Stereotyping and Americas Counterterrorism Efforts - Report Example

Stereotyping Stereotyping Stereotyping and America’s Counterterrorism Efforts Current efforts by the Obama administration to counter violent extremism have attracted divergent debates in relation to stereotyping against Muslims based on their religious ideologies. Remarkably, extremist ideologies have been central to promoting global terrorism operations in different parts of the world. That presents a crisis to international peace and coexistence among communities of different religions, Islam and Christianity, in the case of global terrorism. It is inevitable that current efforts to counter violent extremism have resulted in a crisis in USA and hatred emerged between Christians and Muslims. In January 2010, for instance, the Obama administration announced its intension to subject citizens of fourteen countries to serious and detailed screening when traveling to the U.S. (The Editors, 2010). Among the countries were Islam dominated including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. The decision attracted further debates among experts on whether profiling and stereotyping of individuals based on their countries are the best strategy to address violent extremism and enhance the war against global terrorism. Not only in America but also in Europe do Muslims face the challenge of stereotyping as reported by Laurence (2013). At the 2015 Summit on Countering Violent Extremism hosted by the U.S., President Obama reminded Americans that America is fighting neither Muslins nor Islam religion (Miller, 2015). Instead, the administration’s efforts aim to eliminate individuals whose intentions are tantamount to perverting Islam by addressing radicalization. That, the president maintains, implies his administration does not intend to profile a religious group because of their ideologies (Office of the Press Secretary, 2015). Stereotype Definition Stereotyping involves grouping individuals from a particular race, religion or ethnicity by making general inferences about them that are baseless and unjustified. For instance, there are stereotypic perceptions that African-Americans are generally a poor race (Alsultany, 2012, p.19). Since 9/11, Muslims in Americans and Europe face serious stereotyping because of their religious ideologies that are attributed to promoting terrorism. Christians mainly occupy America and, therefore, Muslims represent the minor religion. Discrimination against Muslims became rampant that killings started on innocent Muslims. Actually, fear intensified among the Muslims living in America. Hostility between Christianity and Islam never changed even after Obama recommendations. According to reports by Pew Research Centre (2011), many in the west perceive Muslims as a population that embraces violence. There is a widespread viewpoint among many in the west that Muslims are reluctant to assimilate. Muslims, who form the minority in the U.S. and Europe, are hesitant to embrace the lifestyles in western countries. Among the Muslim publics, individuals perceive Americans and Europeans as hostile Pew Research Centre (2011). In fact, Muslims are denied participation in their countries in Europe as reported by the American Psychological Association (2011). Western Media and Muslim Stereotypes Sometimes, the media can distort facts in a situation so that to influence the attitude of the members of the public in a certain direction. Biased reporting by the media may reform the perceptions and viewpoints of the public towards a particular line of thought. The emphases made by the media determine the effect the content of the person reading it. Therefore, media has a great effect on the continuity or termination of a given stereotype. The western media’s coverage of the issue on the conflict amplified the stereotype that existed against the Muslims. Media has a great influence on the people who listen or read their content. Media reports manipulate messages communicated to people and, consequently, arouse certain attitudes on people. In his speech during the summit on addressing violent extremism, President Obama condemned possible profiling of Muslims. The coverage of the death toll by the ISIL-allied terrorists motivates them to continue with a crime against humanity. In fact, their goal is to ensure their recognition globally (Jamal, 2008, p.78). On the other hand, the targeting Christians of Christians by terrorists agitate the Americans. Consequently, they tend to be negative on every Muslim. Eventually, the terrorists’ activities will increase while the stereotype increases too. The mass media has to assess its role in the society and promote positive foundations in the society. Cultural baggage and the stronger culture Cultural baggage refer to the situation where the cultural background of a reporter influences what to report and how. In situations of cultural baggage, the people from other culture find the content of the media unattractive. In such instances, the media content written in the person’s cultural setting is only attractive to the people of his culture. Culture mainly hinders the communication in the international news transmission. Cultural baggage preserves certain attitudes on people. For this reason, the news aired is only in the form preferred by the local people (Kevin, 2003, p.45). Lacunae are cultural barriers that prevent the understanding of the media content across different cultures. Cultural baggage is a key element manifested in the news covered. It is easy to identify the news with a Christian rather than a Muslim. The reporter wrote the news so that to initiate certain reaction from Christians. The author feels angered by the government response to the killing of three Islamic students (Louw, 2001, p.88). He stated that President Obama was easy to remind the public that the country is not at war with the Muslims. At the same time, Obama had said that terrorist associated with ISIL had murdered Christians. Nevertheless, Obama never condemned the religion that those terrorists came from. The news mainly compares the Christians and Islam. Notably, a big number of Christians are local people with their cultures mainly based in USA. Nevertheless, many Muslim cultures are affiliated with Arabic countries. Compared to Islam Christianity manifested as stronger. The Islam culture breeds terrorists that are later terrorize the innocent Christians. The Islam must be teaching content that make the Islam extreme (Martin, 2000, p.56). Why do terrorist only emerge from the Islam culture? The Christians do not participate in terrorism. In addition, terrorist attacks them discriminatively while they remain calm without major reactions. A culture that does not produces terrorists is actually stronger than the one that terrorists emerge. How the stereotype influences professional practice in the conflict reporting Bias Stereotypic viewpoints greatly affect professional practice in media when a journalist prepares biased news. The media report what they feel favors their side. The contents reported by different media stations differ greatly depending on affiliations of the media. A good example is the coverage of religious restrictions in the US military by different media stations. Jordan Blum published an article that claimed the threat of the power of freedom in the US Army. The conservatives John Fleming and Tony Perkings had contributed to the article he published in Baton Rouge Advocate. Independent research on the issue proved that Jordan and the Conservatives had failed in their conclusion. A different research conducted by Tampa Bay Times revealed that the claim was very wrong. Only simple measures employed to make sure that the other people from other religion were not oppressed. The news was totally biased since the standards were simply applied to soldiers in Afghanistan. They were supposed to be careful not to oppress the locals. Therefore, in any element of religion stereotype reporters will report with an element of bias. Lack of clarity The impact of stereotype is the loss of media clarity. Even after obtaining clear information, individuals tend drive away from the original meaning. The stereotype affects cognitive, linguistic and communication skills. Therefore, any information obtained will obviously be misinterpreted. The stereotypes psychologically affect the individuals differently (Sides, 2013, p.67). The analysis of the content written by different media personnel revealed very distinct content despite similar information. In the presence of stereotype, the content reveals a huge deviation from the standards acceptable. Poor adherence to standards Journalists are required to adhere to set standards when preparing their reports. The external power should not influence the journalist in making the way publish the news. Businesspersons and politicians may want some news to cover their interests so that they may benefit. The reporter should ensure the independence of mind. First, the journalist is required to provide the truth to the members of the public. Second, he shall ensure application of freedom and honesty in all the work that he reports (Smiler, 2012, p.94). Third, a journalist should not withhold any information that is essential for reporting. In addition, a journalist should use utmost good faith to rectify any information established to be incorrect. The journalist ignores the reporting standards when religious stereotype controls their mind. Consequently, the case will be reported incorrectly. Conflicting interests There are increased difficulties and conflicts in the media that employ people from different religions. The reporters will report according to what fits their religion. A good example occurred in the BBC an international media coverage. The House of Lords summoned the BBC for failure to adhere to the reporting standards required. The House accused the BBC of handling religious matters recklessly (Stokes, 2012, p.45). Moreover, it the House of Lords accused BBC of airing soaps that stereotyped the Christianity religion. The conflict of interests among the members of different religions will present a negative image of the media. Later, the media will initiate conflicts with authorities. Ways to Cover News without Stereotyping Content universal Contents published by the media should be universal. Different cultures should be able to read the contents unhurt. The content will fit the domestic audience and the international audience too. Universal content is automatically contrary of lacunae. The reporter considers the interests of all people despite their cultural backgrounds (Stokes, 2012, p.48). Universal information removes any bias that the reporter may incorporate in the news reported. In fact, the author who stereotypes avoids information meant for different cultures. That is, the news presented will have international qualities. The comparison will be available only to international standards. Nevertheless, the local newspapers prefer to communicate news that only delights local audiences. Write content that influence general emotions Media should report the information that provokes only the universal emotions. The universal emotions include sadness, happiness, fear, and disgust. The content naturally influences the emotions of an individual in any culture universally. It is information that is highly standardized to influence everybody universally. It will influence emotions to all people almost in a similar way. The information is neutral and does not hurt any specific individual. The audience may interpret the information differently, but they will not represent any element of bias. Reporting the actual information that is justifiable Media should report the actual information without considering the effect on readers. Sometimes, the news is overemphasized to make more appealing to the reader. For instance, the news was only required to cover President Obama information to Americans that they are not at war with Islam. Their aim was to fight terrorists who camouflage themselves as Islam. The major difficulty with a journalist is reporting the truth. After the rise of the social media and bloggers who their news is not of high quality, the media profession should ensure the provision of quality information to the readers, listeners, and viewers. The media should report the same information without the sections of the writings that represent the bias. For instance, the comparison of Obama response, when Christians and Muslims are killed, should not be done. The media should leave the customer to make her conclusions independently. Conclusion Often many people have stereotypic perception of other people. The stereotype is based on generalization since no factual data that is obtained from all individuals. Therefore, the conclusions made are automatically wrong. Although most convicted terrorists are Muslims, there should be no generalization regarding all Muslims as terrorists. Many Muslims are good people except that some major terrorist groups come from that religion. In fact, all the three Muslim Students killed in North Carolina had good records and humane heart. For instance, Barakat had plans to distribute the refugees from Syria with free dental supplies. He had already started to raise the money that was required to fund his mission. The stereotypes influence the media profession negatively, and professional standards should be adhered in order to obtain quality work. Bibliography Alsultany, E. 2012, Arabs and Muslims in the media race and representation after 9/11, New York: New York University Press. Blood, R. 2003, Weblogs and journalism: Do they connect, Nieman Reports, 57(3), 61-63. Chambers, F. (2015, February 18). Obama doubles down on refusal to call ISIS Islamic terrorists saying: ‘We are not at war with Oba Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam. Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2959270/we-not-war-islam-war-people-perverted-isla. Clay, R. (2011). Muslims in America, post 9/11. American Psychological Association, Vol 42, No. 8. P. 72 http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/09/muslims.aspx Jamal, A. A., & Naber, N. C. 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Will Profiling Make a Difference? The New York Times. http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/will-profiling-make-a-difference/?_r=0 Read More