Why does the whole world have a stereotypical view of islam and the arabs?!
124107
The media is controlled by corporations that are trying to sell you a product and influence your politics to fit their interests.
91894
that's a different Islam!!!!!!americanize.......Ali and X great people--- the others are fools........
674515
Just take a general look at the middle East and Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan in particular. What have they contributed to the benefit of the world & civilisation?\n\nWhere are there Engineers, poets, doctors, scientists, explorors, men of vision and wisdom, others of renown? Where are they?\nFor the most part they are ruled by despotic family run businness's aided and abbetted by relious nutter extremists without any accountability whatsover!\n\nWhat education? There isn't any! Its indoctrination from the cradle to the grave. Watch Friday prayers all over the arab world & see what happens! The Mullah's rant and rave preaching their sermons of hate and the doggy faithful run out and cause / proboke havoc the world over. Extremist factions always to the for. The doggy faithful uneducated , cannot think for themselves, not allowed to question, analyse, discuss merits, weigh the pro's and cons. Led like simple minded sheep / indoctrinated by evil, senile, old, perverted twisted men who will stop at nothing to prevent freedom and democracy being estblished in their lands. For once it's established and the benefits accrued to the poeple - the despots and nutters will be turned out\n!.\nAnd they talk of their history and culture. What history and culture? 24 hour news media covereage news depicting nothing but aggression, conflict, riots, rape, pillage, sacking and burning.\nWatch them. Scruffy, uneducated, waving guns, yelling abuse, etc, etc. What has the Arab World given us? Terrorism, hate, disruption, death, grief, loss, you name it - they perpetrate it.\n\nPeace, civilization, education, the right of freedom of speech, democracy / debate, the rule of law, adherence.,  will never materilze in the Middle East. It's about time the Allies pulled out of the Middle East and stood back and let the despotic families and extremist religous nutters fight it out. To quote the words of Winston Spencer Churchill - "let dog eat dog" Then the Middle East & the world will be a far, far safer place.
34238
It's not Islam.  It's the state of Muslim nations which is in a struggle for freedom.  Muslim nations have directly and indirectly been, and in some cases, continue to be colonized by Western Nations.\n\nMuslims have not been able to fully practice their beliefs in about 100 years.  In many cases they have been oppressed by tyrranical regimes that are supported, militarily and economically, by Western countries.\n\nAs a result, desperation and extremism have been allowed to flourish in some parts of these countries.  If history is any indication, once these people are able to rule themselves by the Islamic Shari'a (jurisprudence), they will not have any animosity against anyone.\n\nWhat we are seeing today is reactionary.  If the West, especially the U.S., was to implement a more even-handed, fair, and truly pro-democratic foreign policy, there would not be a need for such extremist reactions.  Unfortunately, so far the West has viewed the Middle East as a region to serve interest of the West, even if it went against the interest of people of the Middle East.\n\nI must say that it is arrogant to think that what pleases the West (i.e. materialism) will be the answer that will please Muslim nations.  Not to mention, absolute freedom infringes on the borders of morality that Muslims live by. This is philosophical and idealogical colonialism at its worst, which is more dangerous than military and economic imperialism.\n\nWho are we to think that they're jealous of us?  If anything, Pope Benedict was correct in saying that Muslims criticize the West for marginalizing God and religion in everyday life.  The West is in dire need for an idealogical renaissance.  Morality has been replaced with greed and selfishness.  As a result, we say 'democracy' but act in the most fascist manner.\n\nIt's time for us in the West to wake up.  The presence of extremism in the world indicates that we are also extreme, but in the opposite direction.  We need to start refocusing on God, human rights, family, and the global community.  Then, and only then, will we not taste the sour fruits of our seeds.
69060
They believe what they are told; also the stories have a creative way of teaching how, as humans, we should co-exist and the consequences if we don't. Why do you think the islamic world is in an uproar over a few silly cartoons? They are brainwashed into blindly accepting what others say is right or wrong, instead of learning to create, to explore and even to question what others believe and why.   The simple truth is that the vast majority are just too lazy to analyze what's right and wrong; when the easy answer is - that if you accept the bible as the word of god, then you only have to read it, live it and profess that I do it because the bible tells me so.
339869
Let's see: The only stereotypes I can think of are very UNTRUE\n1- muslims are terrorists. Which I have found to be a gross misrepresentation.  There are MILLIONS of Muslims all over the world.  There are countries where 98 percent of the population is muslim, so obviously, we are not all terrorists\n2- people think muslims are only from the middle east or pakistan, when in fact: at my mosque we have people from England, and many african american muslims-- a muslim is from anywhere in the world, and any nationality.  \n\n3- muslim men beat their wives--- when in fact prior to being Muslim I was beaten by a christian man. Think for a second at the alarmingly high physical abuse and DOMESTic abuse and amount of rapes that happen in this country.  My muslim husband has never even raised his voice to me- let alone his fist.\n\nI could go on, but those are the main three which are very untrue.
119512
I dont think Islam respects anyone who doesnt see like they do, which may be true for other religions too, but "death to the infidels" is a uniquely Muslim idea that may bear upon the poor image.
199901
You made a very good point. We are all varying degrees of the same color, but for the sake of colonization, they had to make distinctions to clarify that "we are better than them, because..." Go do some research on how the whole classification of the races came about. You'll be enlightened by what you find.\n\nRace is just a handy way of justifying/maintaining the power of one group over another, of knowing who to hate. Take what's going on in this country right now, for instance. Attacks on muslims have been primarily, if not totally, on the proverbial "Arab-looking" guys, dark skin, etc. But there are muslims in europe who are regular ol' white guys. Did anyone randomly attack regular looking ol' white guys in the aftermath of 9-11? Nope.\n\nI believe that human beings have an innate need to feel superior to someone else. Some of us are able to surpress that feeling and even understand that we have it. Others have it coursing through their veins. If a radioactive meteor were to smash into the earth tomorrow and turn everyone blue, people with big ears would start trying to dominate people with small ears.
357065
You're preaching to the chorus my man.  If you want the west to accept Islam then you have to convince the dangerous radicals that Islam is a religion of peace.  Don't tell us, tell them.  The only thing we care about is not being blown up.
543132
I'm sorry that you feel that way - nobody should feel like he or she is being discriminated against.  I think that most people don't feel anger toward the Muslim world, but they feel terrified of some of the leaders/ex-leaders of nations in the Arab world (Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, etc).  Ever since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, people have associated terrorism with the Arab world, and I completely agree that some have made unfounded generalizations towards Muslim people and people of Arab nations; however, it is a known fact that there are some groups in Arab countries that threaten the U.S. and feel/have felt for many years hostility towards the U.S. and other "Western Civilizations," so I think that many Americans, because of their intense fear, group all Arab countries/groups together, which is obviously not right.
647441
Well..people who do not have any use for America..or those who hav something but too slow to get the benefit from what they hav(indonesia). Anyway just want to tell people out there to stop being racist..especially when it comes to religion. urm some people believe that Jesus is white/black but actually he's not even come from english world he's an arab okes..Jesus(ISA for muslim) was spreading Allah words but people change the bible to suit to their own need..then islam came in to guide people to the right way..
669665
Because radical islam (keep in mind I said radical, and not all of islam) are insane.  I don't want to hear that their culture is different yadda yadda yadda.  No their is no culture that would be sane if it promoted sawing off peoples heads.  They hate.  They arte no different than the nazi.
112340
Because the idea that they attack us from the "hatred of freedom" is silly.\n\nAt the core, the current troubles in the mid-east are an internal muslim civil war. These countries are caught between their own culture, which has a rich history, and modernizing, which comes with the risk of "westernization." (Until the seventeenth century the Islamic kingdoms were more advanced than their European counterparts.)\n\nThe attacks against the west are, in general, attacks against the source of modernization in the mid-east, and against the US in particular, the source of money for various authoritarian governments.\n\nThat does not mean we shouldn't fight terrorists and protect ourselves. Of course we should. But to understand this "war" we need to deal with the root causes - and those are all in the mid-east.\n\n("War" in quotes, because, as horrific as acts of terror have been, the current situation is nothing compared to WWI or WWII, or to the possibility of species extinction that came with the Cold War.)\n\nAdded:\nAlthough this is a minority opinion, I think the ultimate source of Arab anger against Israel is part of the internal muslim civil war. Of course the Arabs have grievances (as do the Israelis), but external Arab governments have done nothing but enflame the situation for 50 years. There are many cases of tragic explusions of peoples (Greeks from Western Turkey after WWI, the India-Pakistan split, Germans from Prussia and Poland after WWII), but in these cases other countries have attempted to settle the newcomers and establish new communities. This, tragically, has never happened for the Palestianians.\n\nIn my opinion, the Palestians have been cruely used by external Arab governments as a way to distract their own people from internal problems due to corruption and poor government.
104900
I dont think its religious at all. Most hate and fighting amonst the world, religions and races all boil down to lack of undrstanding ones neighbors. This makes people scared, starts rumours and fears, and then all hell breaks loose. If you are on one side you are a terrorist (which is good propoganda and a VERY GOOD REASON to explain to the rest of the WORLD why they can kill innocent people) if you are on another side you are a hero. At the end of the day its all boiling down to Money and Control though. Africa is the forgotten continent by the west at the moment, why? because it doesnt have oil... oil makes the wheels of Industry move. And thus even with wars and genocide taking place.. not many actually gives a shit... Maybe thats why we dont get involved in other peoples wars. We have our own wars like hunger, famine, drought and racialism to sort out. Which we are doing our best at. The Rich get Richer and the Poor get nothing, exept maybe a bullet in the head, inexchange for oil ofcourse.
443856
It's not really as bad as saying they're all terrorists, since a lot of westerners actually are christians.  Sure they shouldn't generalise like that, but there are far worse things.  And you're doing the same thing by saying that middle eastern people group all westerners together.
534583
Because Islam does not preach the killing of infidels. You can see many ancient communities still living in Muslim societies like the Jews and Zoroastrians of Iran, the Coptics of Egypt, and the aboriginals of Malaysia.\n\nThe "sudden" hate towards US is not specifically by the Muslims, in fact Americans don't know that most of the world aren't fond of America. This is because of it's forcefulness towards other nations by implimenting forced democracy and its very bad foreign policy. It's media are also to be blamed as they say that America is the best country in the world and that made Americans think that they are the only important thing in this world.\n\nAfricans are getting thinner and dying, while Americans are getting fat and partying. Distribute and share your wealth! You're like the millionaire in a very very very poor village. Do you think the village will respect you?
23071
I was so sorry reading your comment Figado, but it's your own point of view.. the Islam is not just a religen, it's a way of living, that's why muslims live with it in daily basis .. As you said, let's try to say the truth for a while, why is it totally wrong when Muslims in palastine try to take THEIR LAND by force which was invaded by Israel, is wrong? Why should Muslims feel happy in Iraqe that US invaded their country and if tried to free it from the invadors they are called terrorists????\nDo you honestly fall for the democracy thing ???!!!!!! Every country has it's own democracy form and if based on Islamice point of view - which is not the case in most of the Arabic nations - there will be more democracy than what the US knows and will ever know .... Read the prophet's Mohamed's ( praise be upon him) life.\n\nMuslim were not asked in qur'an to fight people unless they firght them or made it hard for muslims to perform thier religen or invaded their countries ,,. The ISlam is a peace religen ( the name itself is from Alsalam in arabic which is peace )\n\nBefore reading some one's book about Islam, Read God's Book about his Religen, he sure Knows better.