The Increase Of Islamophobia And The Mass Media

Islamophobia, the term that was not very well-known before September 11, 2001, is now known to almost any individual of any age. After September 11th, islamophobia became a part of many Muslims’ daily lives (O’Connor “How 9/11 Changed These Muslim Americans’ Lives Forever.”) Not only did Muslims have trouble going through customs and security at the airports, but they also encountered islamophobia in their daily routine. Since September 11th, terrorist jokes became popular among many non-Muslim Americans who oftentimes did not understand the seriousness and the offensiveness of those jokes. Some found the “Muslim terrorist” stereotype to be somewhat justified and did not consider it to be as insulting as, for example, the representation of Black and Asian Americans in 1920s and 30s cartoons. However, the two are equally abusive and it is horrible to realize that in some ways, the American

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.

Post 9/11 negative stereotypes and attitudes toward Muslims intensified in many Western societies. “The FBI recorded a sixteen-fold increase in hate crimes (e.g., acts of arson, aggravated assault, property crimes) against Muslim Americans from 2001 to 2002” (Rodriguez Mosquera & Khan & Selya, 2013). All of this goes to show that Non-Muslim Americans were taking out their emotions on innocent Muslims. Not only was all this going on, but the U.S. Congress’ response to the attacks was the USA Patriot Act. The USA Patriot Act gave, “the government investigative powers to fight against terrorism and subsequently targeted those in the Arab, Muslim, and South Asian communities with not just prejudices against these communities, but blatant racism toward innocent people, just because they appear to look like they “identify” with those who have made terrorist threats” (Akiyama, 2008). The discrimination post 9/11 was awful. The hijab which was seen as a prideful garment for Muslims became a target for discrimination. In the article, “9/11 Ten Years Later: Muslim Women, Organizations Work to Fight Discrimination, Patel talks about a woman, Wasan Mohamad. Mohamad talks about how she and her friends/family were discriminated against ten years after 9/11. Her daughter in class got told that her people were responsible for 9/11. Her friend changed his name from

Students complained that their hijab(head covering worn by Muslim women) were snatched frequently. There were several reports of harassments, assaults and hate comments made to the students in their schools. Even the elementary school children, were accused for the terrorist attacks (Ibish 2003). In some cases, student refused going to school and rather asked to be home schooled. Many showed signs of fear, stress, tension, bed-witting and anger as reported by parents (Ibish 2003). Presently, the anti-islamic hate crimes have decreased in comparison to the following year of 9/11. But still 160 incidents of hateful activities against the Arabs and Muslims were reported, which still is 4.7 times more than 28 hate crime incidents recorded prior to 2001 (FBI 2010).

No student should have to suffer unfair consequences due to a teacher’s political view or the harassment of other students based on their background. This research paper will discuss the mistreatment of American Muslims before high school up until college, that includes elements such as subconscious harassment at a young age, instructors’ political views, direct attacks, and fear for their safety. It will also explain the differences between non-Muslim bullying versus Muslim bullying.

All around the country, colleges and universities are increasingly punishing or censoring students who engage in offensive speech. Concerns indicate that a failure to act will lead to liability under federal anti-discrimination law. In many instances, the possibility of liability is weak or non-existent. “Except in the most extreme circumstances, schools are not required to expel students for their speech in order to avoid liability.” Instead, schools are punishing students for their demonstrations of free speech if it opposes the “safe space” and inclusive environment that colleges and Universities have been trying to promote. (Papandrea)

According to New York Times journalists Caitlin Dickerson and Stephanie Saul, over the past two weeks, college campuses have experienced resurgence in discriminatory behavior that has been unmatched since the September 11 attacks over fifteen years ago. Emily Bazelon adds in her New York Times article, “Bullying in the Age of Trump,” that these acts of terrorism against minorities are not limited to college campuses, but that they are even displayed in even in middle and high schools.

Nearly all colleges and universities have adopted some form of anti-discrimination/harassment policies. These policies are meant to ensure that no student will be discriminated against due to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability. Many universities have adopted more specific policies regarding “hate speech” which prohibits speech or conduct that creates an intimidating, hostile, or an offensive educational environment towards minorities, women, gays and lesbians, and the disabled. The problem with universities enforcing a strict speech code is that it is often a vague policy that in itself is discriminatory as it violates The First Amendment. The case of Omar Mahmood, a student at the University of Michigan who was disciplined for writing a satirical article, “Do the Left Thing” illustrates the problems with these types of policies.

Islam is a monotheistic religion, centered around the teachings of the Qu’ran and serving Allah (meaning God in Arabic). However, this Abrahamic religion has been harshly discriminated against in the United States for years. Most prominently throughout the last twelve years, post September 11th, 2001. Unfortunately, issues such as socialization through the media, power distribution, religious ignorance, stereotyping and visible differences have contributed to the ill attitudes towards Muslims. This paper will examine how Americans have been socialized in islamophobia within the United States.

The seventh grade was my first year back in the U.S after living overseas for three years. I looked forward to going to school again in the states; however, I encountered my first bullies on the bus. They made fun of me for wearing the hijab (headscarf) all the time; they even threatened me. All I did was cry after they got off the bus. I suspect that the reason why those boys did that to me was because they grew up with a negative connotation towards Muslims and Arabs. Why does the media use Muslims as a centerpiece in many of their over exaggerated stories? Being a Muslim teenager myself, I therefore know what is true and what is not in regards to the religion I choose to follow. So, I began to search for their motive behind doing so and

Aside from what the news portrays, many Americans have limited knowledge of Islam and Muslim people. Because prejudice against Muslims has been deeply integrated into American society for such a long time, it has even become clear in classroom settings. For example, in my AP Human Geography class, we were debating on ways we could prevent terrorism, specifically referring to ISIS as the basis. The discussion could’ve been harmless, however, my teacher made a point to place the only two Muslim kids in the class, including myself, on the negative side, while Christian students spoke for the affirmative. Naturally, they were allowed to speak first; the first solution they thought of was the improvement of education in the Middle East so that students would learn that terrorism is wrong, and it astounded me—everyone knows that terrorism is wrong.

Muslims faced tremendous amounts of prejudice after the September 11th attacks. The September 11th attacks were four coordinated attacks perpetrated by the terrorist group known as Al Qaeda. These attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 innocent people. These terrorist attacks also contributed to the fear that we now know as Islamophobia.

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.

In Oxford English Dictionary, Islamophobia is defined as “intense dislike or fear of Islam, especially as a political force, hostility or prejudice towards Muslims.” This term was first used in 20th century and had its’ own definition at 1970s. Particularly, after the 11 September events -which a radical Islamic group claimed its responsibility- in U.S.A. most of the non-Muslims in the world knew the Muslims with violence. The Berkeley Institute on Racism Studies says that Islam is often seen as a religion of violence which supports terrorism and has a violent political ideology. This perception of Islam is enlarging globally more and more because of some reasons such as terrorist attacks in non-Muslim countries, effect of media on the people, misunderstanding of Islam, and lack of the true representative

The connection between Islam and terrorism was not intensified until the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center that pushed the Islamic faith into the national and international spotlight (Smith, 2013). As Smith (2013) articulated, “Many Americans who had never given Islam a second thought before 9/11 now had to figure out how to make sense of these events and relate to the faith tradition that ostensibly inspired them” (p. 1). One way in which people made sense of these events was through the media channels that influenced their overall opinions by shaping a framework of censored ideas (Yusof, Hassan, Hassan & Osman, 2013). In a survey conducted by Pew Forum (2012), 32% of people reported that their opinions of Muslims were greatly influenced by the media’s portrayal of Islam that depicted violent pictorials and fundamentalist Muslims. Such constant negative depiction is likely to lead to the inevitable—prejudice and hate crime. For instance, in 2002 alone there were approximately 481 hate crimes that were carried out against Muslims (Smith, 2013). Ever since the 9/11 attacks Muslim people have been the target of “suspicion, harassment and discrimination” (Talal, n.d., p. 9).