Stereotypes

What are some typical misperceptions and stereotypes Westerners hold about Islam and the Middle East, and vice versa? [|Stereotypes article]

The first common misconception is that all Muslims are Arab but they are not. There are more than a billion Muslims in the world but less than 15% of them are actually Arab. There is only a slight difference between Arabs and Muslims. Muslims are people who practice Islam and Arabs are people who speak Arabic as their native language. The second misconception is that Islam is fundamentally different from Christianity and Judaism. The truth is that they have similar views. Muslims do not believe that Jesus is the son of God. The next misconception is that Islam is oppressive to their women. This is not true because Islam was actually a reform for the women and they have now been granted new rights. In most Middle East countries the women are allowed to vote, work outside the home, and run for office positions. Some Muslims think that the woman’s role is with the family. The next misconception is that the whole Middle East is just a desert where the men and women act and dress a certain way. In fact the Middle East is very different in their culture and the men and women dress based on their education, political structure, place they live, and their own preference. Another misconception is that the Muslims hate anyone who is a non-believer and that our cultures are very different. It may be true that some Muslims do not agree with everything the U.S. government does however not all of them are extremists and are terrorists. One stereotype that they have about us is that we are all rich and have no family values. They also think that we have no morals and that our women are oppressed and promiscuous. Not all Americans are rich even though we have a higher standard of living then they do. They have different family values then we do and because of the divorce rates being high and us putting our family member in nursing homes they think that we have no family values at all. They think we all do drugs and that everything we do is just like the promiscuous celebrities that are on TV. They think that the women are oppressed because of the way that they dress which exposes them to danger. The last thing they believe about us is that we are hypocritical because our political leaders say that they help the people of other countries, but they believe that the government only helps when it is beneficial to America.