Jordan's Queen Uses YouTube to Bash Clichés

Jordan’s Queen Rania is taking on Arab stereotypes through a venue not particularly known for engendering serious discourse: YouTube. The Christian Science Monitor follows her successes and frustrations as she self-publishes videos, hoping the experiment can teach Arabs and Westerners more about each other. Rania began the series by asking Westerners to submit their stereotypes about Arabs.

“It was a leap into the unknown for me. But to be honest, everything has exceeded my expectations—the good and the bad,” said Raina, 37, who got 1.4 million hits in the first video of a series that continues through next Tuesday. “There's more misunderstanding than I had appreciated, more anger, more bias, but also more interest, more support, and more engagement.” (More Queen Rania stories.)