Stereotypes as a Propaganda Tool As Americans go through a post-traumatic process after the September tragedies, most people are trying to analyze the entire situation to find out who is wrong and who is right. While media, politicians, and military leaders endlessly speak about the Taliban, Bin-Laden, Arabs, and Islam, we are making our conclusions based on what we hear. What an average American might assume by watching television and reading newspapers is that Islamic fundamentalism is some kind of mental illness and every Arabic-looking man is a threat to society. Unintentionally, we are about to make the same mistake by discriminating against people as we did with the Germans during World War II and Japanese after Pearl Harbor. Because we know the consequences, we have to decide again, is it acceptable to stereotype some people and set them apart on the basis of their religion and national origin just because they fit the profile?No doubt, the terrorist attacks in the United States have changed many things in the self-contained American mentality. Feelings such as fear, anger, hate, and sadness washed through our minds like a gigantic storm in the middle of the ocean. The new mind-set about suspicious people from certain ethnic group became an everyday norm soon after the September events. It became the standard procedure to single out Muslim-looking people and subject them to additional searches, it is the norm now to ask them three or four times a day for identification papers anytime and anywhere. It became common to refuse to fly in the same plane with Arabs. This is a true episode by Gail Schoettler published in Denver Post: As I settled into my seat for a recent flight, the pilots voice flowed through the cabin. He explained the airlines new security procedures, trying to calm frayed nerves. Then, he said, We are all just one big family on this flight. So, I want you to get know your neighbors. Ask them their names and the...
