Common Stereotypes

The following is a comparative list of common stereotypes. The first in each set is a common stereotype held by Americans about Arabs or Muslims. The second is a common stereotype held by Arabs or Muslims about Americans. I find the list fascinating. This list was passed out by a professor at AUC during one of the cultural orientation sessions.

1. The Arab world is a violent place, characterized by terrorism.
1. The United States is a violent place, characterized by crime.

2. The violence that characterizes the Arab world is caused by the inherent character of Arab society and/or Islam.
2. The violence that characterizes the United States is caused by the inherent character of Western culture.

3. All Arabs are Muslim. All Muslims are Arab.
3. Most Americans are, at least nominally, Christians. The rest are Jews.

4. Arab society and culture is completely dominated by religion, specifically Islam.
4. American culture is violen, morally corrupt, and arrogant.

5. Islam is a violent, backward, and repressive religion.
5. Western culture is violent, morally corrupt, and arrogant.

6. Islam and Arab society place women in a subordinate position and severely repress them.
6. Western culture and American society repress and exploit women, providing them no protection in a culture characterized by the complete collapse of family structures.

7. The repression of women in Arab society is reflected by the practice of veiling.
7. The repression of women in American society is reflected in their revealing clothing.

8. All Arabs are wealthy.
8. All Americans are wealthy.

9. Islam and Arab society have difficulty in responding to the demands and opportunities of the modern world.
9. Western culture and American society have turned “modernism” into a destructive process.

10. The great threat to the world in general and to Egypt in particular is fundamentalism.
10. The great threat to the world in general and to Egypt in particular is Western culture.