Orientalism today

This weeks class discussion really had me thinking more about Orientalism. I took a class last year for my Sophomore seminar which was all about multiculturism primarily in the Middle East. After watching the video it brought back many memories of discussions in the class. Many Americans don't understand that not all Muslims are Hindu. Right there is a misconception of people from the Middle East. Also many Muslim Americans are considered terrorists, or are considered from a third world country. In America any Muslim Americans are taunted and harassed for sticking to their culture. For example a woman may choose to wear her traditional attire, and be questioned and pulled aside at an airport because of the way she is dressed. Not knowing or being blind to the fact that this is simply because of her culture. Also many are harassed for going to their places of worship, and have been accused of being in a cult, or plotting terrorist attacks. We claim to be a nation that accepts every culture and all sorts of diversity, but yet we still today might take a second look at a Muslim American because of recent events after 9/11.

I also thought about the show that used to be on TV called Outsourced. It was a show about Indian's who live in Dubai which are working for a company in America, but everything is outsourced to them. We put shows on TV such as this, but is it stereotyping? Just like we discussed in class in some TV shows or even movies we portray the Muslim as a convenient store clerk, or a Subway worker, or owning a Dunkin' Donuts. The media constantly puts this out there I believe without any question. We see these Muslim Americans as extremists and not people. After learning more about this issue it really gets to me that in America we aren't really as accepting as we say.