Othering Analysis

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9/11 marked a major event in history for the West and the Islamic world. It bought the war on terror which has been going on for over 14 years and with over one million deaths. The media framed Islam in a bad light and created the idea that they were evil invaders who hate the west. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, former president Bush proclaimed that “they” were attacking “our” culture, our way of life. Who is “us” and who is “them?” (Sorrels 2013, p. 2). This lead to the increase of ‘othering’ of non-Christian religions in Australia especially in regard to Islamophobia and xenophobia. The process of othering often creates prejudice and discrimination against groups of people. This piece will cover the history of ‘othering’ and that it dates back before 9/11. It will also demonstrate the reaction of the media and people to 9/11 and how othering played a major part in the media especially in regard to Muslim people and how it continues through racism and discrimination today. Othering is …show more content…

Briskman (2015) believes this also, as she explains how 9/11 and the terrorist attacks in Bali, Madird and London have caused the media to put the blame and create propaganda against Muslims and how they face racism and discrimination because of this. She discusses the abuse Muslim woman encounter especially when wearing the hijab, for example, a Muslim woman was attacked in a shopping centre left with a broken arm, and was yelled to ‘Go back where you come from’. Matindoost (2015) explains how stereotypes have been made to portray Muslims as wanting to ‘wipe out the west’, where as any attacks carried out by a Caucasian, like the Oslo massacre, is often viewed as justifiable by the excuse of being mentally ill or having physiological problems, but never claimed as a

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