Cars ARE racist!

Since cars were invented in 1894, it developed in an astonishing way that it serves human where ever they go. As I have seen in my homeland Syria, Qatar and the United States of America, certain people from a certain social class and race tend to buy and drive a specific brand of a car. In Syria, people are most likely to buy cheap cars no matter what was the brand because of the high taxes, but some people tend to buy the Syrian or Persian made cars because it serves them better and they can easily sell it later. Of course a person who is in the high middle class would buy an expensive car such as Audi, Land Rover or BMW. If you have the money you can buy any car you want no matter how much were the taxes. As for government officials who do not pay taxes like others, a rise of racism in terms of social classes and positions creates hatred between the people of the society. However, people still continuing to live normally.

As in Qatar, it is different. They are no taxes on cars and it doesn't really matter, but a lot of people tend to have a taste of what car they purchase. Qataris prefers Toyota especially Land cruisers. On the other hand for residence, they have a different taste. Syrians likes Mercedes, Sudanese likes Toyota Corolla, Desi residences like Nissan Sunny and the list continues. It depends on what is your nationality or race to ride a car. With the different of social classes, there are still people who want to move up to the second level by taking a loan from the bank and buying their favorite car
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In sociology, race and ethnicity reproduces social classes and it is not fair sometimes. If we would go back when the USA was racist to an unacceptable level. If a cop sees a black person driving an expensive car, this black dude will be most likely pulled over and questioned about where he got that car. The perspective that was taken about this race’s behaviors throws a lot of questions. Back to Qatar, where the majority residences of Qatar are Desi, It would be shocking to see an Indian driving a Ferrari (with respect to all nationalities). People who live in Qatar are not used to it. It is normal to see an American man or European driving a fancy car because the expectations are that this race gets paid more than others. Racism is everywhere, and it creates different perspectives about others.

Family Guy is so racist, it’s not racist

For those of you who aren't aware, Family Guy is an animated series featuring the Griffins, a very dysfunctional family. It has been going on for a while. Seth MacFarlane has produced 11 seasons so far. This show has attracted the attention of many viewers and also the critics who labeled it as offensive and immoral.

First of all, as a personal fan of this sitcom, I believe that those critics need to get a sense of humor. People should stop ignoring the big elephant in the room and start accepting that blue comedy is becoming a part of our lives. We get it, children get it, and everybody gets it. Honestly, the less taboo these topics become, the less intriguing they become and the more mature and astute kids become.

As for the offensive part, I think MacFarlane was clever by featuring racist and stereotypical representations of all ethnicities and religions on this show. They are so stupid and offensive, they make us reflect upon our own perceptions of other people and help us realize how silly these things look like.

One thing I learned in sociology class that was all too new to me is that the terms race and ethnicity mean different things (shocking, I know). Race is a group of people who share genetically inherited physical features that distinguish them from other people. On the other hand, the ethnicity of a group of people refers to how they identify with one another on the basis of common ancestry, nationality, or cultural heritage. I could look like someone, but identify with the culture of someone else more than the person I look like. Which is cool. But the existence of different ethnicities creates stereotypes, prejudice and descrimination that we socially construct.

Stereotypes are inaccurate generalizations about a group of people. We hate stereotypes when they are about us, yet somehow manage to create dozens when they are about other people. In every culture we have the main group and “the other.” It’s the people of the city and the foreigners who live in it. Here in Qatar, for example, we have Qataris and non Qataris. In the US, you have white people and then the other colored people who tend to have beautiful babies.

Movies and TV shows play a huge role in shaping those stereotypes of “the other.” They subconsciously let us behave towards them in a certain manner and therefore, discriminate them. What people try to do now is create this “new racism.” Basically, “we are colorblind, racism doesn’t and shouldn’t exist, we’re all the same.” Sounds sweet. But the problem with that concept is that it fails to recognize that people are different, that we are not the same, that people were treated differently “back then” and might still be treated in that manner.

Now this is where Family Guy beats the rest (at least in my opinion). The show is a social commentary of how people behave and think about others. In order to show that, through comedy, they employ all sorts of stereotypes. “They make fun of jewish people, dorky white people, hispanic people, arab people, catholic, homosexuals … if you can think of a race or religion it has been made fun of on that show.” My personal favorite is Consuela, the Hispanic maid:

When people see those things, they laugh. Yes, we get offended, but eventually, we realize how stupid it would be if we actually viewed people in that manner. The show also makes fun of racist people by having racist characters. Brian, who is a white dog, doesn’t pick up black guys in his cab. The constant bombardment of those representations remind us of our differences, the racism that we face and the discrimination we have towards others. When we start to see how ridiculous it looks like, we start to change our views but respect and accept differences.

You should definitely check out the show if you haven't. I have personal DVDs of most seasons because I just love this show so much. It's so funny.

Social Inequalities in Qatar

Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world, but when looking carefully at its social class system one would find a lot of social inequalities. When studying the definition of social inequalities I realized that there are different elements that contribute to those discriminations. Things such as wealth, social status, education effects the treatment of a person. However, in Qatar I noticed that race is a huge marker of social inequality. To be specific, social inequality refers to the arrangement of recourses and/or “social goods” in a systematic way that people of different backgrounds have unequal access to them. 

Although I didn’t actively detect racism with in my circle of acquaintances, I realize that racism exists in Qatar. I came to this conclusion based on the different treatments people of different races face on day-to-day basis. For example, in Qatar, one would think that any Indian man walking in the street is a worker. This is based on the preconceived idea that most workers in Qatar are Indian men. 

Social inequalities in Qatar appear in the form of education and jobs. For example: if a Qatari and an Egyptian are applying to the same job and the Egyptian has more qualifications, the Qatari would be hired. Furthermore, Qataris get better treatment in the office space. On another note, Qataris get free education while other races pay for theirs. Another example is that a Qatari would be picked as the top of their class in school although another race deserved it. These kinds of choices are made to show the public that Qataris have what it takes. And although I agree that a lot of Qataris have what it takes, I believe that there are certain inequalities that make it hard for others to have access to what they deserve. In the Human rights watch world report of 2012, the unfair treatment of workers was said to be a “serious problem” and that “forced labour and human trafficking” is a part of it.

I once visited the home of my Pakistani/ Qatari friend. After we had dinner, my friends and I were helping out with cleaning. When I went into the kitchen, I noticed a Pakistani maid cleaning up so I put the dishes and left. However, my friend asked me why didn’t I say hi to her mother so I told her I didn’t see her mother. As it turns out, the woman I thought was the maid is actually her mother. Personally, I don’t think of myself as racist. However, I recently found out that because of my preconceived notions that I’ve learned from observing things in Qatar I became a racist, something that I don’t approve of.

Lagoona Mall: Move up?!

Every time I see the Lagoona Mall slogan “Move Up”, I know they are talking about social class; the photo itself has a photo of a regular girl who is transformed into a model. The Land Mark Mall started out by targeting the upper classes to shop by creating this European environment in the building. Soon, when Villagio came with its Italian Design, it stole these customers because of the variety of shops, and the more expensive shops in a section called “The VIP section”. Lagoona’s number one attraction “Sugar and Spice” is a great example of Conspicuous consumption, where people in the upper class can show their social status through sitting in a coffee shop.



In Doha, malls are not only a destination to shop, but to eat, hangout, or even watch a movie. Malls owners want customers to spend as much time as possible to dry their money out of their pockets on products, and services. In fact, the rent varies on how much time people spend in a section of the mall. For example, the coffee shop next to the cinema has probably high rent rate because the place there is always crowded. Paul, in Villagio, has a good location everyone sees it as they are going to the cinema, or Carrefoure.

Malls actually speak about your personality in Qatar. You are most probably going to see the same faces every time you go to a mall. “City Centre” aims at the variety, they want as many as possible from all social classes. So does “Villagio”, but they also want more of the upper classes, as you can see by their VIP Section.

For the past couple of years, West Bay (excluding City Centre) has become a very common attraction to the upper classes because they want to drink a cup of coffee that costs 200 riyals ($53), or because they want to have a dinner for two that costs 1000 riyals ($260). I’m not exaggerating the prices, but try and go to the Pearl and have a meal there. Even though the meals are not worth it, but the upper classes love them because it shows that they are from a high social status in the society, and their highbrow activities.



Today in Qatar, the highbrow (upper social class) activities are mainly in West Bay, including Katara, the Pearl, Lagoona Mall, or at any hotel in West Bay. Sheeshas (Hookahs) are considered lowbrow culture in Qatar, but the managers were smart enough to open up a couple of expensive restaurants that offer Sheeshas to the elite, and the upper classes who want to enjoy a smoke in West Bay. Look at Sukar Pasha, a very expensive Sheesha lounge in Karara. Wouldn't you consider this as a conspicuous leisure activity?



Now, I can easily judge you about your social class, from the place you smoke in.

The reproduction of social classes

Abduljaleel, 25 years old

I was sitting at the back of my car and my driver was taking me to college when I told him to go pick up my new spectacles from villagio. And so I gave him the receipt and tried to simplify my language with half Arabic and half English to make him understand what I’m trying to say. But I was surprised when he replied with a fine English with a good accent! I was even more surprised when he told me that he completed two years of his college life and couldn’t afford the rest so he dropped off.

Social classes reproduce itself
Abduljaleel’s Father was a Driver and worked so hard for his son not to be a driver and to educate him. But social classes tend to reproduce itself, and social mobility is almost impossible for working class people. It’s as they call it the American dream that social mobility can be achieved by hard work and personal effort. However, social mobility can’t be easily reached, and the idea of that all men are created equal with equal chances is just a dream! Since his father was a driver his future can be expected the day he was born. We can’t predict that he will be a driver as his dad but sociologist will agree that his social status remains as his dad’s, because social classes reproduce itself.

And so he dropped off his American dream!
After two years of college he wasn’t able to afford the rest so he dropped off and became a driver as his father. Social class is not about how hard someone works but rather it is inherited. And because Abduljaleel was born in a lowbrow culture and almost everyone around him was poor and from the same social class mobilization remained just a dream!



Why Social classes reproduce itself?
It is the way that the bourgeoisies (high-class) have set up the society to benefit themselves is preventing the low class people to mobilize upward. The most obvious example is the low wages of the working class people. With low wages none of the working class people is able to afford education or better life. Because if all proletariat (low-class) were able to educate their children and mobilize upward there will be no one left to do the hard work. So bourgeoisies set up the society in a way that they will remain the high-class people.

Romeo, the zombie

For several years, and increasingly in these past couple of years, the appearance of violence in movies has become a trend and a point of attraction to film spectators.  Last week, all my friends were talking about the new movie in the cinemas, Warm Bodies. So we decided to go see the movie. However, while watching the movie, it occurred to me that it’s a mixture of the movies: Twilight, Avatar and Romeo and Juliette. At the beginning of the movie we’re introduced to the main character as the outsider and after almost 15 minutes of the film it’s very predictable that the main issue being discussed is inequality but in the context of a more “cool” fictional theme, which is the theme of zombies.

According to Robert C. Bulman in chapter 3.2 of the book Cinematic Sociology, “The jungle metaphor conveniently summarizes the imagined differences between middle class suburban Americans and the poor urban students portrayed in the films.” What Bulman says applies to the film Warm Bodies if we closely examine the plot of the film from a sociological perspective. The living dead are the minorities or the “low brow” while the humans in the movie are the superior bourgeoisie who are doing their best to protect themselves from the danger that those corpses oppose on them. The movie highlights the issues of inequality and discrimination while using violence as a technique to achieve profitable success.

Furthermore, the similarity between the plot of Warm Bodies and Romeo and Juliette could be drawn in terms of the conflict that is being represented. Two families/groups are in a state of war against each other and the two lovers, who each belong to a different group, are the ones who bring those two families/groups together. On the other hand, the similarity that could be drawn between Warm Bodies and Twilight or Avatar is that all three movies are “sensation driven” meaning that they seek profit through the representation of “popcorn” violence. Although it could be argued that the representation of violence in the three movies is very minimal, it’s still evident that those movies are not aimed towards audiences who seek an intellectual experience while watching a movie.

Qatar portrayal in American Media

In the history of movies black people have always been portrayed as poor, stupid, and uneducated. All of those are unfair discrimination that have been attached to the dark skinned people. An example of that is the large collection of movies in the 80's about being a gangster, where the qualities that come with being a gangster are violence, murder and rape. Also, black women are over sexualized in almost all of the movies.

Arabs, also, have always been discriminated at. You have a long beard, you wear a headscarf or if you wear the traditional abaya and thobe. You are immediately discriminated at. It is truly upsetting how much the media have the prejudice against my own country Qatar by portraying it as the country of the poor, bad and uneducated. Two examples to prove that are:

1.     In Transformers which was a blockbuster released in 2007. There was a scene where the aliens are in Qatar. In this scene the movie changes the country from the “modern” America to the “poor” Qatar. The Americans come with their big fancy weapons and modern suits. They start fighting the aliens in what is supposedly called “Qatar.” And the Qatari citizens run for their lives with their sheep while they’re wearing old dirty thobes! This was very problematic due to the massive number of people who watched this movie and formed this FALSE idea about Qatar. 

2.    The Second example comes from another U.S. blockbuster called Taken. It was released in 2008. This movie is about a retired CIA agent traveled to France after his daughter got kidnapped. He discovered she was going to be sold to become sex slave. In one of the final scenes in the film, his daughter was in an auction to be sold. The father purses her buyer in a car chase. Here they showed the shocking part; the car that the father was chasing to get his daughter had the licence plate of Qatar!!! As a citizen of that country I find it very upsetting that my country is being portrayed like that. As a place with low morals where they would buy a human being for sexual pleasure. 

 

Those previous examples can only prove one thing. The media is feeding the public and the audience these prejudices. A personal example to show how this is working is a situation that happened to me back in 2009. I was volunteering for the WSDC schools championship. A British guy approached me saying he was very surprised of how modern Qatar was. He thought that he would debate in a tent! He also thought that he would move from tent to tent on a camel. Personally, I thought that was hilarious because it is far away from the truth. Qatar is a very modern state. If you haven’t lived or seen Qatar before, this picture should give you an idea about the modernity of Qatar.  

I hope one day those stereotypes would disappear, but deep down I know this is not going to happen anytime soon. After all it’s only human nature to put people and judge them into boxes.