Middle East

The other category is made of smaller stereotypes.

The biggest stereotypes for the Middle East are terrorism and Islam.  Terrorism is a problem of some Islamic extremist groups.  These groups do not perform terrorist attacks on Western countries for a purely religious or a purely governmental reason, it is a combination of Western ideals that do not agree with the Muslim philosophies.  Many people believe these are attacks from all of the countries in the Middle East and their governments.  What these people don’t realize is that these governments do not support the terrorist groups.  Saudi Arabia actually has set up a program that promotes counterterrorism and rehabilitation for terrorists.  Starting in 2004, this program aims to help possible and actual terrorists readjust to normal society by putting them through a series of therapies.  Therefore, terrorism is not a function of the Middle East but some smaller Islamic extremist groups.

Another issue with the Middle East is the belief that all Muslims are at fault when it comes to terrorism.  Islam is a major religion in Africa, Middle East, and South Asia.  There are people in America who stereotype against Islam because it is seen as a “non-white” religion.  According to a poll done by Foreign Policy Magazine in 2007 Islam has become the fastest growing religion in the world.  Another stereotype about Islam is the belief that Islam is a violent religion, when the teachings of the Qur’an advocate against violence and promote living a life of pacifism.  The terrorist groups distort the original beliefs of Islam to promote violence when necessary.  Another issue with people view of Islam is that some people believe that it is the only religion in the Middle East.  While many of the Middle Eastern countries do follow Islam, there are smaller countries that follow Judaism.  Obviously, the Islam is not at fault for terrorism and the Islamic extremist groups that do promote terrorism are manipulating the values of Islam because the basic beliefs of Islam is pacifism.

~Will