Is Islamophobia a Form of Racism:
Islamophobia is a newly coined term that is used to describe the growing fear of Muslims or specific groups that are considered to be associated with Islam. As a new term, the validity of Islamophobia is still a subject of huge debate even as its causes and characteristics are also controversial. This term was coined to refer to the events in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in light of people’s attitudes towards Muslims and those associated with Islam. Actually, after the dust settled following the attacks, a new gesture of nationalism was witnessed across the United States and racism soon followed, which are usually faces to the same coin (Rose, 2013). In light of these developments on the question on whether Islamophobia is a form of racism has generated arguments and counter-arguments in support and opposition to the claim. People who consider Islamophobia as a form of racism have supported their argument through various reasons including the division and exclusion associated with the fear of Muslims. On the contrary, opponents have argued that Islamophobia is not a form of racism because of lack of a clear link between the term and racism as well as the fact that Islam is not a race but religion. An analysis of these arguments and counter-arguments reveals that Islamophobia is a form of racism, particularly cultural racism.
Arguments in Support of the Claim:
While Islamophobia is not based on overtly biological prejudices, it’s a form of racism because it divides the world on the basis of superior and inferior cultures (Lean, 2012). The division of the globe based on superior and inferior cultures due to Islamophobia is evident in the fact that Western countries, especially the Bri...
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...a term that refers to the fear of Muslims, especially after the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States. While it has been widely used, there are numerous debates on whether the phenomenon is a form of racism. Some of the arguments raised to support the claim include the fact that it causes division, involves the use of violence, entails projecting the negative attributes of a few to the entire religion, treatment of Muslims as suspect citizens, and government inaction to prevent and lessen it spread. On the contrary, arguments against this claim include the lack of any link between the concept and racism, Islam is not a race, statistics on stop and searches, and difficulties in determining what makes a racist attack. An analysis of these arguments and counter-arguments reveals that Islamophobia is a form of racism because it primarily involves cultural racism.
Similar to the Salem Witch Trials, these fears had no proper foundation, but after these brutal attacks, many people didn’t know what else to do, but be afraid. Comparable to “The Crucible,” the public showed great fear and they were very suspicious of the people they believed were suspects or possible perpetrators. People that expressed Islamophobia, which was an “exaggerated fear, hatred, and hostility toward Islam and Muslims” grew in numbers (Gallup). The 9/11 attacks sparked a fear and hysteria against innocent American Muslims, which was very unintelligent, due to the fact that this was not based on the malice or terror of these Muslims, but actually their connection through religion with the
Amer, M., & Bagasra, A. (2013). Psychological research with Muslim Americans in the age of Islamophobia: Trends, challenges, and recommendations.. American Psychologist, 68(3), 134-144. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from the Ohio Link database.
The author expressed, “Kathy had not wanted their family to become collateral damage in a war that had no discernible fronts, no real shape, and no rules” (252). Both Kathy, a converted Muslim, and Zeitoun, a born Muslim, knew what the future looked like in terms of discrimination and inequality. The idea of islamophobia is so open to different interpretations, and the fight against it has not yet accomplished all of the goals. The war against Islamophobia, as well as other discriminatory debates, has shown to be a dirty one. Many opinions are gathered and slurs are formed, which make immigrating as a Muslim very difficult. America is known as the land of the free, but for many families of the Muslim faith, it does not always feel that
In the essay, the writer acknowledges the misunderstandings that come from media images by explaining the contrasts between these images and the teachings of the faith to support her claim that fear is the reason for this misconception. The conception that many people have of Muslims is that they are terrorists, anti-Semites, and fanatics. This conception exsists because television news and newspapers support that stereotype. The broadcast of such stereotypes encourages fear and accusations of the Islamic relegion's teachings. The writer explains that Islam teaches peace, tolerance, and equality. She further states that Muslims shown in the media have violated these teachings ...
The hate directed towards Muslim Australians, especially women choosing to dress in hijabs and niqabs, is unbelievable. In the experiments conducted in public showed that Muslim women are subjected the hateful slurs and hurtful comments purely based on the way they are choosing to dress based on their religion. A finding from the survey by Professor Kevin Dunn found that a substantial number of Australian citizens having ‘negative’ feelings towards those identifying as being Muslim. 31.6% of those surveyed claimed to feel negatively towards Muslim Australians. This differs greatly from the 22.4% claiming to have negative feelings towards Middle-¬‐Eastern Australians.
After 9/11 2001 the FBI reported a 1700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans between 2000 to 2001. After 9/11 Muslims Americans had faced a rise in negative stereotypes shown by the larger society, more than any other immigrant group. Middle Eastern Muslims or anyone with physical resemblance to the stereotypical Muslims were at risk of hatred and unkindness from people of other cultures. Research focusing on Islamophobia which is fear or hatred towards Muslims, a survey was taken on the United Kingdom showed that discrimination against Muslims has increased in recent years. discrimination towards Muslims was even before September 11 due to the media has been biased because the media has shown Muslims as intolerant and violent. The attacks of Muslims has worsen and the general attitude the public have has gone ordinary gone to the Muslims. Islamophobia can change a person because fear we have changes how we do things and living in fear and not in peace. The fear we have has us around it’s claw keeping us from doing other things because we fear that a Muslim might hurt us. The hatred and fear towards other people who might not hurt us at all might change the future in which this world lives in. People no matter what want to protect the country and at no price will upgrade the military to do
planet at least once. Fear in the Webster dictionary is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Fear has began to corrupt everyones judgement and people have began to stereotype everyone based upon past history and past mistakes.September 9, 2001 is a day that every american has come to remember.Ever since 9/11 our country has been fearful of muslims and the stereotype that they are dangerous to us. 9/11 marks the day where muslims began to be stereotyped as terrorist. Webster Dictionary states that a muslim is a follower of the religion of Islam and a terrorist is
Muslim children face high level of discrimination at their schools as they are welcomed with negative comments about their religion by the children of other religions. Though abnormal but normally Muslim students are labeled as Terrorists and they are often verbally coerced and mocked to migrate back to their native countries. The overall conclusion can be drawn as the study that United States suffered a lot during the attacks of 9/11 but the ones who are still facing the aftermath of that incident are the Muslims around the globe and especially those present in United States. Various reasons other than 9/11 attacks behind Muslim stigmatization around globe include stereotyping against Muslims in terms of non-flexibility, uncommon culture, simple life style and aggressive behavior.
In America, there is a hatred lurking around in almost every corner of the nation; a discrimination and social bias that preys on the lives of innocent Muslims. Some people fear for their lives when they see a Muslim board a plane that they’re going to go on. Politicians are using that fear to fuel their popularity in elections. This prejudice even started to become a form of patriotism in the eyes of a concerning number of Americans. A lot of Muslims fear for their own lives in America because they are being looked down upon and even targeted by some people. This fear and hatred against these innocent Muslims are defined as Islamophobia. I believe that this amount of Islamophobia that is happening in America
The knowledge of the audience is based on the images, symbols and narratives from sources of media such as television, film, music and other media (Brooks & Hebert, 297). During times of war, government campaigns and media systems have a strong influence in creating attitudes about a specific targeted group of people. This creates influential stereotypes into the minds of the audience. Islamophobia is defined as unfounded hostility towards Muslims (Defining Islamophobia). Islamophobes believe that Islam does not share the same teachings of other faiths, and Islam is a religion of violence which supports terrorism. The media produces images of Muslims and Islam as fundamentalists, terrorists, sexist, suicide bombers, militant and undemocratic (Defining Islamophobia). Race plays a major role in the public attitude toward Islam because in society, Muslims are viewed as Arabic. Hollywood has equated Islam and Arabs with violence and evil. Arabs ha...
“Islamophobia” was thought to be used commonly during late 1980s in Great Britain as a discriminative word towards Muslim
Why does Islamophobia even exist in the U.S? When talking about a concept such as “Islamophobia,” you must understand the meaning of the term. “Islamophobia” is bias and or victimization of Muslims based on their religious, national, or ethnic personal connection with Islam. Like anti-Semitism, prejudice and homophobia, Islamophobia portrays attitudes and unreliable views that disparage a whole class of individuals backed by pre-conceived notions and fear. This, however, is nothing new to the world. Jews, African-Americans, different races and religion all through history have confronted bias and separation as a result of their culture or identity.
Post September 11, 2001 the life of a Muslim women living in America changed forever. Islamophobia is the prejudice against Islam or Muslims. Islamophobia is not a new concept, it has roots hundreds of years ago, however after 9/11 it became much more prevalent in America. Following 9/11 Western media used Islam and Muslim women who covered to inflict fear in American citizens. Western media framed Islam as a dangerous and hateful religion that needed to be stopped. At the same time the media became obsessed with Muslim women who veiled and wanted to save these women from their oppression. However, these articles written about the oppressed Muslim women did not feature Muslim women and their experiences veiling. They were not given a voice
Islamophobia has become a new topic of interest among social sciences, political leaders and media commentators. People amongst society have developed this phobia towards Islamic religion and people. It has become a novel “form of racism in Europe and American based on discrimination ...
We live in an age and time where media influence is at its highest. The media has an impact on us as an audience through every possible medium including both television and print media. As scientists find and cure diseases, as America finds a new country to invade, as the European markets fluctuate, there has been one constant subject prevalent in the Western media- Islam. 1.6 billion people in the world are of the Muslim religion (Desilver 2013), making it the world’s second largest religion, second to Christianity. Even prior to the events of 9/11, the religion of Islam has been under scrutiny by the media. Edward Said, infamous for his works on Orientalism has greatly contributed to our understanding of the Western misunderstanding of the Eastern based religion. Said has defined Orientalism as the Western’s style of domination, reconstruction, and authority over the Orient (Said 1978: 3). Orientalism has observable effects in the most forms of media. As a result, and irrational fear of Islam and those that practice the religion began-Islamophobia. As defined by the International Civil Liberties Alliance, Islamophobia is “a term which is widely used by NGOs and frequently appears in the media, tends to denote fear, hatred or prejudice against Islam and Muslim” (ICLA 2013). This project will attempt to understand what the audience perception is about Islamophobia in the media. It will aim to uncover the ways in which television channels amplify common misperceptions about Islam. As a Muslim myself, this is an area that has always been of interest to me, and like many audiences I have been able to witness the dimensions of Islamophobia s depicted by the western media. After the events of September 2001, the fears of Islam and ...