Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes - Free Essay Example

People being indiscriminate based on partial and inexact information by sources as television, cartoons or even comic books This is a description that seems to go against many public standards. The above words are the exact description of stereotypes. Stereotypes as implicit from the description, goes mostly hand in hand with media only not the standard meaning of the blameless media we know. Media propaganda is the other form of media that is somewhat described as media treatment. In this paper, the subsequent will be discussed: first, how stereotypes of ethnic groups operate in propaganda, why does it function so satisfactorily, and finally, the consequences of these stereotypes on the life of Egyptians in particular in society. A fair inspection will be conducted on this example of stereotypes through clarification examples and research consequences from researches conducted from reliable sources. The real association between Egyptians’ stereotypes and propaganda discus sed in this paper shall magnify the suggestion of stereotypes and propaganda in common. It seems essential for this paper to start with some clarification of the circumstances related with propaganda. Propaganda can be thought of as a foster parent for stereotypes. Propaganda is recognized to be the planned manipulation of public opinion through concealed messages in advertisements and other media functions. Thus, propaganda uses numerous techniques to be able to consign theses hidden messages to the public and influence their view. Fear, brainwashing, name calling, glittering generality, misinformation and much more are some of the ways that propaganda uses to persuade and manipulate the opinions of the masses. Propaganda finds the usefulness of stereotypes in the fact that it’s easy, quick and direct to the public. In the case of stereotypes about ethnic groups, Egyptians in this case are being portrayed as uneducated, unethical, ignorant, desert animal raisers, terro rists and uncultured ethnic group. These name calling and misinformation techniques are what propagandists use to contrive the society to portray Egyptians as humans of the underworld and Egypt as a deserted country that hunger and ill health are its residents. The preceding are all stereotypes that are propagandas of the media to convince such generality into truth and facts. Racial stereotypes particularly function usually through propaganda of the media, due to the improbability of every man travelling to every country, with the technique of ‘misinformation’ through movies, shows, and news reports. Egyptians have been stereotyped as desert residents for many years regardless of the reality and actual state of Egypt as a country. For instance, the stereotypes pointing that Egyptians are mostly uneducated due to their ignorance of the importance of education is proven false by studies of trustworthy sources. Among those studies, the one conducted by the American university in Cairo, Egypt. Al-Ahram weekly, a credible newspaper known all across the Arab world, has posted in its October issue of 1998 the following: According to Sahar El-Tawila, the essential researcher on the team, interviews conducted with girls and boys nationwide demonstrate convincingly that work and marriage were rarely stated by boys and girls respectively as reasons for departing school†¦ These may be options for those who have already left school, but they are not the impetus behind their decision to leave† (Al-Ahram 1998). Therefore, according to an American research, Egyptians are not uneducated conceited nation. After all, there is at least an American University known worldwide built in Cairo where many Egyptians have gotten their Bachelors, Masters and PhD’s from. Still, the media has successfully manipulated the public opinion to reason Egyptians as desert wonderers. Now that the first concern, of how such Egyptian-bashing stereotypes work i n propaganda, has been discussed, an interesting question then must be asked: how did it come about so successfully for the public of North America to view Egyptians in such state of mind? Media being a powerful information source to the majority of North Americans, and sometimes the only source of information about specific ethnic groups, has the ability to convince the public viewpoints and opinions. Of course with stereotypes powered by propaganda in movies is very thriving in view of that American films are the most favored and appreciated media function. Openly, in one of the movie reviews now on a review website about the movie â€Å"The Mummy† which takes place in Egypt from start to end, the subsequent sentence was stated: â€Å"The Mummy is a lot of fun. So the story is unsophisticated and the characters are all stereotypes (particularly the Egyptians, who are either noble desert warriors or smelly illiterate pig-things). Who cares? The special effects are tru ly spectacular. † (Jennifer Mellerick, 1999). Easily, stereotypes are even expected by who understands them and the media propaganda generates more and more. To attest that such depiction is a stereotype and not fact, the website ‘Egypt WWW Index’ has a list of all universities in Egypt (an estimated thirty educational institutions in total), many links to political and governmental committees and services, business, commercial, and entertainment facilities, as well as links to political women figures in the Egyptian society. More than the average North American could even imagine of Egypt , and it is all owed to the media propaganda that produced this image of Egyptians. People being indiscriminate based on partial and inexact information by sources as television, cartoons or even comic books This is a description that seems to go against many public standards. The above words are the exact description of stereotypes. Stereotypes as implicit from the descripti on, goes mostly hand in hand with media only not the standard meaning of the blameless media we know. Media propaganda is the other form of media that is somewhat described as media treatment. In this paper, the subsequent will be discussed: first, how stereotypes of ethnic groups operate in propaganda, why does it function so satisfactorily, and finally, the consequences of these stereotypes on the life of Egyptians in particular in society. A fair inspection will be conducted on this example of stereotypes through clarification examples and research consequences from researches conducted from reliable sources. The real association between Egyptians’ stereotypes and propaganda discussed in this paper shall magnify the suggestion of stereotypes and propaganda in common. It seems essential for this paper to start with some clarification of the circumstances related with propaganda. Propaganda can be thought of as a foster parent for stereotypes. Propaganda is recognized to be the planned manipulation of public opinion through concealed messages in advertisements and other media functions. Thus, propaganda uses numerous techniques to be able to consign theses hidden messages to the public and influence their iew. Fear, brainwashing, name calling, glittering generality, misinformation and much more are some of the ways that propaganda uses to persuade and manipulate the opinions of the masses. Propaganda finds the usefulness of stereotypes in the fact that it’s easy, quick and direct to the public. In the case of stereotypes about ethnic groups, Egyptians in this case are being portrayed as uneducated, unethical, ignorant, desert animal raisers, terrorists and uncultured ethnic group. These name calling and misinformation techniques are what propagandists use to contrive the society to portray Egyptians as humans of the underworld and Egypt as a deserted country that hunger and ill health are its residents. The preceding are all stereotype s that are propagandas of the media to convince such generality into truth and facts. Racial stereotypes particularly function usually through propaganda of the media, due to the improbability of every man travelling to every country, with the technique of ‘misinformation’ through movies, shows, and news reports. Egyptians have been stereotyped as desert residents for many years regardless of the reality and actual state of Egypt as a country. For instance, the stereotypes pointing that Egyptians are mostly uneducated due to their ignorance of the importance of education is proven false by studies of trustworthy sources. Among those studies, the one conducted by the American university in Cairo, Egypt. Al-Ahram weekly, a credible newspaper known all across the Arab world, has posted in its October issue of 1998 the following: According to Sahar El-Tawila, the essential researcher on the team, interviews conducted with girls and boys nationwide demonstrate convincingl y that work and marriage were rarely stated by boys and girls respectively as reasons for departing school†¦ These may be options for those who have already left school, but they are not the impetus behind their decision to leave† (Al-Ahram 1998). Therefore, according to an American research, Egyptians are not uneducated conceited nation. After all, there is at least an American University known worldwide built in Cairo where many Egyptians have gotten their Bachelors, Masters and PhD’s from. Still, the media has successfully manipulated the public opinion to reason Egyptians as desert wonderers. Now that the first concern, of how such Egyptian-bashing stereotypes work in propaganda, has been discussed, an interesting question then must be asked: how did it come about so successfully for the public of North America to view Egyptians in such state of mind? Media being a powerful information source to the majority of North Americans, and sometimes the only source of information about specific ethnic groups, has the ability to convince the public viewpoints and opinions. Of course with stereotypes powered by propaganda in movies is very thriving in view of that American films are the most favored and appreciated media function. Openly, in one of the movie reviews now on a review website about the movie â€Å"The Mummy† which takes place in Egypt from start to end, the subsequent sentence was stated: â€Å"The Mummy is a lot of fun. So the story is unsophisticated and the characters are all stereotypes (particularly the Egyptians, who are either noble desert warriors or smelly illiterate pig-things). Who cares? The special effects are truly spectacular. † (Jennifer Mellerick, 1999). Easily, stereotypes are even expected by who understands them and the media propaganda generates more and more. To attest that such depiction is a stereotype and not fact, the website ‘Egypt WWW Index’ has a list of all universities in Egypt (an estimated thirty educational institutions in total), many links to political and governmental committees and services, business, commercial, and entertainment facilities, as well as links to political women figures in the Egyptian society. More than the average North American could even imagine of Egypt , and it is all owed to the media propaganda that produced this image of Egyptians. Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes Furthermore, Egyptians are stereotyped to be uninformed owing to the reality that they are thought of as technology uneducated. In a website found throughout the study on this topic, a person of an Indian ethnicity by the given name of Shani Rifati has set up a website, which he calls â€Å"Please Call Me Rom†. To right the depiction of his race to North Americans, Shani said: â€Å"I am not a Gypsy. The term Gypsy comes from peoples ignorance, when we were wrong for Egyptians† (Rifati). Remarkable huh! Here is an example of a erson that is defending his own nationality from stereotypes, yet uses stereotypes. What is even more interesting than that is the reality that the Egyptian history has been known to be the supreme civilization of all times, yet such culture is simply bashed by supercilious that all Egyptians are just ignorant Gypsies. â€Å" African American and Latino children who are aware of broadly held stereotypes about academic aptitude perform more disappointingly on a cognitive task when that task is described as a measure of capability than when the same task is described as a problem-solving duty. (Carol Hyman 2003). Therefore racial or ethnic stereotypes that work in media propaganda or rather called media manipulation, has not only had influences on adults, but also is passed over with the youth of tomorrow. It is easy to give out information with no truthful back up, but the public inclination is what can moreover stop media propaganda from disturbing the public opinion or simply energize such unsa fe aspect of the media, stereotypes. Furthermore, Egyptians are stereotyped to be uninformed owing to the reality that they are thought of as technology uneducated. In a website found throughout the study on this topic, a person of an Indian ethnicity by the given name of Shani Rifati has set up a website, which he calls â€Å"Please Call Me Rom†. To right the depiction of his race to North Americans, Shani said: â€Å"I am not a Gypsy. The term Gypsy comes from peoples ignorance, when we were wrong for Egyptians† (Rifati). Remarkable huh! Here is an example of a person that is defending his own nationality from stereotypes, yet uses stereotypes. What is even more interesting than that is the reality that the Egyptian history has been known to be the supreme civilization of all times, yet such culture is simply bashed by supercilious that all Egyptians are just ignorant Gypsies. â€Å" African American and Latino children who are aware of broadly held stereotype s about academic aptitude perform more disappointingly on a cognitive task when that task is described as a measure of capability than hen the same task is described as a problem-solving duty. † (Carol Hyman 2003). Therefore racial or ethnic stereotypes that work in media propaganda or rather called media manipulation, has not only had influences on adults, but also is passed over with the youth of tomorrow. It is easy to give out information with no truthful back up, but the public inclination is what can moreover stop media propaganda from disturbing the public opinion or simply energize such unsafe aspect of the media, stereotypes.