Racist, No Matter What
Portrayal is the big issue in this movie: the portrayal of Middle-Eastern people as a group of violent terrorists. The audience is manipulated into believing that even small children are enemy combatants who must be destroyed, and that their deaths are to be viewed as necessary--and celebrated--casualties of war. People can say that these children ARE enemy combatants-they has guns in their hands and were shooting in cold blood at marines. Within the world of the movie, there might be an ethical thought process.
But in the real world, this is undeniably racist. It's propaganda; it states that all Arabs--men, women, and children--are terrorists. All of them are bloodthirsty and a threat to good, strong, righteous, victimized American soldiers. Hitler might have painted a different picture: a Aryan soldier is arrested for killing an innocent Jewish family. When his case is investigated, it turns out that the family had cheated him and his wife and children of all their money, and were planning to poison them to stop the good Aryans from exposing them.
The parallels are strong and extremely frightening: is this what the American media has devolved to? Is our government actually trying to send the message that all Middle-Eastern peoples are dangerous and fair victims of war? Innocent civilians are killed everyday by bombers or American soldiers. Are we supposed to view the deaths of millions as "collateral damage", when we hold up the deaths of 3000 as a crime against humanity and a country?
9/11 was an enormous tragedy, and it--and its victims--should always be remembered. But we have to keep in mind that the deaths of Iraqi civilians are no less valuable than American civilians. America is the most powerful country in the world, and its has vastly neglected the responsibilities that this power gives it. 9/11 should not be an excuse to cause more suffering: it should have been a wake-up call to the way our shortcomings have affected the rest of the world, and what we can do so that other countries do not feel the need to attack us. So many lives would be saved by this, instead of the millions that have been lost.
This has gone off on a random tangent, and I'm sorry. Overall, my point is this: when people hold up racist portrayals of people, let's at least have the decency to admit the racism and try to heal the hurt it's caused.
People ask us if we love each other as much as it looks like we do, and we do.
--Adam Pascal