Fairfield County Culture Entry #1: Muslims, Terrorism, and a Yahoo page

One day I was skimming yahoo news, bored out of my mind and waiting for school to start so I can go to my awesome APLC class, when I saw an article about the Arab Spring. It was a little story about how it started and its affects so far but when I got the bottom, I can’t say I didn't get mad. In one of the comments by “Americandude74”, it said, “If all the Islams died, we would have a better world”.  Now, rather than blatantly adding to the comments of the other anonymous people over the internet who also felt a little offended (especially at the failed usage of islams), I looked at it from another point of view. Why are so many people, like Americandude74, so ignorant? Why do so many people fail to educate themselves of the entire issue, instead of little segments like “Muslim”, “destruction”, “attack”.

Ironically, the name Americandude74 fits the man perfectly, because all over America we see this same trail of blind anger funneled by media. The new popular series homeland, and the movie Unthinkable, observe a common pattern that only aids in the spreading of these stereotypes. In both these movies, there is a terrorist plot to launch an attack on innocent bystanders. However it just so happens that the terrorist has to be Muslim (a coincidence?) The same Muslim terrorist has to also be from the Middle East (perhaps another coincidence?)

I’m sure as one of my readers; you can see that pattern that’s going on here. Even more intriguing, if singling out Islam as the culprit for terrorist activities was not enough, the ethnicity of these terrorists always happen to be from the middle east.  Many people take the movies as facts and will forever be brainwashed by what happens on the screen.

The yahoo article went on and on about the Arab spring and its consequences, but as we all know, there a typically a few inaccuracies in yahoo articles. The article took the complicated issues of the Arab spring, full of loop wholes and betrayals, and turned it into a piece centered in specifically on how it has the spring has affected oil prices. While this is news worthy, it is nowhere near as news worthy as educating the public on the events that have transpired and the lives that have been sacrificed to gain the freedom we all take for granted.

Many people read this article, and fail to look further into the overwhelming issue that is unfolding in our very own world! They only look into what they want, which would be how much they have to pay at the gallon the next day. The article is simply only written to attract attention and nothing more, its purpose fulfilled the editor goes on to fill the article with fluff.  The pictures in the article lacked emotion and power; it was only a simple picture of a gas sign. It had nothing to do with the war being fought in the Middle East and barely even exposed the issue at hand.  

Alas, this is a yahoo news article, how much can we really expect.