Aslam Alaikum,
Today as a Muslim, I greet Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Buddhists as my brothers and sisters in faith. Today as a human, I greet every individual in this classroom regardless of ethnicity or culture with respect. Everyone that is sitting here is a unique individual who cannot be compared or replaced by another. And while this is a fact of life, forms of media like news, entertainment, and Internet/social media are overwhelmingly biased and judge people by their race, religion, and culture.
News has played a significant role in bringing a fear of Islam to the Western world. A worthwhile example of this is the portrayal of Islam after 9/11. The first major wave of hate against Islam in North America hit on September 11th, 2001. Coincidentally I was born on June 17th, 2001, only 3 months before 9/11 happened. My guardians were forced to take care of a newborn child and 6 children in the face of a nation that hated for them. Somehow, even though we had no direct relation to radical Islamic extremists, we took the blame for 9/11 because of the media's broadcasting. My father recalled when my eldest brother got into a fight at school five days after 9/11. My brother came home bloodied and bruised with his right eye turning purple. When my father questioned my brother about how this happened, he justified his actions when he explained that another child called him a terrorist. My father's attitude went from Shocked and angry, to calm and monotone, and he said:
Fear in itself is something to be feared. Fear is the primary source of insanity and chaos. Fear alone sent the Puritan society of Salem, Massachusetts into a state of utter hysteria in the year 1692, when one of the world's most infamous witch hunts occurred. Arthur Millers play, The Crucible, is a historical fiction depicting the events of the Salem Witch Trials. A witch hunt is a political campaign launched on the pretext of investigating activities subversive to the state. Every witch hunt is identifiable by the five key elements; the use of a scapegoat, a struggle to maintain moral order, a subversive character or group, an outbreak of hysteria and panic, and ulterior motives that provide
"Who are you?"(Eggers 206) were the first words that Abdulrahman Zeitoun heard from the police officers that had surrounded him and his friends with their guns drawn as he walked out of 5010 Claiborne that he owned. He had been stopping by the house to use the telephone once a day to call his wife Kathy, who was in Arizona with their four children to escape Hurricane Katrina, a catagory 5 hurricane that had hit New Orleans, the city they lived in. Abdulrahman Zeitoun had stayed home to protect his many properties that he and his family had required in the sixteen years since he had moved to the city. He was a general contractor and owner of Zeitoun Painting Contractors, LLC. He also owned several rental houses around the city and had
9/11 was a tragic, dark time for many american citizens. The feelings lost ones are ever present along with the aftermath of these events. Could 9/11 have a good outcome? I believe it may with it causing many life saving advances such as modern airport security, a war on terror, and surveillance
On September 11, 2001, 2,996 people were killed in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon building in Virginia, and in a plane crash in Pennsylvania. Religion played a huge factor in what happened on that tragic day, and also what we believe in our world today. Many people have very strong religious beliefs with who they believe in and who they do not believe in. Religion has an impact on our world due to the fact that people will stand up for what they believe in and they will not stop until people believe them or they are stopped. 9/11 happened due to the extreme beliefs of the Muslims, through the use of symbolic targets, what the Muslims believed in, and with what the United States got involved in prior to the attacks.
Smoke bellows into the sky, children cry. Everyone stands in awe and shock as they see, one shadow of a person jump, one by one of the two 110 story buildings. 9/11 is one of the U.S devastating moments. To many people died. The young and old. The two hijacked planes showed no mercy as they soared 500 miles per hour into the Twin Towers. 9/11 was where Osama Bin Laden targeted people, who never knew what their terrible fate would be.
According to a Scripps Howard poll, thirty-six percent of Americans believe that “Federal officials either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or took no action to prevent them because they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East” and, based on the evidence, these beliefs are completely valid. The commonly accepted version of the tragic events which took place on September 11, 2001, is that a certain number of individuals from a terrorist group known as Al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and flew them into the two world trade buildings, the pentagon, and the last one into a field. How is it though, that the United States of America, having the strongest, most advanced military in the world, happened to miss not one, but four planes flying off course, heading straight for some of the most important buildings in the country? The sad truth is that they didn't miss these planes at all, evidence
September 11, 2001, the start of terrorism in The United States, and the end of innocence in our lives. Some of us are lucky to never know the fright of that horrid day. For others though, the events that transpired on September 11 will live on forever in their memory.
In a recent survey, a television network randomly asked people what came to mind when they heard the word Islam (Boston Globe 2005). The majority of the responses were 9/11, terrorists, suicide bombers, Saddam Hussein, and other things along those lines. This may have reinstated the opinions of those who thought poorly of Islam, and already believed it to be a "United States hating" terrorist religion. Now I see these fallacies even more clearly because I too had similar beliefs; but after taking a course on terrorism, I have since reconsidered my outlook. The survey did show to viewers, with more knowledge of Islam, the common misconceptions that many people in this country have. After 9/11 it was quite difficult for the media to shine
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.
Every American citizen can remember exactly where they were on the day September 11, 2001, this day was burned into the mind of American because the biggest terrorist attack in American history would occur. Two Boeing planes hijacked by a terrorist organization named al-Qaeda who would crash the planes into the world trades centers, sending America into shock(Pizzo,2016). There have been countless laws and regulations passed in America since the awful terrorist attacks on 9/11, has it been effective or a failure. The attack on September 11, 2001, will forever be a turning point in American history, it raised one of the most important questions in American society today what is more import for a citizen freedom or security and the law put in place to combat these horrific terrorist attack ultimately would be ineffective and tear American more apart on political issues.
“Islamophobia is prejudice towards discrimination against Muslims due to their religion, or perceived religion, national, or ethnic identity associated with Islam because Muslims have different beliefs and values”. (Islamophobia wikipedia 1) Like anti-semitism, racism, and homophobia. Islamophobia describes mentality and actions that domain an entire class of people. Jews, African-Americans, and other populations throughout history have faced prejudice and discrimination. Islamophobia is simply another reincarnation of this bigotry. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary,a phobia is an exaggerated, usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. It may be difficult to determine or communicate the source of this fear, but it exists. From this definition we can see how is so unfair to connect the word phobia to Islam specially because the word Islam in arabic means peace and safety. All that means that a lot of people don’t know nothings about Islam and the unknown can easily provoke fear.
Muslims do not seem to have achieved social acceptance in the society as compared to other ethnic or racial minority groups. Although deviant behavior by Muslims or Muslim organizations can in no way be considered acceptable let alone be tolerable, denouncing an entire community of people of the same religion, color or ethnicity etc. as terrorists or evil or with any other form of bigotry cannot be acceptable either. However, the mainstream media today tries to foster hate and intolerance among people towards minority groups. The shift in journalism from providing public with information to providing personal opinions and views is one of the major flaws in the media today and is a vital aspect of media bias. The fact that journalists, media celebrities and activists try to convince the viewers into believing their own opinions and views and are told what to think instead of just providing them with information is what is wrong with the media today. According to an American broadcast journalist, news corporations are on a quest to increase profits and television rating point which has led to partisanship. Moreover he claims that in achieving this it has “supported the rise of hyper-opinionated news personalities, and encouraged the embrace of their biased approach to news gathering” (“Introduction” 4). It is common to come across activists and other media personalities making bold statements and declaration against the Muslim community. An astonishing example of the media
In today’s society, news and media have a great influence in how we see individuals and groups within the United States and even globally. One example is how many news outlets are portraying Muslims. They are often described as anti-gay, anti-female, anti-human rights, barbaric, uncivilized, etc. By describing the Muslim community in such harsh terms the media is allowing Muslims to become “Others” and monsters. While terrorism is a huge and scary issue facing this world, we can’t fully blame all Muslims for this. However, with the way the media is describing Muslim communities it can almost be easier to view them as monsters and the sole proprietors of terror. Another example may be the 2016 election. The candidacy of Donald Trump was met
How the has media poisoned peoples’ brains to think like this. Media has created this mental construct, in which all Muslims are the “bad guys”. Media plays a big role in a lot of different situations. Media mostly portrays African American as “thugs, and drug dealers”, media portrays Latinos as all being “illegal”. Media plays an essential role in the development of the young children, who’s brains are still developing. It really affects their world view.
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