Essay Portrayal of Arabs in Biased American Media

Some American Media outlets prove to be biased; the information they mediate through discourse pictures and videos are often slanted. In order to be able to recognize the impartial from the one-sided opinion, and in order to learn how language, images and videos work to create meaning, one should rely on the science of semiotics. This paper will apply a semiotic approach in analyzing the attacks directed to Arabs by some biased American Media outlets. The first part will deal with discourse and will explain some properties in language; the second part will be devoted to images and to their Machiavelli use in achieving meaning; in the third part, it will attempt to decipher the hidden information in videos. The misrepresentation of Arabs†¦show more content†¦The goal behind assimilating the words is primarily political. â€Å"Demonizing† Arabs and Muslims can, for example, legitimate the American intrusions in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the near future it is probably going to be the turn of Iran, for it has recently been accused of being linked to the 9/11 attacks, according to a CNN news bulletin aired on December 15, 2011. Establishing a connection between the three terms Arabs, Muslims and terrorists is hardly a new phenomenon; the West defines the periphery because it is different from the center. The definition of the periphery is the definition of what the center does not look like. A research conducted by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in 2003 shows a few other examples of statements directed to both Arabs and Muslims that connote irony. The New York Post referred to Muslims as missionaries who wanted to take over the American land. â€Å"The ambition to take over the United States is hardly a new one. 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