This article that we had to read talks about certain myths that most people have about Islam, which is always portrayed through the media. The way the media showcases Islam gives it only two kinds of meaning and that is “unacceptable and impoverishing.” Because of the media’s constant portrayal of Islam in this manner, that is how most people perceive Islam to be. Said tries to prove in the article that Islam has more to it besides the two meanings that the media always gives it. Said states that people do not know the Islamic world and he talks about two examples in which the rest of the world tries to learn more about the Islamic world. The first example he uses is an old one and in this he talks about the time in the 1800’s when France occupied Algeria and in 1798 when Napoleon captured Egypt for a short while. The contemporary example he uses is with the United States. He talks about how the U.S. is so involved in the Islamic world that it actually “domesticated” the Islamic world. He goes on further to say that the U.S. looks at the Islamic world “either as oil suppliers or potential terrorists.”
I agree with Said about the fact that because of the media, Islam is viewed unfairly by the Western world. Most people associate Islam as being “anti-human, antidemocratic, anti-Semitic and antirational.” Because of these long held beliefs about the Islamic world, most people are thus reluctant to be sympathetic to the Muslim world. However, people still prefer to listen to the media about Islam because it makes things simpler and easier for them to understand. Said comes up with some solutions, which I agree with, will help bring a better understanding about the Islamic world. One of his suggestions is that people should always make a distinction between serious considerations about the Islamic world and everything that passes for Islam in the media. And as for his suggestions to the Arab world, he tells them to “write a new form of history, in which there is a genuine seriousness of purpose and a love of truth.”