American Media against Muslim Society - Essay Example

Outline: September 2001 attacks on United s of America changed the overall dynamics of the global politics and social structure. As a result of this, the American society underwent massive turbulence and transformation of various kinds. The Muslims being an integral part of American population were faced with the direct backlash of hatred and animosity by the different segments within. In the wake of such developments, the media has had an important role towards portraying the image of Muslims in the light of developing political scenario. This paper looks into the impact and the angles from which the media portrayed and presented the Muslim community as a whole and at the same time the level to which they were persecuted through a dedicated segment of media that served based on vested interest and agenda. American society has always been a multi cultural and multi background carrying individuals who have settled in from the different parts of the world. The Muslims, along with people of other communities, largely the Asians make up for a considerable population bench. Any effort or any activity that may have been carried out by a group claiming to have done it for the purpose of their religious teachings or any other similar notion, would result in hatred and distancing of the people of other backgrounds from them. The same happened to the Muslims in the American society (Ewing, 152). Surveys have been conducted in this regard to assess the overall situation and bias against Muslims. Matthew Jabber has conducted a survey to investigate the existing outlook. According to his findings, based on questions asked from over a two and a half thousand individuals (Stiffler), as many as half of the people questioned and interviewed, believe that there is a persistent negative trend prevailing in the media with regard to the Muslims image. The Muslim community makes up for a large percentage of American population. They have been part of the American society for last couple of centuries. Since the events of 9-11 were supposedly undertaken by the people and hijackers who has had affiliations with the Muslims states or the religion in its own existence, it therefore became a direct inference to suspect Muslims. Apart from law making and law enforcing agencies, the attitude and approach of the people within the American society turned relatively negative towards the Muslims, there was less accommodation for the Muslims and they were relatively less welcomed in the different domains. This resulted in a gulf creation between the different segments. Hollywood is another agent and tool that has been used to convey the message. The post 9-11 event is a topic of attention and interest for the movie makers in the American society. In the wake of such events where the American society is hit by hatred and fear for the Asians and predominantly the Muslim population, the media has its role cut out and it has a major role to play with regard to the prevailing concepts, misconceptions. The media has a role to bridge the gap that has been created on the account of the events that have taken place. Every year in the commemoration process of the events that took place in 2001 and resulted in life loss of hundreds of people, different people and different media representatives conduct programs that talk about the events how they unfolded. In such programs, the Muslim members are often invited. At times the Muslims earn sympathy, on others the hosts fail to maintain a balanced line and result in the bias towards the other communities against the Muslim communities (Alsultany). As a result of this, many individuals have often denied the request and invitations being sent their way for the annual events, programs and functions that are performed and undertaken by the people for the purpose of remembering all those who were lost in those events. The subsequent outcome of the overall hatred and biased media viewing and media policies have resulted in number of events and incidents between the Muslims and the people from the other communities, mainly the native Americans who see the Muslims as the potential threat towards their society and safety. Large number of brawls and events of individual hatred and violence have become a routine in this regard. Many a time the media’s role has been subjected to criticism. The women in Muslims societies usually cover their heads and faces with veil. This is not just a practice that is limited to the Arab part of the world, rather Muslim women in Europe, Muslim women in Africa and Central America can be seen following such practices and customs. Since the women do make up for a considerable percentage of population within the American society, it therefore became a point of concern and many people did not accept the concept of women wearing the veils. Women were subjected to bullying and verbal harassment on many accounts. However, the practice of wearing the veil has been subjected to questions being asked by the other communities(Cesari, 186). Ever since the event of 9-11 took place, the Muslims are being targeted at the airports. Any individual hailing from the Muslim populated countries or having the religion Islam in the religion section of their passports are subjected to intensive interrogation in the airports and other places of central exit into the major cities and towns. This is something new and this was never in practice before. The media’s role has even seen instances where minor events and mishaps have been directly attributed to the doings of the Muslims, which were later on verified as events performed or disturbances undertaken by the non Muslim members of the society of America or events that have had no affiliation with the religious, social or cultural differences, rather were based on personal rivalry and were not of higher scale to be reported in that context. On many occasions it is being observed that the media has been loudly in action with regards to the enactment of severe and relatively punitive measures and actions thereby minimizing the margin for any event and mishap that may be performed in individual capacity or collective domain. This in the same retrospect has led to the hostile behavior outcome from the Muslims who believe such actions and punitive measures would only bring about reactionary measures from the people and the Muslim population in particular. Certain reports and surveys conducted by the American media have been aimed at understanding the overall momentum and mindset of the youth and the early teen age group members of American Muslim community. It through different questions, some of which relatively, hostile in their nature have been put forth to the youth to determine their reactions and subsequent actions which may enable the law makers and other law enforcing entities determining the overall nature and ambitions of the Muslim population. This in the same context has led to the alienation and resentment amongst the Muslim population that sees it as exploitation and damaging of the Muslims based on their religious affiliations only. In the post 9-11 events the overall topic of Muslims as the main point of the story, drama, film and news is a new dimension. In some cases they are criticized for their relatively strict adherence to their religious values and attributes, in others they find sympathy being collected and coming their way in the wake of the overall mocking, and disturbing events that have been seen. The news reporting agencies, in bid to remain neutral and unbiased, clearly spread out the instructions of maintaining a cautious line of action which would allow them following the spirit of professional journalism, on many other accounts, events have been seen where the anchors and the agendas are relatively biased in its appearance and in turn are criticized and censured by the international media in general and the Muslim communities from across the globe and more specifically the American Muslims. The element of hatred has become an integral element of the society of American on the grounds that Muslims are blamed for in a direct or indirect manner towards the overall events that took place in the wake of September 9-11. Various researches have been conducted in this regard to assess the overall events and the aftermath of it. One report and finding of the F.B.I reveals that the overall general mood of the people towards the Muslim population in general and the Arab community has turned from positive to highly negative. They are being hated, they are subjected to mocking and ridiculing and at the same time they are subjected to the isolation within the society. The Arab community and the people hailing from the Arabia region of the world are directly exploited and exposed to such a treatment based on the fact that the hijackers and the perpetrators of the September 2001 events had their affiliations from the Arab world largely. To many experts this is largely ignited by the media, its reporting and agendas. The early days of the post September 9-11 saw relatively intense element of hatred and distancing from the Muslim community, with the passage of time, the element and the news reporting has found relative sense and sensibility and the overall attitude and pulse that could possibly trigger negative impact on the overall actions and mindset of the people of American society has been seen to have gone on to a negative and declining curve. This came about in the form of the committees formed for the purpose of providing protection to the Muslims in the different forms. One of the notable committee that was established for this purpose came about in the form of Council of American Islamic Relations (Barkan, 1815). Another entity that was constituted for the same purpose of creating harmony between the different communities within the American society and sending the message of peace and progressiveness within the American society came about in the form of American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (Shora, 275). This committee was largely created for the purpose of protecting the interests of the Arab people who have settled in the United States for number of centuries and have been subject to scrutiny in the wake of the events that took place in 2001. A segment of media also prevails where the element of sympathy can be seen to have been expressed towards the Muslim community, this comes in the wake of the possible gulf that has been created in the American society and the aim to bring these communities together once again which would allow for a more prosperous and freely existing American society free of any fear or threats. References: Alsultany, Evelyn. Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11. NYU Press, 2012 Barkan, Elliott Robert. Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration. ABC-CLIO, 2013 Cesari, Jocelyne. Muslims in the West After 9/11: Religion, Politics and Law. Routledge, 2009 Ewing, Katherine Pratt. Being and Belonging: Muslims in the United States Since 9/11. Russell Sage Foundation, 2008 Shora, Nawar. The Arab-American Handbook: A Guide to the Arab, Arab-American, and Muslim Worlds. Cune Press, 2008 Stiffler, Matthew Jaber. ARABS, MUSLIMS, AND THE LEGACY OF MEDIA STEREOTYPES. 13 July 2013. 14 may 2014 Read More