oup and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment" (Merriam, 1993, p. 1153). Only a very small percentage of Americans, such as businesspeople, diplomats, soldiers and the occasional educator or tourist, have much in the way of first-hand personal experience with the Middle East. The French, British, Spanish, Italians and other Europeans have had much more exposure to the region than most Americans. Stereotypes about other peoples and cultures fundamentally arise out of ignorance.
Walter Lippmann (1922) said in his book on public opinion that "we imagine most things before we experience them" (p. 59) and "what each man does is based not on direct and certain knowledge, but on the pictures made by himself or given to him" (p. 10). In referring to the mass media of his day, Lippmann (1922) said that "the newspapers necessarily and inevitably reflect, and therefore, in greater or lesser measure, intensify, the defective organization of public opinion" (p. 19). He (1922) added that, "in t
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