Counter Arguments On Image Of American Muslims After 9/11

Gerges, F. A. (1997). Islam and Muslims in the Mind of America: Influences on the Making of US Policy. Journal of Palestine Studies, 26(2), 68-80. Available at: http://sci-hub.tw/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2537784 (Accessed: 19th April 2018).

Islam as a religion has never been accepted by the Christians; they have always considered it false because it began, was maintained and would be ended by the sword. Based on this argument, Gerges (1997) explained that the bitter legacy between the Christian West and the world of Islam is an outcome of the fact that both of these civilizations claim a universal message and mission. Thus, there are basic differences between them on the grounds of ideological, religious and cultural factors. In addition to this, Gerges (1997) made another startling point in the discussion that media has been a supportive arm of the U.S. government and due to the U.S. policymakers’ prejudices and fears, media has been providing a negative coverage of Islam. In a similar way, the press has also been an indirect participant in the process so far.

Ottosen, R. (1995). Enemy images and the journalistic process. Journal of Peace Research, 32(1), 97-112. Available at: http://sci-hub.tw/http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022343395032001008 (Accessed: 19th April 2018).

According to the work of Ottosen (1995), the media has a tendency to modify enemy images as attitudes among the political elite change. He has provided global examples from the past, such as that of the Norwegian media coverage of the Soviet Union. Turning towards Islam, the same story can be witnessed; the enemy image of Islam has centuries-old roots. Therefore, Islam cannot be studied as an individual entity but only in the context of Christian-Islam rivalry. The most important point in this discussion is the enemy image of Muslims in general and individual Muslims behind any condemnable incident. Later, this concept has been defined and discussed under the heading of Islamophobia.

Halliday, F. (1999). ‘Islamophobia’ reconsidered. Available at: http://sci-hub.tw/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/014198799329305 (Accessed: 19th April 2018).

Halliday (1999) confessed that Islamophobia is a concept fixated on by the media; it is a method of reinforcing stereotypes. Both civilizations, i.e., the Christian world and Muslims, understand the somewhat negative role of media. Predominantly, Islam has been seen as a domination of the primary identity of the basic ideology of Muslims; it is often studied in its static form, and the diversifications of Muslims around the world are not taken into account. Therefore, prejudice finds its way to seep into the policy-making process in one way or another. It is studied under the category of fundamentalism by Eurocentrism, which creates the negative enemy image that this religion has been dealing with for centuries.

Zolberg, A. R., & Woon, L. L. (1999). Why Islam is like Spanish: cultural incorporation in Europe and the United States. Politics & Society, 27(1), 5-38. Available at: http://sci-hub.tw/http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0032329299027001002 (Accessed: 19th April 2018).

Zolberg and Woon (1999) have best demonstrated the clash between the Christian World and Muslims as the dramatic clash between the invading Spanish language and the Anglo-America. According to their work, Islam and Spanish are both metonyms for dangers because both of them create a loss of cultural identity in the United States. Thus, they are unwelcomed by a vast majority of the Americans as well as a large portion of the policymakers. The work has also quoted an extensive Ford Foundation study, according to which almost every conflict arising in the country includes the use of different languages with a special reference to Spanish. Simultaneously, two-thirds portion of the conflicts have been associated with the Muslim immigrants in the country. The Muslims are differentiated by virtue of their origin; they are unwelcome.