Breeding Paranoia…

Lets all assume for this entry that every human being, despite nationality, religion or culture is pure-hearted and innocent. Let’s assume we all have our own insecurities, fears and our own limited knowledge.

I remember coming to the UAE at 14-years-old, and seeing two ‘brown’ men in my garden less than a week after we’d moved in. I ran to my father’s room and woke my parents up, “Mom, there are a couple of Arab’s in our yard.”

It turned out, the men were hired Pakistani gardeners that our sponsor had arranged, neglecting to inform my father before-hand. They were not Arabs, at all. My eyes were not yet accustomed to the subtle differences of facial features between Arabs and Asians.

For the most part, I was more curious than scared of the two men in our yard. Had I been taught through media and the likes prior to this time that Arabs were to be feared; had I been subject to images of Osama Bin Laden’s filmed threats against westerners, the massacres of reporters in Iraq, I’d have probably been a little more alarmed than I was at the time.

It’s common even now in Hollywood block-busters (the worst movie ever produced is the only one that comes to mind with a name, so please don’t mind the reference), that the parts of Arabs are played out by Asians, or Asians played out by Africans. It’s only recently that I’ve been able to determine the difference. In the worst movie ever made (one I must recommend every adult sees if they haven’t because it’s really that bad and you’ll never forget the urge to vomit while needing to watch it till the end thanks to curiosity about how bad it can possibly get), “Freddy Got Fingered”, there’s a scene where father and son end up in Pakistan. The Pakistani’s are played by actors of African origin, and not Asian. If great numbers of the public could decipher the difference, would the most reputable film-makers around continue to do this? Granted, this is not the best movie to use, since it’s not in any way going to believed by a soul watching, but there are many, many out there that I’ve noticed just haven’t managed to retain.

Now the western public is terrified of Arabs thanks to the ‘war on terror’ among other terrorism, that highlights the horrific deeds of terrorist organizations, the Al Qaeda clips, the alleged Asian hijack attempts, and other such images. Every innocent, pure-hearted soul would eventually accumulate a certain amount of ‘rational’ fear thanks to repeated images or terror always at the hands of a certain skin color, or profile.

It’s not surprising that they’re unable to see the difference between Asians and Arabs. I couldn’t at one time. It’s not all that surprising that they all get generalized, at least not to me. As a repercussion to this, we have the proposed implementations of stricter airport security based on these generalizations; proposals that draw a very thin line to blatant racism. We have anyone speaking a Middle Eastern language, wearing a beard, or even looking slightly abnormal to the western eye, a suspected terrorist in airports. A Canadian doctor was pulled off a Canadian plane recently, for praying in Arabic. A bearded man was prevented from boarding a flight. The stories like this from this week alone are countless.

Paranoia has started to breed.

In response, the Asians and Arabs, being as insecure and innocent as we agreed to assume we all are at the start of this entry, have no choice but to feel persecuted by the whites. Eventually, it’s in human nature to generalize all whites as holding a grudge against all colored people. Asians and Arabs become as paranoid and untrusting of westerners based on this generalization.

Paranoia continues to breed.

It seems to me like under the guise of globalization, peace seeking, and adamancy to stop racism, bias’ and generalizations, the world is heading towards greater divides, greater generalized hate for one another and more terror based on our own insecurities.

Middle Easterners are scared or persecution. American’s must be scared of terror. Is there a place on earth were a soul could feel truly secure and away from possible terror attacks? And would you lacking a certain amount of paranoia no matter where you are, make you as gullible as the New Yorkers were, or even Lebanese were prior to the catastrophic events that showed them terror surrounds us all, everywhere?

What would you rather be; gullible or paranoid? And does either one make you safer?