In the Middle East, the perception of ordinary Americans has long followed a familiar script: detached, uninformed, inward-looking and politically shallow — a society of “gas guzzlers” with little grasp of global realities beyond their immediate geography.

This perception did not emerge from thin air. It was cultivated — reinforced, even — by American political and media institutions. Politicians claimed to speak on behalf of “the American people,” while the mainstream media shaped what those people knew and, crucially, what they did not.

For decades, Americans overwhelmingly aligned with Israel. This was not merely ideological, it was instructional. The public was told — repeatedly — that Israel reflected so-called American values, such as democracy, civility and modernity. Palestinians and Arabs, by contrast, were framed as perpetual antagonists, initiators of violence and obstacles to peace.

Some Americans embraced this framing on religious or ideological grounds. But for the majority, the pro-Israel position became a default — an inherited conclusion rooted in limited access to alternative information. Israel was “good,” Arabs were “bad.” The narrative was simple, binary and rarely challenged.

With the mainstream media as the primary source of information, this perception hardened over time. Support for Palestine, and for broader Arab causes, remained confined to academic spaces and activist circles — often informed by anticolonial and anti-imperialist frameworks but numerically marginal and........

© Eurasia Review