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Relationship between religion and terrorism
Essay on terrorism and religion
Essay on terrorism and religion
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Recommended: Relationship between religion and terrorism
Representation and Construction of Heroes
Heroes are often described as a person who against the opposing forces fights for their rights and freedoms. Osama bin Laden is the pin up boy for terrorism. The monster and the mastermind, But is he really the villain western media makes him out to be?
Osama bin Laden, to millions, with his face regularly plastered on television and across the magazine covers and front pages of newspapers, is immediately associated with evil. To most he is guilty of mass murder, although he hasn't been found or tried, and there has been no publicly released evidence connecting him with the said crimes.
He is beloved by millions for his holy war against America and by those of the Islamic world who also hold a strong hatred towards America for what in their society is regarded as a debauched culture and imperialist government.
"We declared jihad against the US government, because the US government is unjust, criminal and tyrannical. It has committed acts that are extremely unjust, hideous and criminal whether directly or through its support of the Israeli occupation." - Osama bin Laden - to CNN in March 1997.
He is the hero who gave up an easy life to take on the arguably biggest, strongest and most allied country on the globe. He has self-funded a global terrorist network and justified killings with mysterious interpretations of the Koran, labelling them as a mission for Allah.
The Muslim culture holds a high amount of pride for their ability even through the passing years and changing phases of the outside world, to keep their culture almost unchanged since around 600 AD. A fair amount of resentment has built up over the years from the interference of western culture with the seemingly untarnished of the Middle East. From the perspective of the Muslims the western and specifically American culture is offensive and filthy. A lot of the malice shown towards America can be derived from this, in their opinion depraved cultures penetration of theirs.
Although they have been active since the late 1970's, Osama Bin Laden to most was an unknown person before September 11, 2001, when his worldwide terrorist network, Al-Qaeda took to the world trade centres with two aircraft, 157 onboard civilians and hearts set on vengeance. Osama has been criticized for not being personally involved in previous attacks and to this he answered:
" . . . For the American forces to expect anything from me personally reflects a very narrow perception.
A hero is defined as "someone admired for his bravery, great deeds or noble qualities". There are three categories to which all heroes can be classified into, one of which is the anti-hero genre.
Osama bin Laden was an adversary of the West for years and it was known to the whole world. Unfortunately, he took it a little further by having two planes fly into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another plane possibly for the White House. As we all know, this is the unforgettable day of September 11, 2001. Thousands of Americans were innocently murdered that day and in our own country by a terrorist organization. The United States of America would not stand for this and rapidly sought out Osama Bin Laden for what he had done to us. This is the day that caused the United States to accelerate the search and destruction efforts of bin Laden. Soon after September 11th, the United States was very involved in Afghanistan in trying to find him.
Discrimination Imagine being discriminated against anyplace you went, with glares from many and you haven’t done anything to receive those judgments. Muslim Americans in the U.S. have to deal with that discrimination every day post the events that happened on 9/11. Some take drastic measures, such as changing their birth name, in hopes that they can avoid being judged by others. Muslim teenager Alisha, told her story that while visiting Six Flags with her family, an American man yelled at her father with the racial comment, “F**k you Osama!” She would also get asked offensive questions, like if she hated Jews too.
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all people wearing turbans are stereotyped as Muslims and terrorists when that is not always the case. The attitude many people display towards Muslim Americans is not the same as it was before 9/11. There are now many negative stereotypes against the Muslim religion, that are not always true, and the effects on the Muslim American people can be harmful and cause many personal and emotional issues. Life became more difficult, after 9/11, for Muslim Americans and it made the American dream more complex for Muslims to achieve.
Bin Laden begins his letter to the American people by naming the Right to Self-Defense as a justification for 9/11. He invokes Self-Defense by listing a number of grievances: American attacks on Palestine, Russian
The most infamous leader of the Al Qaeda is Osama bin Laden of Saudi Arabia. Osama Bin Laden did not derive his theories, practices, or views because he was educated or raised through the teachings of Islamic seminaries, though his principal inspiration appears to be based upon far-reaching religious sentiment. His higher education was actually the study of engineering at a prominent university in Saudi Arabia (Schweitzer and Shay, 2003). Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian, was a highly regarded mentor and the primary source of persuasion for Bin Laden’s ideology and fundamental vision. Azzam was the main architect behind jihad views and is credited as the founder of Al Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden also shaped his outlook from the works and actions of zealous Islamic philosophers from all over the middle-eastern region of the world that opposed Soviet occupation (...
Over time, attitudes toward Islam were growing more hostile. Today, the support for torture is stronger and counter-terror policies became worse. The strength of the term Muslim-looking grew more powerful. Political parties strive to keep Muslim-looking Americans safe from their own neighbors. Even though over time national identity has become more respectful and tolerate other religious beliefs, the American Creed still hold the values that they want to preserve at the up most high. They will not change their values, instead they will change their values, which in turn changes what it means to be an American.
Many Muslim immigrants came to the United States of America as slaves from Africa during the 1500’s. Free Muslim immigrants started to arrive to the USA as early as the 16th century, more of them started to migrate to the United States after the Civil War. Many Muslims used refuge and education as an excuse to come to the United States and start a new life. The fact that dictators dominate most of the Muslim territories usually means that there is persecution, violence, poverty and even war. These events caused most of the Muslims to seek happiness and peace in the new world: the United States.
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.
Muslims have been facing propaganda by media of the western world since many decades. Western media spreads any negative incident in which Muslims are involved very quickly. Many people have developed such an understanding due to this stigmatization that they normally think of terrorism, violence and other extreme things when they hear about Islam and Muslims. One major incident behind such stigmatization is the 9/11 attacks on America.
The definition and guidelines for using the term “hero” to describe a person can be as diverse as the land we live in, however, regardless of your cultural identity the shield of “hero” must be earned. It is defined as “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities, is regarded as a model or ideal (Dictionary.com, 2014). In Classical Mythology, a hero is “a being of godlike prowess, a warrior of special strength, courage or ability” (Dictionary.com, 2014). This describes how we have portrayed our present day heroes, the pedestal that we put them on, after actions reflecting heroism, have been awarded the title. Difficult to earn, harder to retain, but forever remembered.
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
Al-Qaeda Introduction Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization established in Peshawar, Pakistan, between 1988 and 1989 by Osama bin Laden and his teacher Abullah Yusuf Azzam. Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist network that is considered the top terrorist threat to the United States. Al Qaeda is seeking to get rid of all westerns from Muslim territory and replace their own Islamic regime. They are a group of people who work together to plan acts of terrorism against Muslims and non-Muslims especially in the United States. Al Qaeda believes that they are fighting a holy war against the enemy of their religion.
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.