On that proposed bombing in Agrabah

You’ve probably heard it already – Public Policy Polling asked a group of Republicans about whether or not they’d bomb Agrabah. You’ve already heard that 30% of them have said yes, while 13% opposed and 57% were unsure.

What you might have also heard is that the poll asked a group of Democrats as well. 19% voted to bomb the city, while 36% would oppose it.

What these people obviously haven’t heard is that Agrabah is not real. But the problems that this poll tells certainly are.

Agrabah is the fictional city that Disney’s Aladdin is set in. While we know that the city is somewhere in Arabia from the introduction and that the palace resembles the real-life palace Taj Mahal, Agrabah itself is purely fictional.

This poll tells us a number of things?

Voters need to do their research

We don’t know whether or not the people polled knew that Agrabah was a real city, but even if they did there isn’t any real reason to bomb it – Agrabah, after all, is portrayed as a very peaceful city in the film. From there we can assume that voters, especially those who voted yes, judge the city based on nothing else but what “Agrabah” sounds like.

This reveals a very troubling problem – people are voting without knowing what they’re voting for. If there’s anything we can learn from this pop-culture poll, it’s that it’s your responsibility as a voter to do your research.

Problems like racism transcend political parties

Many article focus on the fact that the 30% of the Republicans who were polled voted yes to bomb Agrabah, but like good investigators we have to recognize that 19% of Democrats also voted to bomb the city, presumably for the same reasons as stated above. As we can see, prejudice can’t be confined to one political party.

It’s also important to recognize the difference – after all it is worrying that one political party might be more prejudiced than another. But at the same time, it’s undeniable that this attitude doesn’t correlate with political party.

A poll like this then reveals how prejudice isn’t dictated by political preferences. Perhaps we should then take an even closer look at how prejudice grows.

Problems like racism transcend media companies like Disney – maybe?

Disney is a powerful company, especially in the realm of childhood education. Previous films like Pocahontas, Mulan, and The Princess and the Frog have all been criticized for the way they portray race. Even Aladdin has garnered much backlash for the way it creates a seemingly fictional world.

Yet it is these voters’ ignorance about the fictional nature of Agrabah that probably led them to vote to bomb it, showing that either way prejudice can’t be linked directly to Disney either.

It’ll be interesting to see how the generation that grew up on Disney’s Renaissance era grows up and begins to vote. Will growing up with these supposedly problematic films correlate with increased prejudice? Only time will tell.

For now, at least we know one thing’s important: do your research. Agrabah isn’t real, and even if it was, there’s no reason to bomb it.

Like what you see here on DisneyExaminer? Help support us grow and be rewarded with even more content and experiences by becoming a DisneyExaminer Patron!