Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
America’s Lie: The Goal of the Muslim and Arabic People as a Whole is to Incite TERROR
This particular political cartoon drawn by Pat Bagley is actually in a sarcastic way showing people that all the “threats” to their lives are small break-off groups and the probability of them actually being killed by these people is unlikely. However, the problem with this cartoon is that those who are fearful of Islamic terrorists, government death panels, black racists, and criminal illegals have now had their fear of the Muslim people as terrorists reinforced as this is the way that Muslims are often portrayed in mainstream media.
This particular political cartoon drawn by Pat Bagley is actually in a sarcastic way showing people that all the “threats” to their lives are small break-off groups and the probability of them actually being killed by these people is unlikely. However, the problem with this cartoon is that those who are fearful of Islamic terrorists, government death panels, black racists, and criminal illegals have now had their fear of the Muslim people as terrorists reinforced as this is the way that Muslims are often portrayed in mainstream media.
In American-produced media, there seems to be a huge amount of discrimination in that all portrayals of Muslims refer in some way to the branches of radicals. Muslims and Arabs are invariably framed to appear as terrorists in many major media outlets. They are displayed as evil, dangerous, and quite often insane. This is what Americans think of Muslims and Arabs as, not as a people or a religious sect but as a group of suicide bombers whose one and only goal is to destroy the Western world and all that it stands for. The view of Muslims and Arabs as only terrorists comes across in news, movies, talk shows, and even children's cartoons.
Arab Muslims are fanatics who believe in a different god, who don't value human life as much as we do, they are intent on destroying us (the west) with their oil or with their terrorism; the men seek to abduct and brutally seduce our women; they are without family and reside in a primitive place (the desert) and behave like primitive beings. The women are subservient — resembling black crows — or we see them portrayed as mute, somewhat exotic harem maidens.
- Shaheen (Reel Bad Arabs)
NEWS:
Fox News: The O'Reilly Factor
In this clip, O'Reilly is taking on terrorism and undocumented immigration all at once. Though traffic violations are illegal, it seems odd that Fox News expects officials to recognize a terrorist based on a large amount of traffic violations. The question can then be raised: Is Fox News saying that all people with numerous traffic violations should be considered terrorists or is this merely a case of racial profiling?
MOVIES:
Action
Black Hawk Down - In this movie, the antagonists are Muslim terrorists. Though they do not look Arabic and do not fit the racial profile for how Americans view Muslims, it is mentioned in the movie that the villains are indeed Muslims. This reaffirms the media-induced stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists.
Comedy
Achmed the Dead Terrorist: This comedy skit by Jeff Dunham sarcastically yet accurately portrays the framing of Arabs and Muslims in American media. The dummy wears a turban, screams about the crowd being infidels, and threatens to kill them. He also mentions Saddam, which groups Al Qaeda and Iraq together, based on the misconception Americans have that the whole Middle East is involved in acts of terror.
Animated Children's
Disney’s Aladdin: This is the original introductory song to the film. The phrase “where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face,” was removed in the later versions of the film. Interesting how early children learn that Arabia is “barbaric” and cruel. It is also interesting to note in this film that the hero, Aladdin, is portrayed more like a white American with no accent and who wears no turban, yet the villain, Jafar, is a stereotypical Arab with a heavy accent.
The Thief and the Cobbler: In this children’s movie the hero again is depicted as a white American. The villain, however, has a thick Arabic accent and comes from “the desert.” Later in the movie, a group of “desert people” are depicted as uneducated barbarians during the song, “We’re What Happens When You Don’t Finish School.”
Villain
Hero
BOOKS:
Angels and Demons: Even American literature is entrapped in this all-encompassing stereotype. The main villain in one of Dan Brown’s masterpieces is BOTH an Arab and a Muslim, as explicitly stated in the book.
MAGAZINES:
Time (July 8, 1993) – Interesting on the cover of this particular issue of Time, both “Islamic” and “Saddam” appear. Again, American mass media is lumping an entire religion under the catch phrase “terrorist."
As you can see, the epidemic of “Islamophobia” that is spreading throughout the nation can be traced back to the framing of the Muslim people through the use of mass mediums. Media are continually reaffirming the “evilness” of Muslims and Arabs in their entirety. Very rarely in the media do you see a Muslim person portrayed in a positive light. Somehow it seems this could be easily connected to the fact that many Americans see all Muslims and Arabs as potential terrorists.
NEWEST SCANDAL IN HOW AMERICAN MEDIA PORTRAYS MUSLIMS
"Muslims killed us on 9/11" - Bill O'Reilly (The View)
Posted by Kacie Chappell
