, there has been a lot of talk on creating interfaith harmony, but whoever's been doing the talking has not been talking to the right people. Redneck Driver is obviously aware of the unfortunate, negative connotations of Islam, because that's what he sees at the end of the day on Fox News.
I believe that one option to creating better understanding between Islam and the West is to sit down with the owners, news directors and chief editors of every major Western media company, and talk some sense into them. They're the ones with the access to the masses, the tastemakers, the ones who cast a dark cloud over Muslims in Redneck Driver Land.
It probably wouldn't be an overstatement to say that the Western - if not all - media wields greater influence over the general public than actual governments. Jack Straw went from being an Iraq War-opposing former British Foreign Minister, to a bigoted MP that felt veils on Muslim women were menacing. And despite all the apologies, explanations and charges of being misquoted, the media ultimately won by planting that one seed of though into the public mind, irrespective of truth: Jack Straw is a bigot. Jack Straw could visit any Muslim country on official business months after the fact, and that is what the local media will be dogging him with.
Be it through the ritual of reading a newspaper over breakfast or tuning into the evening news, the media is an undeniable part of the modern human routine. Every single item of news in the world can be considered questionable for any number of reasons, but not everyone has the energy to go the extra mile and seek more information, especially when there's nothing to be gained beyond satisfying curiosity.
That's why the international-standard news feature is just one and a half minutes long: it is the gauge of the modern human attention span. Anything beyond two minutes is considered too much information. Don't bore us, get to the chorus. The enlightening substance of a two-hour dialogue doesn't hold a candle to the fifteen second soundbite, and what we hear during those fifteen seconds is not decided by any top government official or religious leader. The recent controversy over the Pope's comments on Islam proved that even the Vatican is at the mercy of the soundbite.
Deny as we might, we are all at the mercy of the soundbite because they provoke thoughts, actions, reactions and mob mentality. Without discounting the long history of animosity between the Turkish and the Vatican, it is essentially a soundbite that has driven over twenty thousand people to protest the Pope's recent visit to Istanbul. Without having even seen the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, thousands in the Muslim World were prepared to set fire to Danish embassies. While religious leaders ultimately play a vital role in defusing such situations, it is the media that plays the role of Instigator.
But would the Western media be open to a forum in which Muslim leaders and intellectuals could verbally assault them for fueling Muslim rage and anti-Muslim sentiment? Keeping in mind that media companies are, after all, businesses that wish not to alienate any potential customers - attendance alone should be guaranteed. The hard part is obviously driving a point strong enough to provoke evident change in editorial content.
There would definitely be a tug-of-war over how the media has positioned itself in the current political climate: a mere reporter of unfortunate events, or an aggravator with the tools to broadcast these unfortunate events across the globe, ad nauseum. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Would the world be more peaceful without the presence of the media, or would it just be quieter as we all bask in the bliss of our ignorance? Under the current political climate, should the term "responsible journalism" go beyond telling both sides of the story, and incorporate the use of restraint? How would the world feel about Germans if CNN existed during the time of the Holocaust? What if Fox News were embedded with US troops in the Vietnam War - would Oriental Asians face the same stigma felt by Muslims today?
Yes, the debate would be endless, the feeling futile. But that doesn't mean that efforts shouldn't be made, that questions shouldn't be raised, that the media can't be challenged.
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
