Making that stereotypical assumption about a random American from the deep south is one thing, but you would never make that assumption if you were going to meet a government representative from Alabama
The same should be true of a government official from a Middle Eastern nation. There should never be a reason to assume he’d come out with a mouth “bulging with khat”, a dagger at his hip, and “tribal swagger”. This would be like assuming you’d meet a German politician and being surprised that they didn’t show up in Lederhosen and yodeling while holding a beer in either hand
(That’s not even to say that the Alabama stereotype you mention, while being often associated with whites in the US, is not necessarily exclusively white - whereas the Yemeni stereotype presented by the article is absolutely dripping in Othering language meant to be racialized)
Making that stereotypical assumption about a random American from the deep south is one thing, but you would never make that assumption if you were going to meet a government representative from Alabama
The same should be true of a government official from a Middle Eastern nation. There should never be a reason to assume he’d come out with a mouth “bulging with khat”, a dagger at his hip, and “tribal swagger”. This would be like assuming you’d meet a German politician and being surprised that they didn’t show up in Lederhosen and yodeling while holding a beer in either hand
(That’s not even to say that the Alabama stereotype you mention, while being often associated with whites in the US, is not necessarily exclusively white - whereas the Yemeni stereotype presented by the article is absolutely dripping in Othering language meant to be racialized)