The article The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other can be classified as one with a hidden meaning of cultural insensitivity. Pew’s choice of words evokes the bad memories that have long caused psychological torture to victims of extremism attacks. Given that the two religions have heard a long period of conflict with divergent views, the name “Great Divide” worsened the rivalry instead of retaining the neutral tone of the subsequent title. The name magnifies the existing conflict, raising concerns about whether the two religions will end their conflict in the future, which causes psychological torture to victims of a terrorist attack.
The title is not suitable for surviving suicide bombings and Islamic extremism victims. Extremist groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS in the Middle East countries, such as Afghanistan and Iraq continue to increase the rift between the two conflicting religions (The great divide: How Westerners and Muslims view each other, 2020). Westerners view Muslims as violent, with rampant terrorist attacks and suicide bombing cases globally. Victims of war might develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a severe health disorder, when they encounter names of articles that instigate panic. They portray aspects of cultural insensitivity because it affects people living with PTSD. The title arouses the emotional and psychological feelings of people who are survivors of a terrorist attack anywhere in the world. The title shuns the victims’ hope for a better world because they feel the incidents might re-occur due to the insensitivity of this title. This is culturally insensitive because the author did not mind the harm it cost such victims to increase worry.
Mentioning the name “Great Divide” implores that the differences between the Westerners and Muslims and not yet settled. The stereotype in this context can be spotted as this name, assumedly, conceal deeper meaning than any person could imagine. The bias could be alleviated if the author could skew the “Great Divide” aspect and retain the rest of the title. Readers would gladly enjoy reading the title, “How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other,” without worrying about other exaggerated details from the other title.
Reference
The great divide: How Westerners and Muslims view each other. (2020). Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. Web.