Why this Turkish Girl is Fed Up With How the Media Portrays the Middle East

5/7/20262 min read

In recent years, I have begun to think more about my Turkish background on my dad’s side, whether it be the language, the food, the history, the celebrations, or the architecture, including the many breathtaking mosques. Not only that, but I have also learnt more about the history and cultures of neighboring areas, such as Greece, Persia, and the Arabian Peninsula. All this to say, my outlook on this beautiful region has been very positive.

However, I’m starting to really hate the connotation of the word “Middle East.” Or rather, the way this region is talked about by the western media and by many of my fellow Americans. I don’t blame these people, since the Middle East is portrayed by the American and European media as nothing more than a violent wasteland in which the people are disposable. For example, what would be referred to as a “war” in another part of the world has been regarded as merely a “conflict” in the Middle East time and time again. This not only downplays these atrocities, but it also dehumanizes those who have to experience them. Furthermore, you may or may not have seen posts comparing the phrasing of different headlines from the same news source, like this one I made:

This has led to most Americans holding a dehumanizing image of the Middle East, one that does not include its long and rich history, ethnic diversity, gorgeous architecture, and beautiful culture.

Such media has subconsciously convinced us that the people living in this region are not really people; that they are disposable, that their lives do not matter. It reduces one of the most beautiful parts of the world down to the violence that occurs there. This is entirely intentional, as it seeks to downplay or even justify the terror that has been inflicted on this region over the past several decades, and let us not forget, the terror that is yet to be inflicted.

It is for this reason that I chose to use an image of a shrine in Karbala, Iraq, rather than yet another desensitizing image of smokey rubble that we almost always see in articles about the Middle East. The image is an example of the exquisite Islamic architecture from this part of the world, just one aspect of the Middle East that the mainstream media does not show. I wanted to humanize the region, rather than contribute to the dehumanizing narrative pushed by the media that seeks to normalize the countless war crimes committed there by the US, Israel and other countries.

In order to gain an authentic understanding of the geopolitical situation of the Middle East, or any part of the world for that matter, we must stop reducing that region to the atrocities that are committed there and instead recognize the culture, history and humanity of those living in it.

- The Patriotic Cucumber

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