WTF
Lojine Kamel

When Stock Photos Go So Wrong, It’s Hilarious

And also a little racist. Okay, a lot racist.

Still, whoever captioned these awkward stereotyping beauties–thank you to libyaliberty.tumblr.com–is a genius.


“Can I offer you some taffy? How about some red licorice?”

Complete with magic carpets, traditional clothing, and weapons, shutterstock’s stock photos are so full of racial misprofiling you forget to be insulted and find yourself laughing instead. I mean do people really think we all wear Gulf head attire and niqabs and have endless supplies of chai? (Okay that last one is kinda true).


“Moments later, Abdulrahman would tragically learn that black rope was no substitute for a hardhat in a construction zone.”

In all seriousness though, shame on a stock photo company to perpetuate a stereotype of violence, oppression and just plain ridiculousness. The vast majority of Arabs aren’t wealthy niqabi Gulf residents or crazy jihadi terrorists. When will the world realize we’re really just ordinary, slightly hairy people who really, really love chai?