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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Political Dimension of Religion in Shiism Stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims in the Western Mass Media: an Obstacle To the Movement of Al-imam Al-mahdi That Must Be Confronted Stereotyping of the "other" is still alive and well in America. The portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in both movies as well as the news is highly influenced by pro-Israeli interests.

The portrayal is meant to shock at times and other times to subtly manipulate the masses into supporting Israeli and American policy and taking a stand against its opponents. The bias has been seen many times in American coverage of the Middle East but was clearly seen in the Israeli-Hizbullah Conflict during the summer of 2006. Muslims globally have an uphill battle in promoting the movement of al-Imam al-Mahdi because of the mainstream western media\'s biases.

A discourse analysis of two Detroit newspapers shows how this is the case. Arabs and Muslims as the "Other" The portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in the popular press is highly inflammatory and stereotypical. It is highly contemporary in that it is driven by current political situations. At the same time, such stereotyping is based on old archetypes created in the past to demonize.

To understand what it happening and how it is will be an obstacle to Imam al-Mahdi\'s movement, it is beneficial to begin with a review of Jack G. Shaheen\'s book, Reel Bad Arabs. Shaheen\'s book is a review of racist images of Arabs in the media collected over a span of 20 years. An encyclopedic attempt, the book covers more than 900 movies, most of which depict Arabs and Muslims as inhuman.

By the end of the book, one can clearly see that Arabs and Muslims are the last ethnic groups who are still negatively portrayed by Hollywood without consequences. The Arabs are almost always part of five different plot schemes: villains, sheikhs, maidens, Egyptians, and Palestinians. Shaheen ranks the movies in several appendices including a "best" and "worst" list. "Other" groups have long been caricatured by Hollywood. These groups include African-Americans, Jews, Latinos and East-Asians.

Generally they were depicted devoid of individual character and even when the subject of the movie was shown as an individual it was almost always within the context of a stereotype.