Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Reflection #5
This past weekend, I went with a group of friends to a hookah lounge/Mediterranean cafe in Georgetown, and was rather surprised by what I saw on the news. Al Jezzera was on, and they were showing footage of a protest that had turned violent with people throwing rocks and large groups running away from approaching authorities. This struck me as odd, because the people who were running the lounge were of Middle Eastern decent and clearly still connected to their native language, yet they were broadcasting images that made them look bad. I wondered if they were even aware that the news they were showing was just perpetuating the stereotypical thought of the West that people from the MENA region can't protest peacefully. The news broadcast was even more unusual with it juxtaposed to all the MENA region books it had for sale about the different states, histories, cultures, etc. Here was a business that was selling you factual information about their region, and yet they were showing for free the labels of 'barbaric', 'uncivilized', and 'violent' that we already knew. I don't know if it was right of me to assume that just because the people running the lounge were Middle Eastern that they would try to paint the region in its best light, but it was just a very striking image to see.
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I don't think having the news on which just happens to show some unrest in one's country is meant to have a negative impact on the people that are watching it. News is news, be it good or bad. If we turn on our own TVs and look at reports on movements such as Occupy Wall Street, we do not necessarily think that whoever is broadcasting it is trying to portray a negative image of America. And neither do we think that the people that are watching it will think that all Americans always choose to manifest their discontent in that way. Just because CNN is on and it is showing people protesting, doesn't mean that whoever turned on that channel wanted to make America look bad. So the same is, I think, for the owners of that restaurant that you went to.
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