Controversies of Anti-Muslims Discrimination Since the attacks on the world trade center back in 2001, it had consequently pushed the thorn deeper into the American views toward the people of the Middle East. As thousands of people die and as millions watched the once prominent twin towers collapsed into dust and rubble, their hatred toward the Muslims and ultimately the religion they practiced, Islam, had intensified. With this hatred comes the words and actions of hate, therefore millions are now suffering a new kind of weapon, millions of Muslims are now suffering under the harsh words and violent actions that are being targeted to them. The influences of the prejudices had spread greatly across the nation. As each year passed, more and …show more content…
A poll that was conducted by the YouGov found that “on average, 55 percent of those it surveyed held an ‘unfavorable’ opinion of Islam” reported by Elizabeth Whitman on her article on “What is Islamophobia?”. Islamophobia is a recently added term that is defined as the fear of any Islamic activities and their practitioners. There is clear evidence of the influences from Islamophobia especially in the US. After the 9/11 attack, controversies during the 2008 elections of building mosques near the attack site, and more recently the Paris Terrorist Attack, Islamophobia had spiked up viscously. According to recent studies by the FBI, the hate crime incidents from “Anti- Black”, “Anti-Jewish”, and “Anti-Gay” had been on a steady decline as each year progressed since a decade ago. On the other hand, the “Anti-Islamic Hate Crime Incidents” in the US had crescendo. After the great spike of ’01, as each year passd, there had been no relent on the Muslim …show more content…
Not a month went by without any reports on hate violence targeting the Muslim community. Murders of Muslims followed by threats and vandalisms on Mosques and temples to people being assaulted and called “Terrorists” or a “Bin Laden” were present. Not only that, but “many houses of worship, have been forced to employ increased security measures three years after six worshippers were gunned down at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin”, reported by Deepa Iyer on her article “The stories Americans tell about 9/11 leave out discrimination against Muslims”. Words of hate had become actions of hate. These kind people were scapegoats of the real terrorists and the faulty ideologies employed by these groups of people. There is no cure for the extreme prejudices. You cannot control the thoughts of the people, therefore you cannot control the actions of the people, and this goes both ways. The racisms had become so relevant and significant that one of the significant topics during the Presidential campaigns is on the Muslims. The campaigns are beginning to account for the problems of Islam. Gregoy Krieg of CNN reported that “GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said he would consider compelling Muslims to register in “database” and that some mosques might be shut” and his fellow Republican candidate Ben Carson on his comparison on Syrian refuges to “rabid dogs” to Democrat
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.
They are a reminder of America’s long and deeply ambivalent history with Islam, Arabs, and the Middle East.” (Makdisi 1). Makdisi feels that the fear of Muslims was not always there; stating that Thomas Jefferson read the Quran and was very interested in the religion. Protestant missionaries wanted to save and convert the people that practiced Islam; the missionaries did not fear Muslims or Arabs (Makdisi 1). Makdisi goes on to say that the fear of Muslims did not start until the end of the 20th century mainly because the new wave of Immigration in the 1960’s. Makdisi says, “rather, the stigmatization of Arabs and Muslims occurred principally because of the politics in the Middle East and because of the enormously consequential United States role in the region” (Makdisi 1). Makdisi blames the United States ' involvement and support in Israel and states that the Iranian hostage situation was "similarly a direct response to the United States support for t he Shah of Iran” (Makdisi 1). Makdisi argues that the people of the United States were hurt by the policies our own country had in place. Both Lyre and Makdisi agree that the attacks on September 11th, 2001 only reinforced the stigma that was there and make it easier for the world to view all Muslims, Arabs, and all people from the Middle East in a negative
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.
The way Muslims have been treated after the 9/11 incident is very different than before. Before 9/11 there was certainly some discrimination towards Muslim Americans, but after the attacks happened, between the years 2000 and 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 1,700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). “While trying to adapt to the outcome of 9/11, Muslim Americans dealt with an increase in negative stereotypes spoken by the common culture, and Muslim immigrants faced more negative attitudes than any other immigrant group” (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). Since the 9/11 attacks, people who dress with a substantial resemblance to Muslims worry about the upcoming hatred and unfriendliness from people of other ethnicities (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). While listening to the media, one can hear reports of negative stereotypes towards people who resemble the Muslim religion, which may be assumed that these people are violent. Negative attitudes that Muslim Americans experience may have detrimental effects on their success in America and their success of achieving the American Dream.
For a second, the U.S. stood still. Looking up at the towers, one can only imagine the calm before the storm in the moment when thousands of pounds of steel went hurdling into its once smooth, glassy frame. People ran around screaming and rubble fell as the massive metal structure folded in on itself like an accordion. Wounded and limping from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, America carried on, not without anger and fear against a group of innocent Americans, Muslim Americans. Nietzsche’s error of imaginary cause is present in the treatment of Muslim Americans since 9/11 through prejudice in the media, disregard of Muslim civil liberties, racial profiling, violence, disrespect, and the lack of truthful public information about Islam. In this case, the imaginary cause against Muslims is terrorism. The wound has healed in the heart of the U.S. but the aching throb of terrorism continues to distress citizens every day.
Consequently, it is no surprise that the most powerful media sources are spewing out pieces of hateful rhetoric that result in the “othering” of Muslims in the U.S. With the increase of Islamophobia and American nationalism. are currently driving hate crimes and institutional discrimination, human fear and emotion are becoming twisted and utilized as weapons in of its
As the racial targeting, hate-crime increased, racial discrimination bullying, becoming victims of prejudice, and having unequal publicity because of bias racial after 9/11 towards the Islam-Americans. It was often proven how Islam-Americans have become pariahs in all religion that are in the categories of Islam, because of the similarity in the image that a Sikh-American or Muslim-American holds. However this bias view in society towards the Islamic-American is certainly wrong because it has created an unfair environment in communities for them which leads them to become and feel pariahs, as it should be change by speaking up, changing the way we socialize around the topic as it may spread.
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.
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.
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
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
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
...lim violence mentioned in class lectures include a taxi cab driver in NYC who identified himself as a Muslim and was shot dead by the passenger, four pieces of construction equipment was destroyed at a future mosque site in Tennessee also in Tennessee, a pipe bomb went off in a mosque in Jacksonville killing somewhere around 60 people. This is only a few example of the many hate crimes committed against Muslims in the United States. Muslims not only face hate crimes in the U.S., but all over the world today which is particularly disturbing in the U.S. which has a Constitution that states all citizens are free to practice their own religion, but clearly as of late, this is not true for Muslim Americans.
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 ...