The Stereotypes Of Terrorism

During the years of post-9/11, Americans have started to become wary of non-Americans in their home land of the fear of another terrorist attacks. The 9/11 attacks have changed American views on the muslims and on the Middle East. It also had made security regulation more strict and discriminatory. Since post-9/11, Americans the wrong impression of the Middle East and have negative views of it and also have stereotype of it as well.

The sentiment for anti-Islamic feeling has persisted since the attack on the world trade Center and has never fully dissipating (Gray, 2013). A Saudi student that was injured in the blast was tackled by another bystander and labeled by the New York Post as the suspect for the blasts (Gray, 2013). A former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh even recommended that the U.S. begins profiling “our enemy… young Muslim men” (Gray, 2013). The hashtag #Muslims trended on Twitter on the day of the bombing because so many people were immediately blaming the Muslim population (Gray, 2013). A poll that Western New England University released found that 73% of Massachusetts residents believe that the terrorist attack changed the city of Boston in a lasting way (Tuthill, 2014). 62% said that the change in Boston was for the better (Tuthill, 2014). Many people in the city of Boston have agreed that the people have felt a surge in civic pride and a feeling of unity within the city (Tuthill, 2014). The protection for the 2014 Boston Marathon had more than double last year’s number of police officers at 3,500 (Tuthill, 2014). The 2014 Boston Marathon also had restrictions on the types of bags that spectators and runners could bring

Nevertheless, it seemed ironic to have such feelings towards people who carried an ancient or looked a certain way. The fear of appearing Muslim expanded greatly after the nine eleven attacks in America. It created stereotypes, and lead to harassment.Understanding our history as a nation, it would be foolish to say we were introduced to segregation, discrimination, and resentment on September 11, 2001. Mahadridge said in an interview, “People had hate, they had anger, but it was directionless. After 9/11, it had direction.” Individuals were judge based off of many factors, including one's sexuality, appearance, and religion. On this day, another victim was simply added to the list of American hostility.

According to the report of FBI(2000), the number of anti-islamic hate crime incidents prior the terrorist attacks were 28. In the immediate year after 9/11, 481 incidents were reported against the Muslims and Arabs(FBI 2002). The hate crime statistics of FBI conforms a staggering increase of 1617 percent in such a short period of time. The Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) reported that over 700 violent incidents were ruthlessly targeted against Arab Americans within the first 9 weeks after the 9/11(Ibish 2003). These incidents included physical violence, death threats, harassment, mockery ,hate mails and many others. Suddenly, an unknown society was brought into the negative spotlight due to the actions of a handful of people.

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

Immediately affter 9/11, Muslim Americans were victims to more frequent hate crimes and bias incidents. According to the FBI (2002), hate crimes against Muslims rose 1,600 percent between the years of 2000 and 2001; going from 12 hate incidents in 2000 to 93 in 2001. A study conducted immediately after 9/11 showed that 40 percent of Americans felt that the attacks represented the “true teachings of Islam” and that between 2002 and 2003 the number of Americans that thought Islam promotes violence against non-Muslims rose by 14 percent (Panagopoulos, 2006). When Muslims themselves were surveyed, their feelings mirrored the findings in post 9/11 studies: 91 percent of Muslims surveyed believed that discrimination against Muslims in the United

September 11th holds many hard and upset feelings around the world today. The harsh actions of Muslim extremists unfortunately completely changed the way Muslims are treated, especially in the United States. These events, exacerbated islamophobia. Unfortunately, “the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, connect Muslims and Islam to terrorism within the geographical borders of the United States.” (Byng) Although it has been over a decade since the attack, many still feel racist and discriminatory attitudes towards Muslims. Muslims are the targeted minority in the United States, “the 9/11 terrorist attacks shifted the social and political context for Muslims in the United States. Terrorism within the geographical borders of the United States carried out by Muslims places an identity at the center of national and global politics.” (Byng) The blame of the horrible terrorist attacks, rather than be placed on terrorists or religious extremist, has been placed on Islam in America. After September 11th, hate crimes towards Muslims skyrocketed, “the most dramatic change noted by the report was a more than 1,600 percent increase in reported hate crimes against Muslims -- a jump from 28 hate incidents in 2000 to 481 last year.”

After the attack, hate crimes in the United States towards Muslim communities have increased by 1,600 percent from 28 hate crimes in 2000 to 481 in 2001 (Disha, Cavendish, King, 21-22). From the research done by Disha, Cavendish and King, with the data acquired from FBI, it is

According to The University of Leicester (2014), Crime Survey data from 2011-2013 shows that there is an estimated 70,000 faith hate crimes per year. Their research points out how Muslims are at risk of hate crimes due to global events. They use the examples of the 9/11, 7/7 and events such as the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. These events have increased ‘Islamophobia', leading to crimes which consist of numerous attacks on mosques. Also targeting Muslim women identifiable by their cultural dress. One limitation of the University of Leicester research is that they use government findings to gain their conclusions. According to Ahmed (2006), many hate crimes against Muslim go unreported, therefore, government statistics are not entirely reliable. This is reflected in charity Tell Mama's 2014/2015 report, they found that out of 729 incidents reported to them only 548 were recorded. Although like the University of Leicester, they found that Muslim women in cultural attire were more likely to be victims of hate crimes. Pointing out that more than half of anti-Muslim hate crime was targeted at women. Ahmed's research states that Muslim's feel hate crimes are so high due to the western media coverage of them, especially those that occurred after 9/11. Items such as the veil and the headscarf make it visible that a person is Muslim. Posetti (2008) puts

Terrorism is a difficult issue to understand and grasp for many people. What is even more difficult to understand is what drives an individual to become radicalized to the point of joining a terrorist organization and committing terrorist acts. While there is not specific criteria or a “cookie cutter” approach to understanding what motivates and radicalizes an individual to participate in such atrocities, there are however, several psychological and behavioral factors that have been common among these individuals. The following paper will outline some of the psychological and behavioral factors that attribute to an individual’s radicalization and eventual willingness and even perhaps

The 11th of September, 2001 was a momentous day in American history. 19 members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 & United Airlines Flight 175, and crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Hijackers crashed the third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on 9/11 due to the terrorist attacks on that day. After 9/11, the power of the government increased, allowing police, the FIB and other government agencies the ability to search telephone, e-mail communications, medical, financial, and other records; in addition to easing the restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the United States. Along with the war in the Middle East as a result of 9/11, Islamophobia in the United States has reached new growth. Racial profiling and discrimination of Muslims, Arabs, and those with stereotypical Islamic names or appearances have not only increased in the past 14 years since 9/11, but the results of such actions are devastating to not only the Muslim community but also the rest of America. 42% of Americans support the use of profiling by law enforcement against Arab Americans and American Muslims. Hostilities towards Muslims and Arabs have only increased as a result of 9/11.

The mass media selectively promotes racial profiling. The assumptions driving terrorism profiling are not any different than “street-level” profiling—in that, a particular crime (in this case, terrorism) is most expected to be committed by members of a particular religious, ethnic, or racial group and that the members of that group (in this case, Muslims) are, in general, likely to be implicated in that manner of criminal activity…These assumptions are highly defective. The assumption that terrorist acts are inevitably perpetrated by Arabs or that the architect, of a terrorist act, is likely to be Islamic is a faulty assumption. While all the men, believed to have been, involved in the September 11th hijackings were of Arabic nationality, Richard Reid, who on December 22, 2001, attempted to ignite a volatile device on a trans-Atlantic flight, was a British citizen of Jamaican ancestry. This furthermore coincides with my line of reasoning that extremists exist throughout all cultures. In fact, prior to September 11th the deadliest act of terrorism on United States soil was initiated by [Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh. Even non-Arabs like John Walker Lindh, a Californian, can be linked to the Taliban, al-Qaeda and

Lester Holt there was a deadly terrorist attack in Paris. A gunman opened fire on police officers killing one and leaving the other two injured. The gunman was using a military grade gun. After the terror attack ISIS claimed that they sent the gunman. A few days earlier two men were arrested upon suspicion of an attack to disrupt the election, another gunman was shot and killed outside of the louvre. Sociology and terrorism go hand in hand. When an act of terrorism occurs sociologists study how the nation responds to the event. We are currently on high alert due to North Korea testing nuclear bombs. The U.S. currently has spy planes that are monitoring any move made by the country. President Trump claims that we are in good terms with North Korea

Have you ever had a fear for your family, your town, your country, or your world. How about the fear to have everything taken from you, destroyed, and not caring if it has hurt you or not? What about your fear and pain is, and can be someone else’s happiness? The fear of you being terrorized? That is terrorism. Someone else bringing fear and terrorizing you. That is a terrorist’s goal. Terrorism is common and is very difficult to stop. The government promises protection for the people, and their home, but they can not give that protection if they can not stop terrorism. Terrorism needs to stop to protect the live of the people, and their country.

Think of the word terrorism. What is the first thing that comes to mind? One might think of kidnapping, assassination, bombing, or even genocide and guerrilla warfare. Because it is such a broad and complex issue, an all-encompassing definition is hard to formulate. The United States Department of Defence defines terrorism as…