A Proposal on Islam: Is it Misunderstood and Why - Research Paper Example

Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Arkoun, M. (2003). Rethinking Islam Today. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 588, 1, 18-39. Awan, A. (2007). Virtual jihadist media. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10, 3, 389-408. Gerges, F. A. (2003). Islam and Muslims in the Mind of America. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 588, 1, 73-89. Gottschalk, P., & Greenberg, G. (2008). Islamophobia: Making Muslims the enemy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Haddad, S., & Khashan, H. (2002). Islam and Terrorism: Lebanese Muslim Views on September 11. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 46, 6, 812-828. Hafez, K. (2000). International News Coverage and the Problems of Media Globalisation. In K. Hafez (Ed.), Islam and the West in the mass media : fragmented images in a globalizing world (pp.3-24). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Hippler, J. (2000). The Media and Western Perception of the Middle East. In K. Hafez (Ed.), Islam and the West in the mass media : fragmented images in a globalizing world (pp.41- 59). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Poole, E., & Richardson, J. E. (2006).

Muslims and the news media. London: I.B. Tauris. Revell, L. (2010). Religious education, conflict and diversity: an exploration of young children's perceptions of Islam. Educational Studies, 36, 2, 207-215. Said, E. W. (2010). Covering Islam: How the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world. London: Vintage Books. Sheehi, S. (2011). Islamophobia: The ideological campaign against Muslims. Atlanta, GA: Clarity Press. Thussu, D. K. (1997). How Media Manipulates Truth about Terrorism.

Economic and Political Weekly, 32, 6, 264-267. Assignment 4.4 Historical Background Islamophobia. It is a term that, once thrown around, can instantly cause a debate. The discussion about it can revolve around its definition, or even its origin. Islamophobia, as can be seen in the western media portrayal of Islam and Muslims, can be traced back to the mid-part of the 20th century --- sometime 60s and 70s. For some reason, this negative portrayal has not changed over the decades. Derogatory terms such as “camel jockey” obviously show contempt against this group.

During the 80s and 90s, world war vision of Huntington and the theory of “clash of civilization” incited fear among the U.S. population. This was even furthered by the 9/11 attacks in 2001. But things did not end there. The media then began to, more and more, put Islam and Muslims in a bad light. Even cartoon shows such as “The Simpons” (Mypods and Boomsticks episode – December 2008) try to mix Islamophobia with humor. This means that even kids are not immune to this cultural reality of stereotyping this group of people into the terrorist category.

When it comes to the news industry, one of the most controversial channel is “Fox News.” For the past several years, “Fox News Channel” has been accused of inciting ethnic or religious animosity. With these as just few examples of media biases and Islamophobia, it is then a wonder how a land of supposed constitutional rights and freedom end up forming a new kind of racism just after the institutionalization of the civil rights earlier in the last century? While this arena may just be a small percentage of the media, it speaks a lot of the challenges that U.S. society faces to this day in terms of culture, society, and politics.

It can be seen as a violation of the constitutional ri