Ethno-religio-linguistic Mash-up Mix-'em-up

I decided to drop some more truth-bombs regarding common-held misconceptions. Today's ideas came to me after reading some of the media reports regarding President Obama's trip to the Middle East, specifically his speech in Cairo.

Many news outlets reported that Obama used the common "Muslim greeting, As-Salamu Alaykum." Every single article I read and news program I watched used this phrase. The problem is that this is not a Muslim salutation, but rather an Arab greeting. Granted, the majority of the Arab world is Muslim, but Christian Arabs also greet each other with this same phrase. Translated, it means "Peace be upon you." This is no different from the "peace" greeting common in Roman Catholicism and the Anglican Communion ("peace be with you").

Along these same lines, it is often said that Allah is the God of Islam. Strictly speaking, this is not correct. In fact, Allah is the Arab word for "God." Arab Christians, Jews, and Muslims all call God Allah. This Western misunderstanding would be akin to people from another country saying "God" is the English word for the Christian God.

These instances (among others) have led me to two observations.

The first is that we have a tendency to oversimplify cultures, blurring the lines between Ethnic groups, religions, and language families. Rather than attempting to better understand the differences and similarities between them all, it is easier to make them all one thing. Rather than learning about Persians, Arabs, Kurds, Sunni, Shia, Farsi, and Arabic, we lump it all together under "The Middle East" or "Islam" and call it a day. We do this regardless of the fact that, within our own country, we have a seemingly infinite diversity of such categories. How much more complicated should we consider it in a region with several nations?

The second is an unfortunate trend in certain journalistic outlets that perpetuate these cultural misunderstandings. It is easier to call a phrase Muslim than to actually look up the phrase itself and give it its proper place. I'm not sure where the source of this problem is. Perhaps it is our constant demand for instant news that forces rushed, and therefore careless, reports. Maybe it is an unfortunate lackadaisical streak in some journalists' fact-checking. It is also possible that we are so comfortable in our own ignorance that we blissfully turn a blind eye to factual inaccuracy in favor of accepting what is fed us.

This is not an invective against modern journalism. Rather, it is a lament that we ("we," because I, too, fall into this trap) do not put forth more effort into understanding the amazing complexities our world presents us. Life seems so much more interesting to me when I give my time in the attempt to comprehend the subtle nuances that distinguish similar - but no less distinct - cultures, ethnic groups, religions, language patterns, etc.

It's a trip and a half.