Post- 9/11 Media Portrayal of Islam and the Middle East and its negative consequences on Muslims in the Western World
Increasingly, I find that the media has begun to label religions as ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and their basis for these judgments is highly flawed. More often than not, Islam is at negative end these labels, but why is that? Is it because under the garb of religion, brainwashed terrorists hijacked airplanes and crashed them into buildings? If so, then the media need so to rethink their content generation skills and focus on issues that actually deserve importance, such as global hunger, sanitation and health. The post 9/11 media portrayal of Islam and it’s followers is highly problematic as it falsely generalizes all Muslims to be
Can you recollect a time that a mainstream news resource covered a positive news piece anything even remotely related to Islam? Or an anti-war movie that was released without the plot involving Middle Eastern terrorists? The answer would be closer to a ‘No’ than it would be a ‘Yes’. The modern media portrays Muslims in the most negatively stereotypical of ways. The basic picture painted is- veiled, angry, illogical, radical, gun wielding, war waging, and the strongest word of them all- terrorist. However, to give news channels their due, they cannot possibly cover all aspects of Muslims. As American political commentator Walter Lippmann said, “One must distinguish between news, and truth.” Not every piece done by a news source is biased, but they do frame their reporting in such a way that it fits into a framework along the beliefs of our society’s majority groups. This framework is seen in the choice of words and language they use, the kind of images they display and the way they cover issues. By broadcasting in such a manner, the media successfully creates an outline that they want us to see, perceive, and ultimately believe and abide by. Thus, stereotypical perceptions are ingrained in our minds as we view such content. This has been the case in reference to Muslims, especially after 9/11. I will now be projecting some examples from the media that support my stand of Muslims being portrayed in a negative light. ‘Peace, Propoganda and the Promised Land’ is a documentary that depicts how the American media understates the predicament of the Palestinian and overstates the plight of Israel ‘victims’. There is a mention of ‘Israeli settlements being attacked by Palestinian forces’ when firstly-the settlement is on Palestinian land, and secondly- they are illegal settlements. The Israel-Palestine conflict has been a long standing issue which seems. DOUBTFUL
The fight between Israel and Palestine has been seen as an unfair battle, due to the high-tech supplies given to Israel by the US. Israel’s military is extremely strong and constantly growing, with people joining from all over the world, while Palestine’s main defense is a terrorist group called Hamas. Israel has been forced into building a wall surrounding the Gaza strip to stop these terror attacks from harming the citizens of Israel. Palestine believes that Israel’s fighting is too severe compared to Palestine’s attempts at attacking Israel. Gideon Levy wrote, “Once again, Israel’s violent responses, even if there is justification to them, exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness, morality, international law, and wisdom (Document 5, Palestinian View)”. The Palestinians believe that the Israeli military is fighting too much and unfairly, and should not be allowed to take these measures against them.
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.
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.
The misrepresentation of Arabs and Muslims is sometimes flagrant in American newspaper articles. There is often a tendency to attribute other signifiers to the term “Arab. This term is usually, substituted with the term “Muslim.” Richard Cohen, a journalist from The Washington Post epitomizes the deliberate mixing of the terms “Arab” and “Muslims.” He intentionally amalgamates those terms with terrorism; thus, Arabs, Muslims and terrorist become synonymous. Cohen states that “one hundred percent of the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 mass murder were Arabs. Their accomplices, if any, were probably Arabs too, or at least Muslims. Ethnicity and religion are the very basis of their movement.” (Ibish 124)
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...
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
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.
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.
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
Because the Palestinians were furious about owning less land than the Israelis but, they began attacking Israel with bombs and rockets; the angered Palestinians were terrorizing the Israelis with terrorist attacks because they owned more land than they do (Issitt and Montanez - Muhinda). Will this conflict ever be solved? Should the United States get more involved with any of this? Yes, the United States should continue to help the state of Israel because the ambassadors of each country, Israel and Palestine, do not get along very well, the United States’ relationship with Israel will continue to grow and become stronger, and fewer deaths and terrorist attacks will occur in both Israel and Palestine.
A lot of people believe that Muslims, Islam, and/or the Holy Quran encourages killing, fighting, and terrorism. Events such as the 9/11 attack in the United States, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and conflicts in the Middle East causes the media to label Muslims as terrorists. When a specific group of people cause violence to another group it is categorized as ‘hate crime’, but if a Muslim does the same act, the media immediately labels it as ‘terrorism’ (Frater, 2009). As a matter of fact, regarding to the attacks of the mosques in Israel, the media did not use the acts to victimize or stereotype Judaism. Moreover, some extremist groups use Islam as a tactic to gain followers even though a lot of their practices go against the teachings of the Quran. A person would not be considered a Muslim if they spread fear or terrorize others. The Quran clearly states, “You shall not take life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law.” (Quran, 6:151). Islam is against any force or violence towards another person. Often the word ‘Jihad’ is taken out of context by violent militants; it means to strive or struggle for the sake of ones’ self improvement with respect to their spirituality. Religious and political groups use Jihad to justify ...
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.
...ry, this project specifically looks at broadcast media; it does not include the representations of Muslims in print media. Furthermore, the use of focus groups creates an artificial group. Systematically picking a group for the purpose of this experiment excludes many other age groups, ethnicities, beliefs, and other demographics. In focus groups, some people are not always keen to say their views and might end up agreeing with what others say. Furthermore, demographic profiling may be an issue because just because they have the same socio-economic background, that does not mean that attitudes and perceptions are the same. With the hope of understanding audience perceptions about Islamophobia, the data acquired from this research should aid in understanding of what approaches and methods can be employed when tackling bias and impartial views imposed by the media.
The contributing factors that led to the growth of Islamophobia in America post 9/11 are a mass hysteria caused by media, influential voices speaking against Islam and an increase of biased stereotypes. Some of the news’s greatest ways of contributing to the rise in Islamophobia is by giving unrealistic over-exaggerations and non-legitimate statistics in order to display an overall false narrative of the actual matter at hand. For instance, Tom Shillue (stand-up comedian) stating on Fox’s The Five that if there is a moderate Muslim voice “out there” now is the time to speak up and Sean Hannity calling for a “Jihad rising worldwide”.