A New A-Word: 'Arabophobia'

posted on: Oct 22, 2008

I don’t know what was worse — the question or the answer. In response to a supporter who called Sen. Barack Obama ”an Arab,” Sen. John McCain replied, ”No ma’am. He’s a decent family man. He’s not an Arab.” Sen. McCain … thanks, but no thanks.

Thanks for clarifying that Arabs are less than decent, are not the ”family man” type. No thanks, Sen. McCain, for implying that an Arab is the same as being un-American, or that an Arab is far from being American, that decency and ”familymanism” is not synonymous with ”Arab”

It would have been okay to simply answer there is nothing wrong with being an Arab. The fear and fever that anyone or anything Arab is not decent, not American, spurs the idiosyncrasies of continual, dangerous stereotyping against this hyphenated American community. Without the repudiation of anti-Arab innuendo, mis-statements and ignorance become de facto knowledge. Thus, distrust and hatred become fundamental characterizations toward Arab-Americans and Arabs in general. Within this sphere of ”arabophobia,” never so prevalent as from the time of the Crusades, an even darker side emerges.

The increasing vilification creates an anti-Arab hostility so that it appears valid to question the loyalty and patriotism of Arab-American citizenry. This hostility is used to justify discriminatory remarks against the Arabs. They surface as something natural and even normal. Comments such as McCain’s put into effect the fear and dislike of Arabs, and most of all a mistrust of them, alienating them from their own American society. And so, it is acceptable that mud-slinging and smears against them go unrepudiated.

This darker side permeates our American values and society that emerges from the dark shadow within our 20th century history — ask any Japanese-American.

So, no thanks, Sen. McCain, for enforcing a new villainous stereotype of the Arabs. True, after centuries of their portrayal as oil-producing sheiks, bombers and belly-dancers through mass media and pop culture, the new depiction entails indecency and non-family values. Thus, the dangerous liaison of equating misperception with fact leads to a feeling of fear and anxiety such as the dastardly comment that was raised to the Arizona senator in the first place — not trusting Obama because ”he’s an Arab.”

With the upcoming election an arabophobe climate appears to give free license to anyone and anything anti-Arab. ”Arab,” today, appears to be the new A-word.

No thank you, Sen. McCain for your typecasting. But thank you, Sen. McCain for your clarification, that you have rejected the idea that we are truly a nation of equals, and that my America, a country in which we respect people of all faiths and ethnic diversities, is not your notion of a nation.

By Leila Elias
“Another View”
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA