Ten years ago, what had once existed a week earlier was gone: Muslim extremists attacked the Twin Towers in New York City. The United States was involved in a new war on terror in the Middle East.
Current students were in elementary school when the national crisis occurred. Students like Ben Fassler, freshman, have seen media portrayal of the Middle East since then shape many people’s views on Muslims.
“[9/11] definitely changed the view on Muslims because that’s who did it,” Fassler said. “After that it pretty much closed all doors to Muslims.”
Fassler said he thought the Middle East today is probably a difficult area to live in, unless someone was affiliated with a successful business, such as an oil company, since much of the news Americans hear about the Middle East involves oil.
Certain Americans have stereotypes of Middle Eastern people and what life is like there, but Fassler said the prejudices Americans have depend on how much they know about Middle Eastern people themselves.
“Some people are prejudiced just since 9/11 happened,” Fassler said.
Tannia Pourdavarani, junior, is of Iranian descent and visited the city of Esfahan this summer for 20 days to see her family. She has firsthand experience of life in the Middle East.
“I understand how people would be angry about how Muslims did 9/11, but it’s completely unnecessary to stereotype every Muslim person as a terrorist,” Pourdavarani said. “It’s like saying the person who stole my sandwich was Christian, so now every Christian I know is a thief. I have been told many racist comments and treated differently in my life just because of my ethnicity and it makes me so mad.”
Pourdavarani said it makes her angry when people think all Middle Eastern people are turban-wearing Muslim terrorists who cover their whole bodies. Many think all Islamic people are the same, she said, but the Islamic people are regular people who live in a society where their religion is forced on them.
The police are stricter in Iran, Pourdavarani said. She had to wear a headdress when she was there, and said she was caught a few times with her hair showing but was let go when she told the police she was foreign.
Pourdavarani has traveled to Iran eight times, and said the country been very strict about what women can and cannot wear her entire life.
However, other than a few different laws due to the Islamic government, Pourdavarani said life for the average Iranian person is the same as it is for an average American person.
“Families are the same, and kids go to school while parents work normal jobs,” Pourdavrani said.
Major cultural differences include the fact that all men are required to be a soldier for a minimum of two years if they want to get passports, women must cover themselves when they go out and public displays of affection are not acceptable, Pourdavarani said.
Pourdavarani also said school is more difficult there. Students attend school six days a week, and they are separated by gender and must wear uniforms.
As far as other stereotypes about Middle Eastern life, such as the area is a dangerous place to live or the people there know all about oil exports, Pourdavarani said they are all false assumptions.
“I don’t like how people think I know everything about gas prices,” Pourdavarani said. “I hate how people think bombs go off. It’s not a dangerous country.”
One thing Pourdavarani said she loved about Esfahan was how it was “all city” and everything was within walking distance.
“Everything in Iran is more laid-back than here, which is what I love the most,” Pourdavarani said. “In St. Louis if you don’t have a job or a car you can’t get anywhere in life. Over in Iran everything is so close to you and people don’t have to work as much as people here.”
Pourdavarani said despite all the negative stereotypes some Americans have against Middle Eastern people, she doesn’t know of any stereotypes those in the Middle East hold against Americans.
“The Persian people I know all have nothing but positive things to say about how America is,” Pourdavarani said. “They all wish the country they live in was as free as here. Many American citizens just don’t appreciate what they have.”
