Charles M. Blow takes a passionate stance on the poor social treatment of Muslim Americans and Islam in his column “Anti-Muslim is Anti-American”. His use of direct and indirect, and quotations are powerful allies to his opinion, automatically refuting any argument contrary to his. The prevalence of negativity toward Muslim Americans shows a troubling trend of scapegoating the most controversial minority within the country. Blow points out the considerable Constitutional and legal issues that stem from anti-Islam rhetoric, namely within conservative groups. Initially, Blow chooses quotations from Republican frontrunners in the race for political office to exemplify the attacks against Muslim Americans that have become increasingly common in the aftermath of radical Islamic terrorism. They are compelling. The leading Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, makes religiously intolerant and threatening remarks about his plans for treating Islam in America, stating he “. . . would have ‘absolutely …show more content…
With a language of freedom from oppression and equality for all, the Constitution is the holy book of America. However, Blow recounts Trump’s suggestions to impose a “temporary” ban on the entrance of Muslims to America, which is the precise opposite of the ideas so eloquently expressed in the Constitution. Besides clashing ideologically, some of the proposed “solutions” to the internal conflict over Islam in America clash legally with international law. As Blow cites from the Center for American Progress and the New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, “In a thinly concealed attempt to inflame anti-Muslim attitudes, lawmakers in 32 states have moved to ban foreign or international law.” This stereotyping is socially damaging enough, without having the added negativity of illegal
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.
In this article, Kasam explains her experience being a Muslim American on a college campus and the challenges she her and fellow Muslims face on campus. She explains how she is a club leader at Quinnipiac University for a Muslim group. She claims that there is not a lot of Muslims who attend that University. She also believes that many Muslims at the school are afraid of coming out and telling other people on campus that they are Muslims; keeping a low profile. She provides statistics on hate crimes against Muslims around the world, and she also expresses her concern to her Muslim friends on campus. This article was published in the College Xpress for mainly college students to view. Kasam is a staff writer for the Quinnipiac Chronicle who mainly writes stories about incidents on and around Quinnipiac University. This article will help me explain the various problems that Muslim students around college campuses face
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 antagonism directed at her. “I don’t know how many times 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 Muslim population gets lumped in with the immoral acts of a few because of the lack of knowledge about their culture.
... another post 9/11. Furthermore, through both Amaney Jamal excerpt Civil Liberties and the Otherization of Arab and Muslim Americans (chapter four), and Nadine Naber excerpt Arab Americans and U.S. Racial Formations (Introduction), we see just how this clash came about pre and post 9/11. That while the aftermath of 9/11 saw the rise in the racialization of Muslim and Arab Americans, we must not forget that these groups of people were not so much invisible due to the fact that America (i.e. “dominant mainstream” (Jamal 119)) has always viewed those they deem as “other” (i.e. minority) as inferior. Due to this framework, they have racialized any group of people that are not considered American as “other.” However (as stated) following an event like 9/11, the racialization of Muslims and Arabs Americans became perpetuated more so; and at an even more dangerous level.
The attitudes toward Muslims today have not changed significantly since September 11, 2001. Any Muslim person; man, woman, or child is automatically suspect to instigate pandemonium, based strictly on their appearance and faith. Regardless of any evidence, reasoning, or perspective to the contrary, Muslims are seen as an enemy to United States citizens. The events of 9/11 left Muslim Americans unceremoniously lacking any respect from U.S. citizens regardless of any affiliation with Al-Qaida. We assess Muslim people with a common image of terror. We see the turban or hijab and assume a terrorist is hidden within its folds. Our mentalities inevitably come to a paralyzing halt, and we can never see through the fabric of the religious garments. When we see any one of these people, one person comes to mind, and that is the person who attacked our country. Today, in our nations cities and towns these arrogances still exist forcefully. Muslim people are still profoundly victimized and discriminated against by the means of assumption and negative mental sets. In the novel Zeitoun, author Dave Eggers takes time to assess the spitefulness encountered by Kathy and Abdulrahman Zeitoun, along with narrating the family’s endeavors with hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun presents racial differences in America, primarily in New Orleans, by discussing how they are created and the ways in which they exist today.
In "Trump's Muslim Immigration Ban Should Touch Off a Badly Needed Discussion" published in The National Review, Andrew McCarthy's thesis is that the immigration policy in America won't be reasonable if the United States doesn’t address that the sharia law differs from the constitution. McCarthy supports his argument with three points. First, McCarthy argues that
This paper examines the implications the media has on Muslims since 9/11. It identifies specific ways in which the media has utilized specific terminology, misrepresented images of Muslims, and misguided assumptions that have been placed on the general public since 9/11. This paper analyzes how Muslims have been targeted in mainstream media in a number of ways. Furthermore, it focuses on the theory behind agenda setting and why it pertains to this topic. It provides detailed summaries of articles and addresses the following questions: (1) How did the media misrepresent Islam and Muslims? (2) Why viewers are more inclined to trusting media? (3) What is the true identity of Muslims in America?
One day that changed the United States forever was not a recession or a new government but a terrorist attack. In the aftermath of September eleventh, it left American’s brainwashed. To put it differently, the American media only tells one side of the story, in their favor. When an attack happens most Americans mind blame “Muslims” even before people know the full details. In post-September 11, hundreds of terrorist attacks, and actions by Western governments have produced widespread suspicion, detention, and deportation of Muslims. The number of hate crimes that are perpetrated towards Muslims has also grown dramatically. To enumerate this point, recently the act in Portland that left two men dead after they intervened against a man who had
No matter how strongly one feels about something, sometimes thoughts and actions can become too intense, too extreme, quite simply: too much. The idea of exceeding normal boundaries is a key idea in the Nation of Islam movement in America in the 1950s and 1960s. The Nation of Islam preached an idea that was very unfamiliar to common thought in America at that time. Ideology practiced by black Muslims, as those people of Islam were known as, was very intense, very driven, very narrow minded, but it made a lot of African Americans feel better about who they were and where they were at. On the other hand, many other African Americans believed that the practices of Islam were far too outrageous to be followed or trusted. James Baldwin, a very influential and respected African American author of the 1950s and 1960s, was a man of this belief. Baldwin had ties to the Nation of Islam movement, having been associated with Malcolm X when he appeared along side him on a television program. But Baldwin shared less ideology with the Muslims than one might expect. In his essay, “Down at the Cross,” (“Cross” for short), Baldwin recounts his encounter with the honorable Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam movement. Baldwin’s encounter with Muhammad shows the reader that although Baldwin certainly had ties to the Nation of Islam movement, some of the views of the movement were too narrow minded and too extreme for him to fully accept. Baldwin refused to believe that all white people are devils and as a result Baldwin depicts himself as a man who respects the efforts of the Black Muslim movement, but cannot be a member of it.
In today’s world people judge others just by looking at them and making decisions based on their appearances and actions. Misconceptions are caused by making assumptions firsthand, receiving incorrect information from a source or seeing a few members from a specific group commit an action which is attributed to the whole group. Most of the assumptions made are almost incorrect because the people who judge do not follow through to see what the truth is regarding their observation. Misunderstandings are caused by how the spectator interprets the expression of the group causing confusion. These misunderstandings often times go viral and are sometimes even carried on from one generation to another. Several religious groups are often perceived in a different light than their true identity. American Muslims, followers of Islam, are one of the major groups who are victims to this mass misconception.
The various terrorist attacks performed by hijackers across America created a stigma around the Muslim religion. The events were categorized as terrorist attacks by the Islamic extremists who wish to overpower other governments. Islam is a religion founded upon peace and high morality as stated within the Quran. After the attacks on 9/11 the image of the Muslim religion became filled with violence and bloodshed. As statistics show from the FBI, “anti-Muslim hate crimes are approximately five times more frequent than they were before 2001” (Frumin). With the rise in discrimination against the religious group as a whole, extremists, radicals, and moderate everyday worshiping believers have been categorized together into one general group. In accordance to this assumption, the number of mosque vandalism has increased since the events of September 11th. There has also been a production of anti-Muslim rhetoric produced, fueling the discrimination against the religious group. The FBI has heightened surveillance around mosques and conducted ‘voluntary interviews of Arab and Muslim Americans (Frumin). The Muslim population within America has received many discriminatory actions against them from the government and the American population as a whole, all stemming from the events of 9/11 created by Islamic
In conclusion, a large portion of the stigma we associate with Muslim Americans today can be accredited to the American National News, whom frequently broadcast biased material that conveys nefarious stereotypes and promotes negative attitudes. In order to reverse the false perception, and negative demeanor Americans carry in regards to Muslims, awareness must be raised about the manipulation techniques used by the mass media that influence the public opinion on the controversial subject of terrorism.
Characterized as a hatred of Islam, or feelings of fear and abhorrence toward Muslims (Samari 1920), Islamophobia in the United States has increased at rapid rates, and as a result, has caused negative health implications in the American Muslim community. Reinforced by the terrorist attacks in Orlando, San Bernardino, Paris, and the sudden emergence of The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Islamophobia is not concerned with anti-Muslim sentiment only, but is instead representative of a history of U.S. policy that has reinforced xenophobic and discriminatory attitudes toward Muslims starting from the 17th century (Samari 1920). Because of this enduring stigmatization and subsequent damage to interpersonal and structural systems (Samari
Since the events of 9/11, the tension between Americans and Muslims has only worsened throughout the years. Through the power of the media influencing the misunderstanding of Islam and fueling the hatred towards them in the country, it became a fire difficult to contain. Rather than some Americans choosing to fully understand what Islam is and how Muslims practice it, they choose to remain clueless in the matter and follow what the media states or pick out certain quotes from The Qur’an and explaining it in an incorrect context. Ironically, this hatred is hidden safely behind the term “Islamophobia,” which means someone who fears the religion of Islam or Muslims (the people who practice the faith). Most arguments against Islam are how it oppresses women, but what
The turbulent world we live in today has countless imperfections. John Esposito, a professor in Georgetown University, states both alternative and intriguing ideas on the future of Islam and its upcoming era of reformation. The main issue is the extremists and fanatics who use Islam in order to justify their terrorist actions. Furthermore the Western media has stained the religion of Islam to the point where Muslim-West foreign relations have declined since the 1970’s. As stated by Esposito within his book, “The Future of Islam”, Islam had become the center stage of media networks and many news agencies; one witnessed “an explosion of interest in and coverage of Islam.” Islam has since then become a sensationalized topic and also has become the headlines of the 21st century’s history. Esposito further states how this misconception of Islam is a controversial and important role in today’s politics. Today’s Muslim population of over 1.5 billion people plays an integral role in today’s global history and Western society. Esposito’s main objective of this book is to explain “how we got to where we are and what we need to understand and do to create… ‘a new way forward’.” Esposito also explains throughout his book how Islam has been both a “source not only of compassion, morality, and virtue but also of terror, injustice, and oppression.” His ideas can be thought of as both promising and controversial to say the least.