Middle East

Even after the devastating events of September 11th occurred, erudite Americans are still oblivious and unfamiliar of the Middle East. People who live in the Middle Eastern countries, are already misunderstood and misrepresented, in addition, they had to deal with unimaginable biases, religious intolerance, and misdirected hate. It caused Americans to become even more prejudice towards Muslims. Many Americans who attacked the religion of Islam and its followers are very ignorant on the subject of Islam and the beliefs of the religion. Whether it was before or after the events of September 11th, Americans are still ignorant towards Muslim women with hijab. When Americans are unknown of the idea of women with hijab, they become suspicious and vigilant of them. The United States has formulated preposterous judgments towards the individuals in the Middle East and especially concerning the issue of language. These issues were portrayed through the articles, Wearing a Head Scarf is My Choice as a Muslim; Please Respect It and Studying Islam, Strengthening the nation.

In the article Wearing a Head Scarf is My Choice as a Muslim; Please Respect It by Mariam Rahmani, it stated that Americans formed assumptions towards individuals in the Middle East. "The negative association Westerners have of hijab is that weak or brainwashed Muslim girls are forced by their families to wear it" (Source 2). Americans viewed women who wear hijab are powerless and incapable to make decisions themselves because they are forced to wear them and not voluntary. Since Americans do not know the truth behind Muslim women who wear hijab, they generalized that the idea of wearing hijab as a weakness. These formulated judgments created by Americans just show how ignorant they are.

In the article, Studying Islam, Strengthening the nation by Peter Berkowitz and Michael McFaul, United States was concerned about the issue of Middle Eastern languages. "Universities need to make a priority of teaching Arabic, Persian and Turkish and it should not be done by part-time adjunct faculty but by tenured professors" (Source 1). United States wanted Universities to focus teaching Middle Eastern languages first and should be taught by permanent professors. Part-time faculty shouldn't teach them since they are not permanent employees, they would leave or quit suddenly. They wanted highly educated teachers who are permanent and devoted in teaching Middle Eastern languages