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Islamophobia and its causes
Islamophobia and its causes
Islamophobia and its causes
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The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 changed America and the world forever. When we hear about terrorists in the news, most often the media is referring to a person of the Islamic descent. The actions of a small group of radicals caused society to generalize about the entire Muslim community. Research done by Jack Shaheen, a professor of Mass Communication from Southern Illinois University and a consultant to CBS News, showed that the media has the ability to create false stereotypes of Muslims. The government enforces stereotypes here at home, which influence policies. During times of conflict, the media functions as the carrier of government policies. (Alexandar, Hanson, 64). Through this form of mediatization, prejudice and misconceptions about the Muslim community has risen.
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...
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Islam is a religion of peace which provides rights to men and women equally. Because of the actions of a small group of extremists who misinterpret the sacred texts of the Quran, the Muslim population is forced to live in a world of Islamophobia. In order to tackle this issue, the media needs to display stories, conduct films of every day Muslims, not of the stereotypical Arab who blows himself up. Individuals should learn about the religion and understand the context, instead of relying on content to be provided to them through a television screen. As a Muslim, I will do my part along with my peers, to show what my religion means and help break the stereotypes. Through advocacy, education, public speaking, and broadcast programs about Islam, we can show the world that we are a peaceful religion just like the other monotheistic and polytheistic religions.
Every time a terrorist attack happens the media jumps all over it, and puts their own twist on what had happened. “Thus, the media has a strong potential to influence how the public thinks about social problems like terrorism, especially because most people only experience terrorism through mass-media accounts...This research also finds that media portrayals of terrorism increase anxiety among the viewing public.” (Chermak, 2006) The media is one of the leading causes of stereotypes, and what influences our beliefs today. When you think of a terrorist, you may think of either a middle aged muslim male or a middle aged white male with some sort of mental or social disorder. This isn 't always the case. A terrorist can be of any race, age, and social class. Due to the media 's influence, we all believe in the same stereotypes and imagine the same description of what a terrorist may look like. This is one of the main reasons behind racial profiling.
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
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.
Movies, one can argue, are one of America’s greatest pastimes. Unfortunately, after 9/11, films have become increasingly prejudiced against American Muslims. In movies Muslims are frequently portrayed negatively. According to James Emery, a professor of Anthropology, Hollywood profits off of “casting individuals associated with specific negative stereotypes”. This is due to the fact that viewers automatically link characters with their clichéd images (Emery). For Muslims, the clichéd image is of the violent fundamentalist, who carried out the terroristic attacks on 9/11. As a result, the main stereotypes involved in movies display Muslims as extremists, villains, thieves, and desert nomads. An example of a movie that has such a negative character role for Muslims in film is Disney’s cartoon Aladdin, depict...
Islam is portrayed and is commonly accepted as the most violent and largest direct threat to the West. This is a generalization made by most of the West, but it is not particularly the West or the Islamic people’s fault. There is constant turmoil in Islamic countries in the Middle East and these conflicts are what make the news in the West. The only representation in the media that the Islamic nation gets is that of war. Though most Islamic people are not violent, the select few that do participate in terrorist groups give the rest of the Islam nation a bad image.
Islam in America has historically been misunderstood, and this is due to the misconception of culture and religion as well as lack of education and incorrect portrayal in the media, which gives a skewed idea of Islam. Especially in the United States, Islam has been seen as the “terrorist religion” or a religion for the extremists and a religion in which freedom is not an option. Among the countless misconceptions, the basis of stereotypes by Americans is due to the mix up between religion and culture. Furthermore, the media only fuels fire to these misunderstandings and lack of factual information about Islam causing Americans to lash out on American Muslims without reason.
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.
Islam has been characterized by the media as a religion of violence. Images of Islam have been translated through several means such as media and cartoons causing several conflicts and controversies all over the world. One terrorist attack and an over exaggerated media characterization changed the face of Islam today causing it to be victim to stereotypes and generalizations.
Stereotypes In the Media Stereotypes play an important role in today's society and particularly in propaganda. According to the Webster's Dictionary, stereotyping is defined as a fixed conventional notion or conception of an individual or group of people, held by a number of people. Stereotypes can be basic or complex generalizations which people apply to individuals or groups based on their appearance, behaviour and beliefs. Stereotypes are found everywhere in the world. Though our world seems to be improving in many ways, it seems almost impossible to liberate it from stereotypes.
In relations to this article, I had recently seen a video made by Comedy Central’s Hasan Minhaj on how islamophobia targets America’s Sikh (non-Muslim) residents. In this video, Hasan randomly selects candidates on the street, he holds up a poster with four photos on it—a bird, binoculars, a Sikh man, and kids playing hide and go seek—then, he asks a simple question, “which one of these is a Sikh?” The first man points to the bird, meanwhile the second one points to the kids playing hide and go “seek”. Clearly, the media has had significant influence on how Muslims or should I say “terrorists” are portrayed throughout the United States of America. Media outlets have long instilled a fear of terrorism in American people without educating them; the portrayals of Muslims in the media have contributed to the construction of precarious Muslim stereotypes. I am baffled knowing some Americans accept everything they hear the media—they assume that a man wearing a turban with a beard automatically must mean that he is a Muslim, a terrorist or even
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
In current day, Muslims have to face discrimination due to other Muslims doing the wrong thing. According to an article by Fox News published on April 19, 2017; a 14-year-old Muslim girl was tackled and had her headscarf ripped off from her head while the victim yelled terrorist. The name of the subject is not publicly disclosed, but can only be described as an older white male. They are wanted on charges of assault and theft. Even though this event seems scaring, it did not affect the life of the girl. She still lives her normal, day-to-day life; following her Muslim beliefs and continuing to wear her headscarf.
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.
After 9/11 has induced negative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incident. Because of this, society has developed, and still has developed, this prejudiced mindset about the Islamic religion and the Muslim communities around the world. People immediately assume that any violent act being depicted through the media is the direct result of Muslims. They automatically generate this idea that the act was performed by a Muslim terrorist even when they were not involved whatsoever. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Islamic religion and its Muslim adherents are at the top of societies’ agenda just waiting for the evidence to be generated so that they can then safely blame them for such world affairs. Again, this has led to the attack on the Islamic religion itself wherein people have come to postulate Islam as an act of oppression, violence and hatred towards non-Muslims. Anti-Muslim sentiments and campaigns have resulted from such misinformation the media has been generating and feeding its viewers.
Edina Pepic Com Research 2600 9/30/2015 Arab Feminist Media Studies I chose to critique a very controversial representation and portrayal that is very present around the world today, which is Islam and the picture society has on Arab Muslim women today. The article was written by Salan Al- Mahadin and is called “Arab Feminist Media Studies. ” I thought this would be an education piece not only for me to read, but also to write about because the author presents many valid points regarding the media stereotype for Arab women and these are present day issues.