Cartoonist: Mike Luckovich
Publication: Atlanta Journal 08 Sept. 2010
So WHY do Americans have Islamophobia?
What impact does mass media have?
Islamophobia as defined on our blog is the fear toward Muslims. Why are Americans so afraid of Arabs/Muslims? My argument is that especially since the 9/11 attacks on U.S. soil, the mass media has done so much to fuel the fear Americans have towards Arabs and Muslim people. Whereas, editorial cartoons seem to be helping us reconsider the fear we have by criticizing through satire the things we see depicted in the mass media. Editorial cartoons, at least many of the ones we found are starting to help us see more positive framing toward Muslims. But what do we see in the news whether through newspapers or TV? It is not the same frame. A few examples:
Take this story! In recent events, pundit Juan Williams got a $2 million contract from Fox News for telling the world he was scared of Muslims. An article ran concerning this columnist from the Huffington Post, with a story about a time when she profiled some Muslims at an airport. This columnist is scared of Muslims too! (News coverage of these incidents only adds to the problem and many viewers or readers in America then relate to these fears).
http://gawker.com/5671725/huffington-post-columnist-fondly-remembers-the-time-she-profiled-arabs
At the gate waiting for their flight, Crittenden saw two Arab men whom she describes ominously in the Huffington Post:
Both looked to be about 25 or 26, of Arab descent, beards, dressed in the modern Atta traveling fashion of jeans and t-shirts. Neither had any carry-on bags for an eight-hour flight. One of the men was reading an Arabic newspaper while the other seemed twitchy — he kept looking around, and repeatedly kept pulling out his documents from a small bag to check them over again. I became fixated on them for the next two hours: I had books and magazines but my eyes kept straying to watch what they were up to. After a little bit, both men took to pacing nervously — when they weren't looking over their documents again.
She became suspicious, because "they matched almost every profile of a terrorist I'd ever read."
Then, the final straw: "Promptly at three o'clock, the two men went over to a large window, fell to their knees and began elaborately praying to Mecca." At this point, Crittenden made her husband talk to some airline employees and, I guess, inform them that his wife was irrationally terrified of two brown people. They assured them that there was nothing to worry about, but Crittenden refused to board the plane. She made the airline remove their luggage and the family spent the night in Paris.The next day, they turned on the television and saw the flight they were supposed to have taken was blown up by Muslim terrorists and everyone aboard died! Wait, no: nothing happened. The family took the next flight to America. However, instead of realizing how absurd her fear was, Crittenden revels in her "terrorist profiling"
What about on the news? Our friends at Fox News especially aid this fear of the Muslims.
According to Media Matters, there are many recent anti-Muslim statements made on Fox News or by Fox News personalities. Here are some recent examples:
O'Reilly: "Muslims killed us on 9-11." During an appearance on the October 14 edition of ABC's The View, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly was asked by co-host Whoopi Goldberg why building an Islamic cultural center near ground zero was "inappropriate." O'Reilly responded: "Because Muslims killed us on 9-11." The remark prompted Goldberg and co-host Joy Behar to walk off the set. O'Reilly later said, "If anybody felt I was demeaning all Muslims, I apologize." Appearing on Fox News' Glenn Beck later that day, O'Reilly claimed that "every opinion poll in the Muslim world" shows that "most Muslims don't believe 9-11 was even committed by Al Qaeda." Following the controversy over O'Reilly's View remarks, Fox News hosts and commentators rushed to his defense.
Brian Kilmeade: "[A]ll terrorists are Muslims." On the October 15 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade defended O'Reilly's View comments by claiming the show's hosts "were outraged that somebody was saying there's a reason -- there was a certain group of people that attacked us on 9-11. It wasn't just one person. It was one religion. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims." Kilmeade later repeated the false claim that "every terrorist is a Muslim" on his radio show. He also asked if "Americans have a right to look at moderate Muslims and say, 'Show me you're not one of them,' " referring to terrorists. On October 18, Kilmeade said: "I misspoke. I don't believe all terrorists are Muslims. I'm sorry about that, if I offended ... or hurt anybody's feelings. But that's it." He also revised his remarks on the October 18 edition of his radio show.
Fox News figures baselessly claimed Islamic center would be a "command center for terrorism." On the September 7 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, co-host Bill Hemmer said of the Park51 Islamic center, "It could also be the first stop for a radical jihadist who comes to America who wants to go pray." On the August 18 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News contributor Dick Morris said of Park51: "These Sharia mosques ... have become the command centers for terrorism," adding, "So this one would be, too." The next day, Morris made similar remarks on Fox & Friends; during the show, Fox Business host Eric Bolling also claimed that Park51 "may be a meeting place for some of the scariest minds -- some of the biggest terrorist minds." Kilmeade later said of Park51: "The next Hamburg cell could be right downtown."
Peter Johnson Jr.: New York Muslims should "give up their rights" in order to be "good neighbors." Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. stated on the August 20 edition of Fox & Friends that the issue of the Park51 Islamic center is "about neighbors becoming good neighbors." He added: "Any American can assert a right. Great Americans give up their rights to help those they share nothing else with but a love of this country." On September 3, Johnson repeated that those building the Islamic center should "give up their First Amendment rights."
Fox News' Crowder: "The truth is that Muslims tend to be more violent than Christians." In discussing the Army's decision to rescind Graham's invitation to speak on the National Day of Prayer, Fox News contributor Steven Crowder declared: "The truth is that Muslims tend to be more violent than Christians."
Fox hosted Michael Graham, who previously called Islam "a terrorist organization." To comment on Franklin Graham and the controversy over his attacks on Islam, America's Newsroom hosted conservative radio host Michael Graham despite the fact that he was reportedly fired by WMAL-AM "after he refused to soften his description of Islam as 'a terrorist organization' on the air." The Washington Post reported on August 23, 2005: "According to WMAL, Graham said 'Islam is a terrorist organization' 23 times on his July 25 program. On the same show, he also said repeatedly that 'moderate Muslims are those who only want to kill Jews' and that 'the problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam.' "
(The list goes on and on and on!!! )
It is not just the News that gives fuel to our fear, today on TV programs and in the movies dealing with modern warfare, Muslim or Arab people are almost always depicted as the “bad guys.” An article ran that criticized the hit TV show ‘24’
Mike Derer-The Associated Press
Updated 1/18/2007
CLIFTON, N.J. — Two years ago, Muslim groups protested when the plot of the hit Fox drama “24” cast Islamic terrorists as the villains who launched a stolen nuclear missile in an attack on America.
Now, after a one-year respite during which Russian separatists played the bad guys on the critically acclaimed series, Muslims are back in the evil spotlight. Unlike last time, when agent Jack Bauer saved the day, the terrorists this time have already succeeded in detonating a nuclear bomb in a Los Angeles suburb.
Being portrayed again as the heartless wrongdoers has drawn renewed protests from Muslim groups, including one that had a meeting with Fox executives two years ago over the issue.
“The overwhelming impression you get is fear and hatred for Muslims,” said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. She said Thursday she was distressed by this season’s premiere. “After watching that show, I was afraid to go to the grocery store, because I wasn’t sure the person next to me would be able to differentiate between fiction and reality.”
She said the group had a conference call Wednesday with Fox executives to protest the current plot line and request more positive portrayals of Muslims on the show, but was not promised anything.
After a January 2005 meeting with the Islamic group, Fox aired a commercial in which the show’s star, Kiefer Sutherland, urged viewers to keep in mind that the show’s villains are not representative of all Muslims.
In a statement issued late Wednesday night, the network said it has not singled out any ethnic or religious group for blame in creating its characters.
“ ‘24’ is a heightened drama about anti-terrorism,” the statement read. “After five seasons, the audience clearly understands this, and realizes that any individual, family, or group (ethnic or otherwise) that engages in violence is not meant to be typical.
“Over the past several seasons, the villains have included shadowy Anglo businessmen, Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and even the (Anglo-American) president of the United States,” the network said. “The show has made a concerted effort to show ethnic, religious and political groups as multidimensional, and political issues are debated from multiple viewpoints.”
The current season began with Muslim terrorists waging an 11-week campaign of suicide bombings across America, culminating in the detonation of a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb in Valencia, about 26 miles north of Los Angeles. Estimated death toll: 12,000.
Watching the show’s characters talk about detonating a nuclear weapon a few blocks from where she works unnerved Sireen Sawaf, an official with the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council and a “huge ‘24’ fan.”
“It’s a great show, and I do realize it’s a multidimensional show that portrays extreme situations,” she said. “They have gone out of their way to have non-Muslim terror cells.
“But I’m concerned about the image it ingrains in the minds of the American public and the American government, particularly when you have anti-Muslim statements spewing from the mouths of government officials.”
Sohail Mohammed, a New Jersey immigration lawyer who represented scores of detainees caught up in the post-Sept. 11 dragnet, watched the episode depicting the nuclear attack with an Associated Press reporter.
“I was shocked,” he said. “Somewhere, some lunatic out there watching this will do something to an innocent American Muslim because he believes what he saw on TV.”
Engy Abdelkader, a member of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee from Howell, N.J., launched a campaign Wednesday to encourage Muslims offended by the program to complain to Fox.
“I found the portrayal of American Muslims to be pretty horrendous,” she said. “It was denigrating from beginning to end. This is one of the most popular programs on television today. It’s pretty distressing.”
Concerns about Muslims’ civil rights, detention of terror suspects in Guantanamo-like holding centers, and stereotyping are given vastly expanded treatment on “24” this year. In one exchange, the show depicts the president’s national security adviser challenging the White House chief of staff over the detention of Muslims without criminal charges.
“Right now the American Muslim community is our greatest asset,” the security adviser says. “They have provided law enforcement with hundreds of tips, and not a single member of that community has been implicated in these attacks.”
“So far,” the chief of staff responds.
It’s EVERYWHERE! The Arab/Muslim image has been and continues to be distorted by the mass media frames and we as Americans feel insecure and afraid unless we read and do what we need to do to become informed.
Distorting the Arab Image
20/10/2010
A wise man once said "If you want to defeat a nation, strip them of their identity, sense of dignity, and self-confidence." This description applies perfectly to the Arab world which is mired in disputes and is drowning in a sense of helplessness and frustration to the point that Arab individual have already begun to lose their pride, identity, and sense of belonging, and are close to losing hope of ever escaping from this vicious cycle. This disquieting state of affairs is connected to the deliberate and ongoing distortion of the Arab image that occurs abroad. Even now, the term "Arab" is linked in the minds of many to the stereotype of a backward and greedy human being who dislikes all westerners and does not know how to respect women. As if this were not enough to distort the image of Arabs; the Arab and Muslim character is now being associated with terrorism to the point that many people at an airport worry if they hear someone speaking Arabic or see someone with a beard and dark skin. The 9/11 attacks have been used to establish this image and continue the character assassination of Arabs and Muslims.Many books, articles and films have contributed to promoting this stereotype to the point that the terms "Arab" and "Muslim" are almost completely synonymous in the minds of many with terrorism and treachery. Sometimes when reading a book you might suddenly find an Arab character portrayed as coarse, cunning, and untrustworthy. Whilst in Hollywood films about modern warfare or terrorism, one only finds Arabs and Muslims portrayed as the "bad guys" and as being merciless killers or terrorists who wants to kill innocent people and destroy the West.
This process occurs in a systematic and pre-meditated manner, strengthening this negative image and ensuring that Arabs and Muslims are subject to ongoing humiliation and attack. This is something that is compounded by the reality of the situation in our region and the fragmentation, disputes, and wars that are taking place there which see [human] rights lost and dignity exhausted; all the while the Arab individual is surrendering to this reality.
This character assassination and stereotyping – which eliminates human dignity – was suffered by the Jews in the past, where books and stories in the west portrayed them as being mean, greedy, and duplicitous. The Jews were negatively stereotyped, causing them to be outcast in many western societies. However, the Jews worked, and continued to work, in an attempt to abolish this old stereotype and prevent it from reappearing. They did so by using the weapon "anti-Semitism" as well as by controlling the media and culture and gaining access to the political and economic decision-making centers in the West.
Likewise the African-American community suffered under slavery in the US, suffering a lack of dignity and character assassination with the propagation of a racist stereotype of African-Americans as being lazy and barbaric, fit only to work as manual labor. However the African-American community fought against slavery and racism to overcome a number of obstacles. They are still working to change this racist stereotype and develop a sense of pride in their identity. This may explain the cooperation and sympathy between the many African-American and Jewish organizations in America, as they have suffered in the past and have a common interest in combating racism. However there is also a view that the Jewish movements – by coordinating with African-American organizations – were seeking to address the phenomenon of radical African-American Islamic convert groups such as the "Nation of Islam."
There can be no doubt that one of the by-products of the Arab-Israeli conflict is that Israel and its allies are behind campaigns to distort the Arab image abroad, in order to inflict a political and moral defeat [on the Arabs]. However we have also contributed to distorting our own image via some of our own actions, or by falling into the trap of frustration and submission. We have lost the ability to highlight what was positive, and we are now imprisoned by our focus on our negativities. Therefore we are preoccupied with defining people as being Sunni or Shiite, Christian or Muslim, northern or southern. We focus on the issues that divide us and cause conflict, rather than on what unites us and creates harmony.
There is undoubtedly a link between the human sense of pride, dignity, and pride in one's identity and an ability to confront injustice or rise from misfortune. The Japanese and the Germans were able to recover from their defeat [in World War II] and rebuild themselves because they did not lose their pride in their identity. The Arab individual will not regain respect unless he shakes off the sense of defeatism and reclaims his pride in his identity. The dire situation that we are currently witnessing reflects the feeling of many Arabs who are not proud of their identity, and merely repeat that the situation is dire, and that there is no way out of this bottleneck in order to change the situation. Change must begin with a revival of pride and dignity, and then confronting the distortion of the image of Arabs and Muslims in the outside world. We must also address some of the actions that are being undertaken by a minority of Arabs but which harm the Arab majority and serves the interests of those who want to target us and distort our image. This is a war that we must win in order to begin anew.
Summary:
The mass media have had and continue to have an impact on the image Americans have of Arabs/Muslims by the way they are framed in books, in the news, and on television shows. Many Americans continue to be fearful of Muslims and associate them with terrorism, not realizing the fact that it is the Islamic radicals who are in fact the ones committing the terrorist attacks. As the Editorial Cartoon above demonstrates, truly not all Muslims are hateful and violent and Americans need to do better at letting go of the stereotypes. Extremist views of Muslims in America need to be corrected so that the views the world has of Americans isn’t distorted and viewed incorrectly as well. Everyone deserves the right to dignity and respect, regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, or religion and it begins with awareness…it begins with us!
Posted by Tyler Anderson
