Dr. Phil on Palestine

The team and I just finished watching a 3-part Dr. Phil series entitled "Daughter in Danger." It aired in the US in November 2007 but only recently here. The series follows the story of Katherine, an American teen, who fled to Palestine to rendezvous with her Internet flame Abdullah. This sounds bad, I know. The show explored the desperate attempts of the girl's family to steer her away from her lover. Then it revealed the verbal and physical abuse of the fledgling relationship. It was easy for me to see how ignorant Katherine and Abdullah were of one another's cultures. Abdullah, true to his male-dominated culture, expected his bride-to-be to submit to his every desire. Katherine, meanwhile, saw nothing with wrong with wearing a miniskirt in the West Bank. Finally, the show ended with Dr. Phil brokering the end of the relationship on camera.
You can watch the episode here: http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/983
The two lovers weren't the only ones who were embarrassingly ignorant. Repeatedly, Dr. Phil confused places in the West Bank with those in the Gaza Strip. He spoke of Palestine as a 'war zone' in which Katherine might be killed at any moment. Katherine's family repeatedly accused Abdullah of brainwashing their daughter and lying to them about why he couldn't get a visa to the US. Given our own visa troubles, we couldn't help but laugh here.
I know that I will return to the US with a highly elevated sensitivity to the way Palestinians are portrayed in America. In fact, I believe that the stories I bring back with me about the people here are a huge part of my ministry. But this program helped me to realize just how much I've changed and learned since I've been here. What I watched makes me really concerned about the sort of mis-perceptions about Arabs and the Middle East that saturate American culture. Too often, words like 'Arab' and 'Muslim' are used nearly synonymously with words like 'terrorist' and 'extremist.' But Arabs are no longer headlines to me. They are people with families and stories and customs and I won't stand to see them pigeon-holed and degraded like this.
Granted, Abdullah had some really lousy motives when he invited Katherine to Palestine to marry him. Further still, he abused her--there is no defense for this. But beneath Abdullah's lying and scheming layers, I could see him as a scared kid in way over his head. It's not uncommon for Palestinian men to desire an American wife--it's a ticket to a new life with new opportunities. I've met plenty of guys with these sorts of designs. This makes the show and this man all the more real to me. Maybe I'll shake hands with someone like him tomorrow.