kriti ki kahaani

mohandasgandhi:

achichi-javier:

mohandasgandhi:

sharquaouia:

“But at its heart it [terrorism] is an Arab phenomenon, born in the failures of that region.”

“But at its heart it [terrorism] is an Arab phenomenon, born in the failures of that region.”

“But at its heart it [terrorism] is an Arab phenomenon, born in the failures of that region.”

“But at its heart it [terrorism] is an Arab phenomenon, born in the failures of that region.”

“But at its heart it [terrorism] is an Arab phenomenon, born in the failures of that region.”

This is generally why I tend to somewhat dismiss arguments that rely on or cite Zakaria because this man has provided blatant mischaracterizations of the “Arab world” and subscribes to a neoliberal approach to the MENA and foreign policy issues, asserting the West to be the morally superior set of actors.

He’s not a voice for Arabs. He’s not even an Arab but an Indian-American who projects prejudiced attitudes towards a very diverse group of people to describe a very complicated issue.

This is what drives me up the wall. The assumption or implication by those that refer to or cite him that because he’s Brown he somehow speaks for Arabs or “the Arab world” (Arab isn’t the only ethnicity that constitute the countries or regions he’s talking about).

It’s pretty unfortunate too because as soon as something is going on somewhere in the Middle East, CNN will have Fareed Zakaria on to give his unique “Brown dude with a funny sounding name” perspective. If you spent a minute or two reading about the Middle East, you’d be absolutely amazed to find out that just like everyone in, say, North America isn’t the same, neither is everyone in the “Arab world.” When it comes to ethnicity, there are even Turks, Kurds, Persians, Greeks, Roma, Armenians, etc. There are monarchies, theocracies, parliamentary republics, presidential republics, struggling democracies, etc. According to Zakaria’s “expertise,” however, his viewers are going to come away from his broadcasts thinking the “Arab world” is some homogenous terror zone, inherently prone to conflict, and in desperate need of modernization. This Indian-American is Brown though, so he must have a more informed perspective on a part of the world he isn’t from.

I majorly sad-faced when I read about what is frankly the reality of Fareed Zakaria’s perspective. Disappointing.