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September 13, 2006

Informatio: , ,

American East

I heard a great interview on this morning about a film that has just finished production called, American East (sorry, no link to an actuakl movie website). The film was made by two Muslims, a director and an actor who, after , both decided it was time to tell a real story about muslims living in America.

The director, , said something that has been haunting me since I heard it (note - ultra-paraphrased):

When I was a child living outside of America, I knew America through film and television. America was a beautiful place. Now, for people who only know America through the media, America looks quite different -- much uglier.

Sayed Badreya, left, and Richard Chagoury in American EastNo doubt, you have seen the actor, , in many other movies. Usually, he portrays terrorists or "bad Muslims" (Badreya own words from the pictured scene, in American East). In this interivew, the tenderness and wisdom he seems to possess is heartbreaking. If you think the conflict between Western and Muslim cultures is confusing, try viewing it through a Muslim's eyes.

I will definitely try to see American East when it is out. For now, I suggest that you take some time to listen to the interview.

Posted at 09:19 am

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Comments (6):
I think that is something to think about looking at how Muslims perceive America. For me it begs the question: How accurate, misrepresented, etc. is the media’s portrayal of America to the outside world?

dh () - September 13, 2006 at 11:34 am

I think there’s a simple answer to that… What I mean is, how do we form our perceptions of America (and the world)? Surely not by witnessing it all (speaking with the people, seeing the land, etc.) firsthand. No, we too form (most of) our perceptions of America through the media.

This being said, I totally relate to the perception that I spoke of above. I feel like America is an ugly place right now (hyper-capitalism, racism, poverty, violence — I could go on).

Currently, our socio-political paradigm is “fight fire with fire.” I don’t like that approach and I’m not so sure it’s the best message the most powerful country in the world should be delivering.

timsamoff () (URL) - September 13, 2006 at 11:48 am

Just to be honest my reason for the question was not all of the issues you mentioned. I was looking at this quote “Now, for people who only know America through the media, America looks quite different — much uglier.” Which begs the question logically as to the correctness and appropriateness of the media with regard to their portrayal of America. I personally feel then that one must remove ones owns bias (also speaking for myselfas well) and look at what the media is portraying and determine what is being said for truth and find out what truth is not being mentioned or portrayed in the media. I recognize your opinion with regard the specific issues you addressed but those weren’t the concepts I was addressing with regard to my question.

I guess my own opinion of “No, we too form (most of) our perceptions of America through the media.” I personally don’t get “most of” my perception of America through the media. With regard to media we haven’t even addressed what form of media or what particular media one gets their perception let alone whether it is most of or not.

dh () - September 13, 2006 at 3:22 pm

I feel like my first comment addresses everything you brought up here. And, by media, I mean all media.

So, if you are not speaking of specific issues, what sort of perceptions are you speaking of? If just the natural beuty of the land, well then, no one could argue that. Specific issues (especially in regard to who we are as a people), though, are what others (i.e., those outside of America) are referring to.

Do you think that terrorists attack our country because they don’t like how the land is beautiful? No, they attack because they don’t agree with our ideologies (to use GWB’s words), our ethics, our way of life. Those are all specific issues.

timsamoff () (URL) - September 13, 2006 at 3:40 pm

I was just asking the question from the standpoint that those perceptions seem to be based on incorrect representations in the media. From my experience much of the media focuses only on bad things and when one researches it you finds out the truth you find that it is not all bad. This happens so much that I get the impression that people obtain perceptions from the media that cloud reality.

I personally believe that the portayal of America in the media needs to be looked at. What we shouldn’t do is give a misrepresentation of reality of America to the sutside world. I know many people who have went to troubled areas where conflict is raising and what I have heard from them was different than what the media has protrayed. When a person physically vists a place and it happens to be positive and the media presents the opposite than what should a person do when observing this contradiction?

dh () - September 13, 2006 at 5:19 pm

the Film is already released
I wish that you have seen it guys!

nahed nassr () - December 11, 2007 at 01:40 am

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