Characteristics of Orientalism, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Tammy Johnson-Hall
ETH/125
February 23, 2012
Brian Steinberg

2

The terms Muslims and Arabs are two unique demographic identifiers. A Muslim, also

spelled Moslem, is the Islamic faith, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion that is based on the Qur'an

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim). There are many Muslims who are not Arabs - there are Muslim

Indonesians, Muslim Chinese, and Muslim Americans.

Arabs are an ethnic group of people who speak the Arabic language, and follow different

religions. Many are Muslims, but some are Christians. Arab people are also known as Arabs and

primarily live in the Arab World, which is located in Western Asia or North Africa. They are identified

as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-

tribal relationships playing an important part of Arab identity

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_people).

In terms of changes to United States policy, The Civil Rights Division holds a bimonthly

interagency meeting that brings together top officials from federal agencies and leaders of the Muslim,

Arab, Sikh and South Asian communities to address civil rights issues

(http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/1253). There have also been some signs of reverse in the

backlash that Muslims and Arabs have endured after the occurrences of 9/11. The Department of

Justice seems to be making changes that will protect the innocent Muslims and Arabs so to give them

the same Civil Rights as others. Although these rights are already in existence they really need to be

reinforced. They were made to give Blacks the same rights as Whites and now these same rights need

to be acknowledged for the Muslims and Arabs. The Justice Department has recently announced

changes to their investigation policies for FBI agents which would allow questioning based on ethnicity

rather than probable cause, and allow for general, open-ended questions rather than the current policy

of pursuing one predetermined line of questioning (http://www.opednews.com/articles/American

-Muslims-alarmed-a-by-Abdus-Sattar-Ghaza-080703-362.html).

3

Two characteristics of Orientalism would be Sprituality and Diversity. This is also another way

of creating stereotypes against people that are different. Hate crimes tend to come from such

ignorance of stereotyping people because they are of a different culture or race. The perfect example of

this would be the events of 9/11. The reason this is the best example is because Arabs or anyone who

looks like them may be targeted because the way they look is associated with those events.

In my opinion the best way to express tolerance is to model it in front of others, by directly

striking up friendships with a diverse group of people. One thing that the United States government

should think about is using the media more to promote the elements of diverse cultures this will give

audiences a chance to have positive interactions in a relaxed environment. They should also think

about adding something into schools to provide an accurate and positive portrayal of different groups

can also reduce prejudice.

4

References

Ghazali, Abdus S. (2008, July 4) American Muslims alarmed at the new profiling policy. OpEdNews. Retrieved August 25, 2008 http://www.opednews.com/articles/American-Muslims-alarmed-a-by-Abdus-Sattar-Ghaza-080703-362.html

United States Department of Justice, http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/1253 Wikipedia, Arab http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_people Wikipedia, Muslim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim Orientalism
The simplistic view of the people and history of the Orient with no recognition of change over time or the diversity within its many cultures.