what stereotypical image is satrapi trying to dispel?

Satrapi was attempting to dispel western media stereotype that portrayed the average Iranian as a raging extremest.

"We'd see pieces about Iran on television, but they didn't represent my experience at all. I had to keep saying, "No, it's not like that there." I've been justifying why it isn't negative to be Iranian for almost twenty years. How strange when it isn't something I did or chose to be?"