STEREOTYPING ARABS – A Timeless Hollywood Tradition

Arabs suffer from a long and systematic stereotyping from the West. From the Orientalist movement of the 18th century till today, Western perceptions of Arabs and by extension Muslims, are based on what they have been conditioned to believe through the media be it in the form of literature, art, and more recently, movies and television, the tribal sheikh, the belly dancing concubine, the filthy rich oil billionaire and the token terrorist.