Post 9/11 Islamophobia

Islamophobia within the United States is an ongoing social issue that negatively impacts the Muslim-American community. Muslim-Americans are forty-eight percent more likely to have experienced discrimination and harassment in the past year compared to Protestants, Catholics, and Jews (“Islamophobia,” n.d.), thus confirming the fact that many non-Muslims within America view followers of Islam as worthy of being labeled as scapegoats and foreigners more than the followers of any other religion deemed harmless to American society. With regards to this social problem rooted in discriminatory profiling, this paper examines how the social conflict, structural functionalist, and symbolic interactionist theories can be used to examine the issue of Islamophobia in America.

Following the terror attacks in The Unites States in 2001, there has been an increase in Islamophobia in the Western World. Following 9/11, respondents indicate that levels of implicit or indirect discrimination in The United States rose by 82,6% and experiences of over discrimination by 76,3% (http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/21/3/317.short). A combination of how Arabs and Muslims are portrayed in the media, with the increase of organized terrorist groups and refugees since the Arabic Spring, makes this a big political challenge today. This bibliography is written to get an overview of why Islamophobia has increased and the challenges that comes with the rise of Islamophobia.

After a horrible terroristic attack that shocked the whole world on September 11th in the center of New York City, Muslims in the Western world have been constantly fighting against prejudice. After September 11, media interest in Islam increased, where Islam was usually portrayed in a negative way. Before 9/11, many Muslims lived the normal, everyday life. However, the attack has changed lives of many people that belonged to the Muslim community, where they were the victims of guilt. Unfortunately, many Americans were introduced to Islam, after the 9/11 attack, thus even till today, Islam is associated with terrorism. For the past ten years, Muslims felt excluded from the American society by being rifled, attacked, discriminated, checked

Following drastic events such as 9/11, national moral has shifted in terms of its openness towards foreign immigrants. Consequently, national security would be bolstered as more officials began to set ethics aside to allow room for prejudice and racial targeting. Just as African Americans were common targets of the early 20th century, Muslims have become the scapegoats for much of today’s issues, often being labeled as terrorists just because of their difference in looks and beliefs. It was unfair to the innocent majority of this labeled group, as many outsiders into the belief that “Post-9/11 Islamophobia demanded that all Muslims answer for the violent actions of a few extremists.” (O’ Connor). With this strict interpretation came the rise of many hate crimes, set to punish the whole Muslim race in efforts to scare off the few, actual terrorists. It has led to this back and forth growth in tension, as extremist groups have come to prominence in the Middle East to address such pressures. Just as the Brotherhood spoke out on their intolerance of their racial discrimination, vocal leaders have risen in today’s age, not just to discuss Muslim equality, but to give a say for everyone throughout the world. Continued progress is being made towards disregarding this sense of prejudice that is made that is solely based off of looks or

According to research obtained by Cornell University scientists, 92% of Americans watch TV, 87% read newspapers, and 81% specifically watch local or national televised news stations…

Since the incident of 9/11 occurred, many people have debated over the Muslim faith and its practices. Muslim extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS have affected the name of Islam causing majority of Muslims to be blamed. Recently, a tragic event that occurred in Paris killing over a hundred people left the people of France shaken with fear and anger. These events have lead to an increasing amount of hate and tension towards Muslims all over the world from protests at mosques, where Muslims go to pray, and anti-Muslim rally’s. Islamophobia is a massive issue that has steered European counties like France to enforce laws that ban religious garments that Muslims wear such as the niqab and burqa. Some people perceive these garments to be

A current cultural conflict taking place in America today is religious. Many Americans discriminate against the Islamic faith and there have been countless acts of mistreatment of Muslims in the work place, at school, in public, and in the media. Negative feelings and acts toward Muslims have become so prevalent that in 1991 the Runnymede Trust Report coined a term for it. The report defined the “unfounded hostility toward Muslims, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims” as “Islamophobia” (Defining “Islamophobia”). There has always been some religious cultural conflict with Muslims in the United States, but since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, conflict has escalated significantly.

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

Past acts of terrorism done by foreigners have provoked fear throughout the American people. 9/11 is one example that brought upon a negative change. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks Americans were scared of foreigners, especially any person that was Islamic, coming into the country. The 9/11 attack caused Americans to associate any Islamic person with being a terrorist. This provoked a change in airport security. According to the article “To Combat ISIS, Welcome Syrians”, Anne Speckhard explains how the negative connotation with the Islamic religion has made it very hard for the innocent Syrians fleeing their country to seek asylum in the U.S. “We have failed to enact efficient practices and sufficient resources to allay our fears that within

Islam is a faith, also a way of life, in which the followers believe in a God, Allah, and a prophet Muhammed, and they are called Muslims. They follow their sacred book called the Quran and they follow the word of Allah and pray so they can earn their spot in Heaven when they die. Islam means submission, so the religion is a submission to God. Nothing within their practices is violent, “Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness” (Islamic), therefore the false pretenses some have with this faith based off of what they’ve witnessed on television or have concocted on their own in no way makes Muslims the ideal terrorist. Quite frankly, these mistaken beliefs are due to the media skewing their views on the stories televised which cause a domino effect because people at home get their own interpretation and spread this false definition it to others who again do not do more research. Since terrorists of Muslim descent are the main ones spewed over the media, that is the spearheads Americans have connected to their definitions of terrorist even though they are far from correct. Adel Termos was a 32-year-old Muslim man who noticed a suicide bomber and sacrificed his life by tackling the bomber “[saving] about 200 people who were in the Mosque” (Hall). If

The abuse, stereotyping and scapegoating of Australian Muslims is on the rise in 2016 and the media isn’t helping.

In addition, the post 9/11 stigma has disturbed the American-Muslim mentally. In a brief report conducted by an American Psychologist,"Post 9/11: The Impact of Stigma for Muslim Americans," Saera Khan examines the communities experience. Khan conducted 12 studies on different populations and collected the data through her personal contacts outside the mosques, community centers and organizations. The survey involved 11 questions regarding how Americans view Muslims and Arabs. The data was collected between 2003 and 2006 after the two years of 9/11 incident. At that time there was a high wave of hatred towards Muslims in the American society. The type of questions which were asked were about how people were looking them after 9/11? Many of

“Neighbors of husband and wife San Bernardino shooters 'noticed them acting suspiciously but did NOT report them for fear of racial profiling'.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 4 Dec. 2015, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3344736/Neighbors-Saudi-husband-wife-San-Bernardino-shooters-noticed-acting-suspiciously-did-NOT-report-fear-racial-profiling.html#ixzz4sN2kdJj2. Accessed 12 Sept. 2017.

Since Islam is a religion that promotes peace and kindness, one could ask where the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists originated. Following the tragedies of September 11, 2001, Arabs and Muslims have been presented as potential terrorists. This idea stemmed from the theory that, “media bias increases when a specific ethnic, religious, or racial group is seen as a threat to national security.” (Stiffler, 2013). Since the attacks on September 11, 2001 Muslims and Arabs have been “hyper-visible” in the media as potential terrorists. Due to the negative media attention and failure of most media platforms to

Fifty million Muslims supporting terrorism – at least, under circumstances where they feel their religion is threatened – is a truly worrying number.  It's not that there are 50 million terrorists to worry about; it's that the bloc of violence supporters and sympathizers will refuse to cooperate in rooting them out and preventing terror attacks.