Orientalism in the Media Before and After September 11 - Research Paper Example

Sociology of Islam: Orientalism in the media before and after 9/11 Introduction Orientalism refer to the Eastor Orient in contrast to the West or Occident as often perceived by the West. Orientalism emphasizes and distorts the differences of Arab cultures as compared with the US culture through depicting Arab cultures as uncivilized, backward and dangerous. According to Edward Said in the book Orientalism, orientalism has led to acceptance in the West of the distinction between East and West as the basis for elaborate theories, novels, epics, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, and customs (Said 1978). According to Said, orientalism is a branch of thought that is based on epistemological and ontological distinction between the Orient and the Occident. In this case, Orientalism creates a western style of restructuring and dominating the perceptions of the nature of the Arab world. The Edward Said shaped the media narratives on Islam before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Edward, a Columbian critical theorist described orientalism in 1978 as a product of Western colonization of the Muslim countries. Orientalism viewed Islam as unchanging and thus cast Muslim s as dangerous and backward. After the 9/11 attacks, American media fueled negative hatred of Islam among American society through circulating images of Palestinians celebrating the attacks on CNN despite Palestinian authorities condemning the attacks (Alsultany 2011). Thesis statement: Orientalism in Western media after 9/11 attacks has portrayed Islam as religion of terrorists. Orientalism dates back to the period of European Enlightenment and colonization of Aran countries as colonizers construed the Arab countries in Asia as inferior and in need of western intervention. The Europeans created an artificial boundary and worsened the problem when they started generalizing the attributes associated with orientals and portraying those characteristics in western world through literary work, mass media channels and scientific reports. The Europeans defined the Islamic world as irrational, crude and lazy while Islam was made in to Mohammadism. Edward Said points out that orientals were publicized in European literary work and the behaviors romanticized by writers and poets in the Western world. The western literary writers depicted the Islamic world as containing clean oceans and pure sunlight that offers peace of mind. In this case, orientalism in media depicted the east as place of pure culture with no evil in the society thus Islam was depicted as a pure religion that condoned no evil. During the First World War, orientalism attacked Islamic religion and depicted it as weak due to a mixture of many religious thoughts. After World War 1, orientalism shifted from Europe to the USA and Arabs were represented as violent and cruel people (Said 1997). Edward Said asserts that Orientalism is a western misconception of the East and such misconceptions exist in the Western minds due to influence of the mass media. Western media engaged in stereotypes in coverage of 1979 Iranian hostage crisis by failing to offer a distinction between the Shiites that staged the hostage and Sunni extremists behind Al-Qaeda attacks on World Trade center in 1993 (Gerges 77). Though the two Muslim factions operate as enemies, the Western media bundled them together and identified them as scary Muslims. The Oklahoma bombing led to scapegoating of Muslims as Steven Emerson of PBS produced a controversial documentary titled ‘Jihad in America’ thus blaming Muslims for the Oklahoma bombings. Steve Emerson’s testimony before the investigations committee was shocking and American public opinion changed regardless of the real sources of terrorism (Said 1997). During the Gulf War and subsequent terrorism attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993, American media coverage of the Muslims occupied the news thus exposing American citizens to negative images of Islam. In this case, American Muslims were not spared and Muslims image changed to airplane hijackers and suicide bombers who wage war against ‘democracy’ and ‘civilization’ in the name of holy war (jihad). The 9/11 attacks acted as a turning point as the negative media coverage of Islam reached unprecedented intensity as the Western media criticized used terms like Islamists, Muslim extremists and Islamic radicals. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, evangelical televisions blamed all Middle Easterners and Muslims for what had happened and made American society belief that those who had different cultural values are inferior. The extremists and Islamists were considered enemies and threat to American interests anywhere in the world (Gerges 82). A majority of the media outlets considered the attackers as a group of Islamic terrorists and newspapers contained several images that characterized the fundamentalism as suicide bombers and hijackers. The moderate Muslims in American were considered as American patriots since they sympathized with the 9/11 tragedy and President Bush went further to assert that ‘terrorists are traitors to their own faith’. Islam was represented as a harsh clash and not a monolithic entity as one side included the fundamentalists who are eager to overthrow secular regimes, destroy Israel and substitute the civil laws with Shariah (Powell 95). Accordingly, the media depicted Islam as aiming at oppressing women by controlling their dress code and aiming at eradicating minority religious groups in the society. The Free Press displayed with title “terrorists living among us” while Bernard Lewis wrote the ‘The crisis of Islam (20013)’. The ‘Jihad in America’ documentary by Steve Emerson that was broadcasted on PBS stirred a lot of reactions from American public as the documentary contained horrific images of Hamas Commander speaking to American Muslims croad in Kansas City and celebrations of blowing up of buses. Emerson created the notion that Islam is made up of worldwide network of terrorism organizations that habor the dream of attaining a ‘world under Islam’. In one of the episodes of NBC’s ‘law and order: American Jihad’, the viewers got the perception that White American Muslim coverts were motivated to commit crimes by religion and that the image of Islam and violence intersect to form jihad (Alsultany 2011). Orientalism in media was further strengthened by the shift of the US foreign policy after 9/11 attacks. Orientalism led to the ‘good west versus the bad Islamic world’ and the notion that Islamic authorities are ‘oppressors’. Several media outlets that advanced the notion that Islam is against democratically elected leaders and civil freedoms misquoted President George W. Bush speech. The ‘Washington Post’ carried a controversial column that created the impression that Islam hates freedom to vote and freedom of religion, as most of the Islamic leaders are self-appointed (Kamalipour 2008). Fox News hosted several right-wing personalities like Ann Coulter who demonstrated his hatred for Islam on television by asserting that ‘America should invade their countries and kill their leaders and covert them in to Christianity” (Powell 98). At the same time, Al-Jazeera repeatedly aired Osama Bin Laden’s video clips claiming responsibility for the attacks thus heightening the Islamophobia in the US and angering the Cable television in America thus leading to prevention of Ala-Jazeera English broadcasts for more than a decade (Alsultany 2011). The aftermath of 9/11 attacks saw changes to immigration laws and new security mechanisms since Muslims were targeted for surveillance and interrogations. At the same time, the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan was widely covered by the US media that perpetuated the notion that America was in danger due to Islamists in Arab world (Trefflich 2011). Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asserted that the US president could ignore the advice of the Congress when acting for the sake of ‘national security’ and thus war against terrorism was appropriate (Gerges 2007). The social and legal rights of Muslim immigrants were curtailed as most of them were placed under surveillance. The US foreign policy shifted to ‘war on terror’ without regard to any international laws that grant right to sovereignty and occupation of Iraq led to significant hatred between Muslims and Americans (Trefflich 2011). The Muslim detainees in America had no right to Attorney and authorities severely punished the Muslims for minor offenses (Kamalipour 2008). The US media aired instances of social pressure and racial profiling of Muslims and areas that were concentrated with immigrant Muslims such as mosques, workplaces and schools thus creating the perception that American public should avoid such places. Muslim women wearing headscarves were associated with terrorism. Interestingly, more than 60 percent of the American public favored racial profiling after the attacks and especially of the Muslims or Arabs. In this case, the negative perceptions were exaggerated by the fact that all 9/11 attackers were Muslims and Arabs and claimed Islamic religious motivation for their coward actions (Kamalipour 2008). The detention camps in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo mainly hosted Muslim detainees who American authorities described as ‘enemy combatants’. The US refused to apply the Geneva Convention in the detention and International law and opted to inhumane interrogation tactics that sometimes led to deaths and serious bodily injuries to the detainees (Powell 106). The pictures from Guantanamo Bay detention camp often displayed the Muslim detainees as dangerous and enemies of America thus making the public believe that Islam accepts terrorism. In Afghanistan, American soldiers burned bodies of two Taliban fighters and placed their heads ‘facing West’ thus mocking Islamic prayer beliefs of facing Mecca. During the ninth anniversary of 9/11 attacks in September 2011, a non-denominational Church is Florida decided to host the ‘International burn a Quran day’ in order to take a strong stand against Islam. This event was granted high media attention and coverage in national news headlines as CNN hosted Pastor Terry Joneson who had organized the event. The US presidential elections of 2008 saw the emergency of several conspiracy theories on the religion of Barrack Obama with a section of the electorate claiming that Obama was a ‘secret Muslim’. The rumors lacks any lacked any evidence, but Cable News programs on Fox News channels devoted entire segment of their shows to discuss the rumor that creating the perception that a Muslim president is dangerous for America. Another event that demonstrates orientalism of Islam as dangerous was the recent violent uprisings in several Arab countries. The Western media coined the violence in those countries dominated by Muslims as an ‘Arab Spring’ that was occasioned by struggle for democratic representation and end to abuses of human rights. Although several news anchors covered the positive benefits of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the American public assumed that Islam religion is violent and does not respect basic human rights such as the right to live as the media displayed images of starving citizens and dead bodies littered in empty streets (Trefflich 2011). The Arab Spring in Syria has attracted a lot of attention in Western media with many claiming that dominant Islamic beliefs are against the rights of minorities and secular religions since atrocities have been committed against the rebellious forces in the country. However, the Western media has praised the political fearlessness in Egypt for the anti-Mubarak protests and subsequent plans of ensuring democracy in the country. Conclusion From the above analysis, the western media has shaped the sociological reconstructuring of Islam among American public. According to Said, European colonization of arab countries entrenched the notion that Arab countries and Muslims are lazy and backward. Before the 9/11 attacks, orientalism in media depicted Islam as unchanging religion that undermined the rights of women and democracy. After the 9/11 attacks, orientalism in books, Hollywood movies and national television portrayed Islam as dangerous and violent religion thus creating fear and tension among American public. Works cited: Alsultany, Evelyn. Arabs and Muslims in the media: race and representation after 9/11. New York: New York University Press. 2011. Gerges, Fawaz. (2003). “Islam and Muslims in the mind of America”, Journal of the American academy of political and social science, July 2003, volume 588, Issue1: pp 73-89. Gerges, Fawaz. America and political Islam: class of cultures or clash of interests?. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2007. Kamalipour, Yahya. The US media and the Middle east: image and perception. Westport, CT: Praeger. 2008. Powell, Kimberly. (2011). “Framing Islam: an analysis of the U.S media coverage of terrorism since 9/11”, Journal of Communication studies, Volume 62, Issue 1, 2011: pp 90-112. Print. Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world. New York: Vintage. 1997. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New Delhi: Penguin Books. 1978. Trefflich, Cornelia. Edward Said’s orientalism: a reflection. Muchen: GRIN Verlag. 2011. Read More