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Impact of mass media coverage in a society
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Effects of mass media on social problems
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Orientalism On the 26th of December in 2015, two white men in their twenties severely beat a 68 year old man in Fresno California. This man was Amrik Singh, he had darker skin and was wearing a blue turban. The two men assumed that this person was Muslim, the problem is the man is Sikh. Widespread Islamophobia has made the United States feel like an unsafe place for many Muslims in recent months. Now, it's creating an additional crisis, people attacking Sikhs because they think they're Muslims. The stereotypical image perpetuated by the mass media is of a person with brown skin, wearing clothing perceived as foreign, a suicide bomber in a burka, a long beard, and perhaps the most visual cue, the turban. These are the physical markers
The Muslim Sikh community in the United States have been facing violence and discrimination against their people increasingly since 9/11. FBI: Dramatic Spike in Hate Crimes Targeting Muslims. (2012) . Retrieved from http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/fbi-dramatic-spike-in-hate-crimes-targetin. According to the FBI, Anti-Muslim has soared by 50% in 2010 since the September 11th attacks. The groups of people who encourage these types of hate crimes are misinformed and prejudice against a whole religion, instead of focusing in a humane way on a group of terrorists that caused so much turmoil in the United States.
In the article “Modern-Day Witch Hunts”, Jamie Dailey focuses the attention on problems that Muslim Americans commonly face on a day-to-day basis. He first paints a picture by comparing the violent acts performed on Muslims to the Salem Witch trial in 1692. The Salem Witch trials resulted in 19 deaths of innocent individuals, because they were accused of witchcraft. Dailey goes on to explain in America, the type of persecution Muslims endure has many forms. A more recent controversy towards this religion involves the building of the Ground Zero Mosque in central New York. The name of this building is very misleading, especially to the eyes of an American. Even though this structure is actually built a few blocks away from where the former World Trade Center stood, problems have still risen from the public. Americans often mistake Muslims as the group of people who had performed acts of terrorism on American soil, when it was actually an Islamic group known as Al Qaeda. Mosques all across the United States started being vandalized by people protesting against their religion. This article shows how irrational fear can corrupt the thoughts of people.
Even though Sikh Americans have experienced a heightened amount of animosity, it is quite a warm feeling when communities and groups gather to support victims of hate crimes as stated in this excerpt, "It has happened before in New Jersey. But this time, an act of hateful vandalism has drawn an avalanche of support for a victimized Hindu family, highlighting the growth of networks aiming to assist South Asian-American victims of bias crimes. The family of five arrived home in Wayne last Saturday to discover their house and walkways spray-painted with anti-Indian and anti-Hindu epithets. Police disclosed the incident on Wednesday, and said the family also had been targeted with hate mail and graffiti in January."(Crouse) The community responded by putting out calls and e-mails in an attempt to reach the family. This was done by Asian-American civil rights leaders after they had read about the incidents. Other local actions of support came in the form of one bank branch's offer to cover the cost of removing the graffiti and a contractor's offer to do the work for free. There are many hate crimes that have been inflicted on Sikh Americans, but it is important to realize there are positive and supporting reactions from different communities to try to alleviate this type of racism.
The media has been known to portray or show many “Muslims” as terrorists, and several times they fail to show the peaceful Muslims. Furthermore, the media affects the perception of many Americans, and when they portray Muslims as scary and dangerous people, this causes many stereotypes to form. This in turn, makes it common for people to accept and believe in the various stereotypes of Muslims. Also, countless Muslims are ethnically profiled based on their religious appearance. To be more specific, numerous Muslims are stereotyped due to their long beards and cultural robes. Stereotypes, such as these, are affected by the descriptions of other notorious terrorists, such as Osama Bin Laden, who was well known for his long beard. Additionally, a number of people have become irrational and unreasonable when it comes to preventing Muslims to affect America, such as many protests “to ban Sharia law in any American court” (Azlan). Sharia is basically the law of an Islamic government, and the protest is illogical, since Sharia law has never been practiced in any American court and there is no indication, that there will be (Azlan). Many of these labels are unfair, and the media unjustly portrays and connects innocent American Muslims to terrorists which is
...ld want to avoid, stay away from, and keep maximum distance between. Since September 11th, people say those same things in our modern society. Those wearing turbans are often looked down upon and cause people to feel nervous around them. Another way people are stereotyped compared to those in the past are by an individual’s religion. Before September 11th, Muslims were seen as peaceful people; however since that eventful day, they are not looked at the same. People see them as different and many see them as a threat to security, harmful to our society, and not those of the type of people that can be trustworthy. They are currently being stereotyped just as those who had “illnesses” and were accused of witchcraft in the past.
There are two declarations of faith in Islam: That there is only one God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God. In Memories of Muhammad, Omid Safi explores the ways in which Muhammad – both the historical and spiritual Muhammad – is remembered, commemorated, and contested by Muslims throughout the centuries. Safi focuses on the movements and moments in Muhammad’s life and after his death that for many Muslims best exemplify the teachings of Islam. He succeeds in opening up the dialogue to correct the negative portrayals of Muhammad and the religion of Islam, calling it a “Muhammad problem” in his introduction. Furthermore, he provides a book that is accessible and intelligible to both Muslims and non-Muslims, drawing from historical and spiritual sources, and addresses relevant issues contested between Muslims in relation to other religions, presenting Muhammad as a historical figure and one who is beloved by the Umma.
On September 11, 2001, since the terrorist attacks, many American Muslims have been stereotyped negatively in the United States. Salma, a Muslim woman, says that the way Muslims have been recognized in the media has played a big role in the antagonisms directed to her. “I don’t know how many time I heard my classmates accuse me of being al-Qaeda or a terrorist” (Mayton 2013). Salma, along with other Muslims, even after a decade, are still struggling with trying to find their “American” and “Islamic” identities, while facing verbal attacks for their ethnicity. Too often, the general Muslin population gets lumped in with the immoral acts of a few because of the lack of knowledge about their culture.
Muslims, Sikhs, and many other religious affiliations have often been targeted for hate crimes, racial slurs, and misfortunate events. We are all different in our own ways some are good and some are bad yet one event changes everything for everyone affiliated with the group. The book The Politics of the Veil by Joan Scott a renowned pioneer in gender studies gives a detailed and analytical book of about the French views towards the Muslim females in France during 2004. The author talks about why the French governments official embargo of wearing conspicuous signs is mainly towards the headscarves for Muslim girls under the age of eighteen in public schools. The main themes of book are gender inequality, sexism, and cultural inequality historical schools used in the book are history of below, woman’s history, cultural history, and political history. In this essay, I will talk about why Joan Scotts argument on why the French government’s ban on wearing conspicuous signs was
Another thing about discrimination is how people use stereotypes –the way people look- against them, such as certain religions have to wear a certain type of clothing e.g. turbans or burkas. These religions maybe Sikhs or Muslims and although most of them are perfectly harmless, a lot of people are scared of them due to the scares of the Taliban and bombings but these are all stereotypes put upon them by the societey. When in fact they are exactly like us; they are all human beings that deserve respect. And, although there will be bad people among them there are bad people everywhere so what’s the difference?
The Nation of Islam: A Source of Hope. In the early 1930’s, in Detroit, when the Nation of Islam was initially founded, it was not really widely known. It was a very secluded and introverted religion and community. It was not until they came under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad that the Nation of Islam became a household name in the early 1960’s.
299). The study consisted of having in-depth personal interviews to share their experiences of being a Muslim American woman (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 300). Veiling to these women was a way of freedom while also having a Muslim identity (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 301). It was also a source of behavior control, to not be sexually objectified, a way of commanding respect from others and even a source of checking their own behavior (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 301). One of the women interviewed said, veiling to her was a way to feel connected to other Muslim woman who veil (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 302). Veiling can be a way to feel connected to your religion and God as well as being connected to those who practice the same faith, it can be considered an act of membership. Many of the women interviewed noted they have been removed from planes, been treated unfairly, and have had strangers shout at them all for just being Muslim and being more visibly recognized from veiling (Anderson Droogsma, 2007, p. 303). This is an example of how media can affect the general population. When the media only shows radicals and compares all Muslims to being terrorist or dangerous they are actually putting Muslim people at risk of being assaulted in public. Muslim woman in particular are more at risk for being assaulted as they are more identifiable. So while veiling can be a source of empowerment and freedom for women it is a double-edged sword because it also puts them at further risk of being
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.
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 ...
To understand the culture of fear we must observe the role of media and politics in perpetuating it. Goffman offers his audience an insight into understanding the reasons for this fear, with the type of stigma he calls the tribal stigma. In his definition, tribal stigma is a type of stigma which is passed on to others through the affiliation of religion, race, and nation (Goffman), in this context religion is the focal point of the stigmatisation. As previously mentioned, media and politics have had a pivotal role to play in how societies view the Islamic community. They are able to attain greater power over the masses through communicating fear to their audience. When people within a society watch mainstream media of terrorist attacks that
Sikhism suits the needs of modern life since it is open to everyone who is willing to embrace its practices and doctrines. Sikhism, one of the most scientific and modern religions in the world, is the fifth largest religion. One distinctive characteristic of the Sikh religious practice in comparison to other faiths is the vibrant Sikh identity, which is culturally, spiritually, and visually, able to be noticeable within the crowd. Sikhism has become principally and identifiably a way of appearance, which is the decisive threshold between being a “Sikh” or not, between being someone and being anyone. A Sikh’s identity is known as the “Khalsa”, which means the “community of the pure” (Takhar, 2005). The Khalsa is an example of a transnational religious community, which its sole purpose was to institute a military charge of “saint soldiers.” The Khalsa refers to the baptized Sikhs, who have taken “amrit paul” (Nesbitt, 2002). The Khalsa was responsible for both protection and administration of the community. According to Sikhism, a Sikh should be a scholar, saint, and soldier for God, who must live by an example as the Guru Granth Sahib outlines. Sikhs have their own real identity, which is vividly growing substantially since it possesses its separate religion, institutions, martial traditions, history, and territory. The Khalsa Sikhs could be recognized by the given five articles of Sikhism, the Five Ks (McLeod, 2008). However, how is it possible that a turbaned and bearded portrait of a Sikh comes to embody a religion whose antipathy to the worship of a sacred idol image is the character of its difference from Hinduism? This research paper, argues that the theoretical accounts of the role of the outer appearance relative to the rel...