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(MENAFN - Arab News) Michael Saba
The Jeddah Economic Forum bills itself as "The Think Tank of the Middle East." It also could be called "The Image Tank of the Middle East." For hundreds of Western visitors to the Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF), it is their first view of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. And Western popular culture perspectives on Saudi Arabia and the region really can use some image enhancement. The commonly held view of Saudi Arabia in the West is neither realistic nor positive.
After having attended the JEF for the past three years and meeting scores of Western attendees who experienced Saudi Arabia for the first time through the JEF, it was very easy to see changes in people's attitudes. "I had no idea the Saudis were so friendly and hospitable," is a common statement heard from the attendees. "The Western press doesn't do this place justice," is another phrase often heard. The opportunities for direct interaction with Saudis and Saudi culture at the JEF are invaluable components of attending the forum.
And when the attendees return home, they often relate their positive experiences in Saudi Arabia to their friends, colleagues and business associates.
Visiting with Saudi scholar and former professor of Mass Communications, Dr. Abdulaziz Turkistani, I discovered that there are many people like Dr. Turkistani constantly working behind the scenes to ensure that first-time visitors to Jeddah have a very positive experience while attending events like the JEF.
"I always do my best to show our guests that Jeddah and Saudi Arabia are wonderful places to visit and do business. There are so many things to see and do in Jeddah, but taking them to the old city where I grew up is always a highlight. There they can get the real flavor of our people and our culture. And they always remark that the people are so friendly." states Dr. Turkistani. He went on, "With the image of Saudi Arabia being portrayed so negatively in the Western media and in Western films and television, we need to do much more of this to set the record straight."
The media has set the pace for Saudi-bashing, Arab-bashing and Muslim-bashing in the United States. And they are often joined by Hollywood, television and even the Christian Zionists. Arabs and Muslims are fair game for all of the above and very little is being done to change this equation.
In an article entitled "Methods of Media Manipulation," Dr. Michael Parenti, an expert in media analysis, writes, "We are told by people in the media industry that news bias is unavoidable. Whatever distortions and inaccuracies that are found in the news are caused by deadline pressures, human misjudgment, limited print space, scarce air time, budgetary restraints and the difficulty of reducing a complex story into a concise report." Parenti continues, "I agree that these kinds of difficulties exist. Still, I would argue that the media's misrepresentations are not merely the result of innocent error and everyday production problems." And media, television and film misrepresentation about Arabs and Saudi Arabia is legend. A Frontpage.com article by Chris Weikopf, who also writes for the Los Angeles Daily News, began: "Saudi-bashing has become the new sport in Washington and with good reason." In other words Weikopf was not only saying that it's OK to "bash" a whole nation and an entire nationality/ethnic group, but it is also "good." Put any other country or nationality/ethnic group in the "Saudi" word space and the writer would be accused of racism.
This writer has previously written about various film representations (or should I say misrepresentations) of Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. The movie, Syriana, is supposedly "loosely based" on a 2002 book by former CIA agent, Bob Baer, entitled "See No Evil." Baer's book which is subtitled, "The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism" keys on his own tales of serving the CIA in the Middle East and includes much self-aggrandizement about his work there.
"The US consumes 26 percent of the world's oil and gas, 70 percent of which is in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who hate us. I fear for what my kids will inherit," states Stephen Gaghan, the writer/director of last year's movie hit, Syriana. This movie focuses on unnamed Arab countries as the culprits and demons trying to somehow strangle the West into submission.
There always seems to be at least one "good Arab" in movies such as Syriana but they are usually powerless against the fortress of evil.
The granddaddy of this genre of film was a very effective movie made in 1976 titled, "Network", which garnered 10 Academy Award nominations and 4 Oscars. Network gave us the famous saying, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore," uttered by newscaster Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch who won a posthumous Academy Award for his performance. Beale made this statement in the movie when he learned that his fictional network, UBS, was about to be purchased by "Saudi Arabia" and a consortium of banks owned by Saudi Arabia.
The current film of note that is creating quite a stir is titled, "The Kingdom." I wrote about the film last month and some very interesting things have happened to the movie since our concerns were first voiced.
We can make a difference!
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