The Terrorist

There are many facets of social identities at work in the myth of the terrorist constructed in George W. Bush's address and Dick Cheney's interview. The two most noticeable social identities were race and class.

The terrorists are from Al-Queda. They are extremists which is an Islamic practice.

Class was heavily talked about in Dick Cheney's interview with Tim Russert. Dick Cheney states that Osama Bin Laden's hatred against the United States and his taking illegal actions to destroy and force the United States to withdraw from that part of the world, must have something to do with his background, his own upbringing. Osama Bin Laden is from an upperclass family.He is the son of one of the wealthiest Saudi families. The power that his family had probably influenced him in many ways. Since Osama Bin Laden has a lot of money and wealth, it can purchase power along with it. He can pay people to do evil in parts of the world he doesn't like, such in this case, the United States. The fact that his family is rich because they are business people would have stereotyped their parents as neglecting individuals who only focused their attention on their business and wealth.

Sexuality as a social identity also comes in play. George W. Bush claims in his speech, "The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that had been rejected by Muslim scholars and the bast majority of Muslim cleric, a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of  Islam." He calls their teachings as being perverted which is a very sexual word. The word alone means an altering of something from its original state and it is usually something bad. The word perverted from the google dictionary means "characterized by sexually abnormal and unacceptable practices or tendencies." This is just basically saying that the terrorists are practicing something illegal and that it is very bad. Calling someone perverted can be very offensive in many ways and this does not do any better than in Al-Queda's practices. The terrorists hate the freedom the United States offers and wants to destroy it. 

In George W. Bush's speech, he also calls the Al-Queda and their supporters barbarians. This is an indicator of race which is "Arabness" as a social identity. They are called barbarians because they don't like freedom being offered in different countries in the world in the newer centuries. They are thinking in the old ways that everybody should be controlled by the government. Osama Bin Laden wants to be the head of the government and own his country so he prevents freedom in his people for them to obey him and listen to his orders.

One of the blogs that talk heavily about terrorism is 
http://universalcritique.blogspot.com/2012/12/constitutional-rights-terrorists.html

The Rush Hour Trilogy

The Rush Hour Trilogy is one example of Pop Culture that repeats one of the stereotypes in which Michael Omi talks about in his "The Living Color: Race and American Culture." The three movies portray Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, both minorities, as the main characters. The films stereotype them according to their races, Jackie Chan as an Asian-American Kung-fu master and Chris Tucker as an African-American gangster.

Jackie Chan has a Chinese accent even when speaking in English. This stereotypes Asians as minorities who have a hard time speaking in English. He is paired with the motor-mouth Chris Tucker in order to balance and keep the films lively. This stereotypes African-Americans as very fast thinking and talking English speakers. In the films, Jackie Chan is the fighter and problem solver while Chris Tucker is the blabbermouth and the clown. It is proven in the Trilogies that the Asian race and the African race are completely different or even the opposite of each other.

Jackie Chan is also a lot smaller than Chris Tucker who is around six foot. Chris Tucker is also buff and Jackie Chan just looks like another normal short asian man. Asians had always been stereotyped to look alike and so there is also a scene in one of the Trilogies where Chris Tucker was fighting against five other asian men with Jackie Chan and Chris had almost punched Jackie by accident thinking he was one of the bad guys. Chris Tucker explains that all asians looked alike. However, Jackie Chan is a lot smarter and he solves problems by logically thinking while Chris Tucker just complains and fights when he is told to. Pairing these two together creates problems which is entertaining and the reason why this trilogy is so popular among different groups of people. This film is entertaining due to the racial and ethnic differences among the minorities in the United States.