How Does Media Affect Personal Identity?

Any reference to conflict turns history into a reservoir of blame. In the presence of conflict, narratives differ and multiply to delegitimize the opponent and to justify one’s own action. Narratives shape social knowledge. The Israeli Palestinian conflict, both Jews and Muslims, view the importance of holding the territories through religious, ideological, and security lenses, based on belief that Palestine was given by divine providence and that the land belongs to either the Israelis or Palestinian’s ancestral home. Understanding these perspectives is required for understanding Palestinians’ and especially Israel’s strategy and role in entering the Oslo peace process. Despite

However, attempting to understand my identity in postmodern Palestine, I felt the disconnect between the Palestinian’s

The sensationalized depictions of Palestinians have affected a good majority of people in the United States. Following the 9/11, attack on the World Trade Center is a perfect example why. It was one of our nation’s greatest losses and a genocide that will never be forgotten. After the incident occurred, our media made it very clear to the people that it was done by members of the Muslim religion. Now people from all around the World started to associate terrorism with a specific look and religion. However, this doesn’t excuse why human rights have been violated since the beginning of time and in the reading, the Palestinians have been forced from their land by the Israelites and placed in refugee camps, they are also discouraged from speaking

In my artistic work, I decided to pursue and address an issue that stands out to me because of its lack of media representation in America during an era where media is more obtainable than ever. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is rarely reported in mainstream media in the United States. Instead, topics such as celebrity gossip dominate headlines and it’s tragic to me; the Kardashians are mentioned more in the news than West Bank or Gaza combined. The people in Palestine have no voice in America and yet America is the perpetrator of their injustice. How can we, as Americans, face our own mistakes if we aren’t even aware that we’re making them? We boast that “all men are created equal” when we tell Palestinians everyday that Israelis deserve

Throughout Edward W. Said’s essay, “States”, he discusses the past of the Palestinians and expresses the struggles that arose and still occur. Palestinian nationalism was once an independent force in the Middle East. Yet, when the Palestinian’s homeland came to an end, destruction and dispossession began. Various wars emerged leaving the Palestinians to suffer. During this time period of violence, Palestine was being destroyed. In the process, Israel began to take over. Said tries to get readers to see what people don’t see about the hardships that came with being Palestinian. He writes about the destruction of their culture, land, value, homes, and their way of living due to violence.

To a Palestinian that has been displaced from his/her long time homeland, completely displaced by a foreign power. The tone of victimization is easily created. But to an Israeli, that has found security from, long term discrimination, in Israel’s own borders, it is easy for an Israeli perspective to claim the Jewish people had a legitimate claim to the land. Accounts from the Palestinian narrative will often, as Sylvain Ehrenfeld a writer for Ethical Culture, writes “[F]ocus on victimhood, their suffering and dispossession and their deep sense of injustice at being punished because of Europe’s treatment of Jews.”. Moreover, he goes on to elaborate that the Israeli have also created a tone of an unfailing connection to its land, and argues legitimacy for claim to the land that was found in former Palestine, present day Israel. He goes on to mention that both sides are guilty of creating their perspectives so single-mindedly. Both sides will often misrepresent the reality of the situation to gain the support of historians. This distortion of reality will in often cases skew accuracy, therefore creating a limitation to the recording of history.

Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, there has been constant fighting between Israelis and Arabs. The Israelis have the right to live peacefully in Israel, but there is a conflict because the Palestinians feel that Israel is their land. During recent years the conflict in the Middle East had been exploded on to our television screens. Day after day images of violence and suffering have dominated the news. Scenes of heavily armed Israeli soldiers facing young Palestinian children hurling stones with slingshots- like Goliath facing David- have evoked dismay and confusion. The vehemence of the Palestinian reaction is a result of years of pent-up anger and frustration. The Israeli response has been swift and determined: Palestinian towns

Have you ever thought about why Palestinians kill Israelites in cold blood? The media puts stories out to the public saying that Palestinians are committing acts of terrorism and have no reason to do so. That is only one side of the story, not enough people look at the palestinian side of things and why they were doing the things they are doing to Israelites. Israel has done so many terrible things to the Palestinians for years. Israel ended up building a giant wall around Palestine and put many checkpoints down saying that it was to keep the Palestinians out of Israel, but in reality, the wall and checkpoints were used to control the Palestinians.

On July 16th, 2014 NBC journalist Ayman Mohyeldin was playing soccer with a group of local boys on a Gaza beach outside his hotel. Moments after he left, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) pelted the beach with missiles, killing four of the young boys. This story is not exceptional for its horrific violence but rather for the coverage it received in the mainstream media. As journalist Rula Jebreal noted during an interview on MSNBC after the incident, “Because of the money behind it… We are disgustingly biased when it comes to [the Palestinian Israeli conflict]...” The incident’s mere existence in the mainstream media, then, ultimately hinges on a question of grievability: are Palestinian children’s lives now grievable? According to the

In our society people do not understand why the Palestinians act the way they do. The news could be a reason why people believe Palestinians are bad people because they do not release the facts. People believe that the Palestinians are nothing but terrorist that likes to blow their selves up. That is not the case Palestinians are regular human beings that want best for their families. The Palestinians become human bombs because of their loyalty to their people. After reading The Attack it gave me a better understanding on why Palestinians have trouble believing in a better day. The anger that enrage in the Palestinians has a lot to do with the loss of land that meant everything to them. The Palestinians were kicked out of what was known of their holy land in 1947 and left stateless. Palestinian’s believe they should have a land back that was once theirs.

Media has affected so many people and the “Digital Age.” The two biggest things that it has impacted are the economy and society. First, the economy is affected because there are many ways to buy and sell off the internet. Websites like Craigslist, Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy have made it easy to buy products. This is known as E Commerce. Businesses can run from their own phones. Now people don't have to go to the grocery store. Even though it takes away from the experience of seeing other products you may need.

After living under Israeli occupation their whole lives, and with no prospect of political resolution on the horizon, Palestinian youth have taken to the streets this month in protest. As I sit and watch the polarizing coverage—now considered to be at near-"catastrophic" levels—from afar, disparate emotions dart around inside me like pinballs, striking chords and hitting nerves. There's the sadness, of course–the sadness that I always feel when I think about Palestine—that is now pulled to the surface and sharper than usual. Sadness that so many of today's young people are lost to a struggle that is decades old. Sadness that it feels like it may continue for decades more.

For Palestinian filmmakers, this helps create a vilified picture of Israel and further encourages opposition but also works to encourage hope and faith and even bring together Palestinians. (Gertz and Khlefi, 134-135) Palestine, while going through oppression of their people and violence, is not weak. This cinema, the use of emotionally fueled dichotomies, and the expression of pain are a means of restoring hope and resilience for a better future while also tearing down Israel's credibility. This hope does not take a backseat to the history behind the conflict, but they work hand in hand to a large extent. (Khatib, 126) Despite this, it does not mean that film is not used very purposefully in this political space. The use of pain, tragedy and suffering have been used by both sides to perpetuate an agenda, and while bringing attention to the suffering, it uses this cyclical structure of violence as advertising and ways of encouraging their people to revolt without really addressing ways to stop the negative impact on the community. (Awwad,

Consequently, after hours of searches and reading articles published from each side on the middle east conflict and its issues two things became undeniable clear to me, one, the Gaza Strip is an occupied territory and two, there really are terrorists in the Gaza Strip who want to exterminate the Jewish population. Nonetheless, Israel, perhaps rightly so given its long history of being attacked and the continued philippic speeches by

The media is a humungous influencer of how knowledge sharing is processed. Appropriately, I included questions about the media in to receive a more detailed idea on society views the media as an agent of socialisation. My research reveals that despite the media’s overwhelming power of influence, 80% of those who participated in the questionnaire believes that the media does not create a false portrayal of our current society’s youth. I believe that this could be a unwanted response since the media does tend to portray youth in a negative and stereotypical way based from my own personal experience. However, a staggering 90% believes that the media creates a hindrance to socialisation between generation x and z. This fact is accredited to the media’s different production of trends that is based on specific age cohorts. Furthermore, when asked whether or not the media has a negative impact on adolescents and young adults all participants responded in a neutral manner. A clear image is represented through this result by demonstrating that a majority of people from different ages and society are well aware that the media is both beneficial and negative