The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been facing systematic attacks by American and Western media accompanied by hostile political action and parliamentary motions. We thought the word "ally" meant support during times of hardship but apparently it did not. However, this anger and venom spewed by the Western media is not something new as far as the Saudi-West relations are concerned. The West cares about its interests only, not that of friendly countries and governments. If it gets closer to any country, it does so to discover the weaknesses and strengths of that country. Therefore, such attacks should not come as a surprise to us. We all remember how the US Administration and European governments turned their backs on Saudi Arabia and chose to give their media channels a free rein to attack and vilify the Kingdom following the 9/11 attacks in the US. In his book "America and Saudi Arabia", the late Ghazi Al-Gosaibi commented on the situation saying, "Except for Egypt during the time of the Suez Canal War and Iraq during the invasion of Kuwait, no country around the globe has been harshly attacked by the American and Western media than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." No matter how deeper and longer our friendly relations with the United States get, it is easy for Americans to act the way they did back then and treat their friend as a foe. This relentless and frenzied media campaign against the Kingdom is not the first. When the late King Faisal cut off oil the supply line and deprived the US of Saudi oil in the 1970s, the American media showed its ugly face and leveled an avalanche of attacks at the Kingdom. The current campaign represents the third wave of such attacks. The question that poses itself is: "What can we do to face this smear campaign?" Let us look at what the US media has done in each wave of attacks: the oil crisis, the 9/11 attacks and the current scenario. Will the American media regain its credibility and transmit a fair image of the events, especially when the bilateral relations are at their best? Of course, it will not. The wave of attacks ebb and flow, but will never stop. The Western stereotyping of Saudis has not changed for ages and continues to be negative and ugly. Perhaps this stereotype does not include Saudis alone, but all Muslims. The words used to describe Arab Muslims as evil, violent and impolite are used today to describe Muslim refugees, whom Donald Trump wants to be barred from the US. The same words are applied to citizens of the Gulf countries and all Arabs. Simply put, Arab Muslims, especially Saudis and citizens of other Gulf states, have been demonized systematically by Hollywood movies ever since the first silent film starred by Rudolph Valentino, who played the role of a filthy rich sex maniac sheikh, was shown on screen. The first words uttered by an Arab character in an American film were "When an Arab sees a woman he wants, he takes her." The Western media has joined forces ever since the 1920s to smudge the image of the Muslim Arab, with its focus on citizens of the Gulf states, especially Saudis, who are portrayed as evil and coarse. Saudis are constantly and severely criticized because they are envied for their relative affluence. The media demonizes Saudis and at the same time mocks them. Besides, it is always ready to portray them as extremists and terrorists. The attacks against the Kingdom have never changed; they are launched every now and then to keep the stereotype against Saudis alive. Every time a political crisis emerges, the card of stereotyping comes into play and the media begins to launch unfair and inaccurate allegations. Unfortunately, we are not doing anything to stop these attacks. We just let them go and forget about them. When they happen again, we ask the same question: "What shall we do?"
