Muslims After 9/11 Essay

830 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of agenda setting in media

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?
Keywords: Islam, Muslims, 9/11, discrimination, …show more content…

Instead of just highlighting one perspective on which Islam and Muslims have been misrepresented, this paper will illustrate the different tactics that the media use to misrepresent Muslims as a whole. This aims to serve as an outline for the many effects that the media had on Islam and Muslims after 9/11. The study begins by giving a detailed overview of how agenda setting theory directly relates to the rationale of this paper. Next, it will provide examples of the specific terminology used by the media to influence the perception of Muslims. In addition, it will attempt to contrast the proliferation of hate crimes pertaining to Muslims that took place before and after 9/11. Then, by analyzing how the media played a significant role in illustrating a radical Islam for its audience. Moreover, it will analyze the ways in which the cartoon depictions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad were discussed in the media. Finally, this paper will conclude by presenting multiple solutions on media biases and how we, as a nation, can further prevent ourselves from the influence of the

Show More
Related

  • 9 11 Essay

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    On September 11, 2001 terrorists crashed two American airline airplanes into Twin Towers, killing thousands of people. It was the worst terrorist attack in American history and it showed us that we are not protected by Atlantic and Pacific. It showed us that we could be attacked by anyone at anytime. It showed us that if we will be attacked again that we can only depend on each other and not on other nations to help us. The 9/11 changed people forever, some lost family members or friends, others lost their jobs even so called “American Dream.”

    Read More

  • Life of a Muslim in the U.S. after 9/11

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • September 11: The Attacks Of 9/11

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    The attacks that occurred on 9/11 took place on September 11th, 2001. In this devastating event, four different attacks had taken place. Each of the attacks were carried out by terrorists. The group responsible for the attack was Al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist organization that is known to be global in present day. The group itself has a network consisting of a Sunni Muslim movement that aims to make global Jihad happen. Furthermore, a stateless, multinational army that is ready to move at any given time. This terrorist group focuses on attacking non-Sunni Muslims, those who are not Muslim, and individuals who the group deems to be kafir. Ever since the late 1980s, Al-Qaeda has been wreaking havoc all around the world. The leader of the group once being Osama bin Laden. Three planes were bound for New York City while another plane headed towards Washington, D.C. which was supposed to take out the U.S. Capitol. Two of the airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center. One plane hitting the North Tower and the other hitting the South Tower. The third plane had crashed into the Pentagon taking out the western side of the building. The last and final plane was focused solely on taking out the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. but failed due to passengers of the plane coming hijacking it from the hijackers. The passengers attempted to take out the hijackers but sadly failed, crashing it into a field in Pennsylvania. Throughout the content of this paper, we will be focusing on the role of media when it comes to 9/11; more specifically: how the media's coverage of 9/11 manipulated our feelings towards 9/11, how it affected Islamophobia in America, and the lasting effects of 9/11.

    Read More

  • Stereotyping of Arab Muslims in the New York Times for the Past Forty Years

    3581 Words  | 8 Pages

    This study examines stereotyping of Arab Muslims in the New York Times for the past forty years. Theorists suggest that stereotyping of a minority group effects the public's opinion of that group. Other communication media theorists say that only under extreme conditions will the negative stereotypes reflect the publics' opinions of the portrayed minority group. The parallel theory between propaganda and stereotyping by the mass media is examined. Theorists including Thomson, (1977) & Myers, (1992), related to mass media effects strongly agree claiming that repetitive and non-contradictive images in the media are an effective form of propaganda. The research samples are random article reviews of the New York Times for the past forty years. Using every fifth year and 2 random numbers ranging from 1 to 12 is used to select an article search date. Islam was the search term. The Gudykunst & Kim( ? ) method of analyzing a stereotype is used to evaluate the 8 New York Times articles. The results indicate 95% of the articles were "vague," labeling entire group rather than individual. Out of the total 100%, 70% of the article used unfavorable trait characteristic labeling.

    Read More

  • Post 9/11 Racial Profiling of Muslim Americans

    2655 Words  | 6 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Islam in America

    2522 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Impact of Stigma for Muslim Americans Post 9/11

    2518 Words  | 6 Pages

    Islam is the religion that provides a complete code of life including social as well as personal spheres. Islam has been targeted by many stereotypes including extremism since last few decades. The reason behind these stereotypes are on some facts and to some extent widely propagated through media. Many people involved in criminal activities, get highlighted easily by media and catch the attention of general public if they are Muslims. A major role behind these stereotypes is played by the outcomes of the 9/11 attacks. Muslims have been targeted with stigmatization and other forms of racial discrimination. They have to face tight security at international airports. Employers have also been showing concerns or hesitation while hiring Muslims especially the immigrants. Many reasons beside 9/11 attacks behind Muslim stigmatization in United States have been in existence since many decades.

    Read More

  • Islamophobia Essay

    1781 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Crucible: The 9/11 Attacks

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Zeitoun Analysis

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    In contrast to the two stories we have heard already about innocent Muslims being attacked or imprisoned because of their religion, "Shifting Signifiers Of Otherness: The 2002 ' DC Snipers' In The U.S. Press” by Angie Chuang and Robin Chin Roember examines the media representation of two people with ‘othering’ identities who committed a crime. The authors took 141 different articles from the Washington Post and the Seattle times about John Muhammed and John Malvo, who had gone on a shooting spree in Washington, D.C. Malvo was primarily portrayed as having the identities of a Jamaican immigrant, black, and Muslim. Muhammed did not the have the background of an immigrant, so he was just portrayed as a black Muslim. The authors of the paper closely examined the terms used to describe them in all 141 articles. They chose Malvo and Muhammed because of their overlapping yet unique identities. They found that, “U.S. news coverage of crime or terrorism perpetrators belonging to “Other” identity groups tends to focus on single, salient signifiers of race, religion, and immigration status” (Chuang). Malvo and Muhammed were not represented as an entire identity,

    Read More

  • Media Influence on Perception of Muslim Women: A Macro Perspective

    1682 Words  | 4 Pages

    Taking a macro level approach, this paper will be arguing that structural institutions like the media makes use aware of our national identity. Along with this, it shapes our understanding of other cultures whether positive or negative. Many people who watch movies or television shows can see that there is an abundance of negative portrayals of Muslim women, whereas it is often tough to see positive ones. This paper will deconstruct how this negative representation showcases aspects of colonialism, racism, and white supremacy in western society.

    Read More

  • Muslim American Identity

    1342 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite the seemingly progressive nature of this representation within the current Islamophobic national environment, Fairey’s poster of the Muslim American woman also suggests a more regressive view of the Muslim-American identity that has long been a tradition in the media. In her work, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, Evelyn Alsultany suggests that the strategy of “inserting Patriotic Arab or Muslim Americans,”8 in

    Read More

  • Islamophobia Essay

    2152 Words  | 5 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Islamophobia: Muslims and Terrorism

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Muslim and Islamic Women

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    Patel, Sairra, “The Media and Its Representation of Islam and Muslim Women”. 75 Arguments: An Anthology. Ed. Alan Ainsworth. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 157-163. Print.

    Read More

More about Muslims After 9/11 Essay

Open Document