Animosity Towards Arab-Americans Declines As Hollywood Writers' Strike Drags On

The Arab-American Anti-Defamation League (AAADL) reported today that Americans views towards Arabs and Muslims have grown increasingly favorable over the past nine weeks.

AAADL president Mohammed Abdullah attributed the decline in hostility towards Arabs and Muslim to the lack of new content coming out of Hollywood. “Our public opinion surveys show that since those writers stopped their creative production and took to the streets to walk in circles Americans by and large have developed more favorable opinion of Arabs.”

According to the survey, only 73% of Americans do mind having an Arab neighbor now, compared to 89% who strongly objected to the suggestion when surveyed before the strike organized by the Writers’ Guild of America began on November 5th, 2007.

Jackson Sheehan, the author of “A Million Bad Arabs,” a book that thoroughly surveys anti-Arab bias in Hollywood movies agreed with the conclusion: “Even though the writers’ strike has resulted in a copious number of re-runs of Chuck Norris films and series, Arab-bashing in Hollywood is at an all time low at the moment.”

Sheehan credits current shows such as Sleeper Cell and 24 with unsurpassed levels of masterfully crafted loathing of Arabs and Muslims. “Making Arabs look shabby, dim-witted and get kicked in the face by Chuck Norris can go only so far in terms of generating hatred.” Sheehan added, “But the new shows seem to have that Department of Homeland Security stamp-type credibility. They add more complexity to the character of the Arab we must all hate and fear, he’s dumb, yet an evil master planner, dim-witted yet dangerous, uncivilized yet could be your neighbor, grimy yet could be your daughter’s boyfriend.”

Mr. Abdulla seemed to be at a loss of words when asked whether he wishes the strike continued indefinitely. “That would definitely go a long way towards the normalization of Arab Americans into the larger American society.” He said after a brief pause, “but I can’t wish for that, I know that Hollywood is of great entertainment and financial value to many Americans.”