whose cartoons?
“Muslims have hatred in their heart,” said a friend.
We had been talking about religion and the conversation turned to Muslims and Pakistan.
The argued that terrorists were mostly Muslims or in fact most Muslims were terrorists. He used the two words as synonyms.
Isn't that precisely our problem?
The recent controversy regarding the Danish cartoons and subsequent conversations have made me uncomfortable about how we jump to conclusions, stereotype so easily and live in a conformist world.
A few of my classmates at my journalism school said in a session on religion and media said that Muslims are arrogant and the Danish paper was just exercising its freedom of expression.
They had problems with the reaction that had Muslims all over the world burning embassies, protesting and issuing fatwas broadcast so many times over by news media, the media that has failed to highlight the other point of view.
We are all absolutists, at least we like to be called the First Amendment people...with fierce loyalties to the freedom of speech and expression. Is that just for fashion only?
Isn't that we all strive for? Isn't that our profession? What is the freedom that we are talking about? Is it a freedom that we impose on others? And does it freedom when we impose it on others?
But is that responsible profession...that's what I ask every journalist.
I am no spokesperson for Islam or for Muslims. But what shocks me is the branding that we are indulging in and at the cost of 1.5 billion people, who are victims of neegative stereotyping and are trying to fit in. I have been following the issue and the television space is flooded with images of crazy, fanatic Muslims burning down building, dressed up as suicide bombers shouting death threats denouncing America. Have we ever sat down to think what we are doing is creating a myth, a myth of Muslims as fundamentalists, who will damn anybody who upholds freedom, who are about too push the world into the dark ages where women have no rights.
The media images of Muslims are almost always negative, a bunch of crazy fanatics out there to take on the western world. Why can’t the media be more responsible? Why can’t they be fair? Almost all the initial reports that I read in the papers or the internet had no moderate Muslim speaking or expressing his views. The views were extremist and I feel the newspaper, and I am talking about the U.S. media, had an agenda, to defend what the Danish paper did. What is the justification for publishing those cartoons? Just to show that WE CAN DO IT or we are the champions of freedom of expression. Well then, that’s their expression and the whole world does not go by the western world’s liberal views. They are an entity and we need to respect that.
Why do we attribute arrogance and anger as being characteristic or defining features of a community? How much of effort do we make to understand and be tolerant of those of other faith and regard them as individuals? And should we not do it considering the present situations?
Religion is dear to people. And a lack of understanding of other religions or groups can lead to negative stereotypes that can in turn create fierce group loyalties. When people think there identity is under threat or their background is misunderstood, they start becoming a closed group. This is what the world at present is dealing with in case of Muslims. They are branding them and creating a stereotype, a negative one.
This is racism. A different kind of racism, something that is orchestrated and will have more serious ramifications if the media does not get its act together. Blacks were portrayed as evil or bad, but Mulsims are being shown as terrorists. Who is fighting for them here? That’s something for us to think about.
During my interactions with various Muslims and spiritual leaders, I have come across horror stories, stories of fear and rejection. Muhaasen Deb, a local, told me his car was vandalized after 9/11 because people saw the Arabic letters pasted on his car screen. He was scared then. And he feared for the safety of his mother and sisters who wear the hijab or head scarves.
Most Americans blamed Muslims and some even went to the extent of ostracizing them or physically assaulting them after the incident. However, this does not trace itself to 9/11. Although things got worse after the fateful day, the stereotypes existed before it. Perhaps they were enforced after Taliban and when Saudi Arabia came to be ruled by a religious group that followed the Koran rigidly.
There is a fundamental difference between how the west communicates and how the other cultures communicate. And it is the media, which distorts messages and create stereotypes, either because of their lack of understanding of different cultures or their utter disregard of others in order to serve political or other interests.
And it is not just this one stereotype of a terrorist that Muslims have to deal with but countless others. Deb said people thought Muslims were barbaric, religious fanatics and abusive toward women. Nobody cared to explain the faith or the sentiments attached to the faith. When France banned the hijab in school it did not ban the cross that many Christians wear. There was not much debate on the issue and media is to be blamed when it does not give the context.
For instance, they show the images of all these bearded Muslims rioting but seldom do they care to explain the religious belief and why Muslims are offended. This is modern face of racism, branding a whole community as criminals or possible threats to security and peace.
A Cornell research conducted in December of 2004 on perception of Islam and Muslims in America tied people’s notions with television-viewing. Around half the people surveyed said they wanted the government to curtail the civil liberties of the Muslims here. Twenty-two percent said government should profile citizens as possible threats depending on whether they had Middle-Eastern heritage or were Muslims. It also showed that people who watched more television were more scared and fearful. A large proportion said Islam was encouraging violence. And that’s because the word Islam or Muslims are almost always placed with terms like fanatics, fundamentalists and terrorism. That’s how media shapes perceptions and responses and thus racism is created. It is a construct.
Imam Taqiuddin Ahmed of the Islamic Society of Central New York said he often heard phrases like moderate Muslims, fundamentalists and fanatic Muslims and said he dismissed all these categories. It is all media’s doing, he said.
And as per the discussion in class about schema, when we see Muslims, we associate them with the media images. The media manipulates and forms our responses.
Media also accords coverage selectively. Media is a power institution, appropriately considered the fourth estate. The illusions of a free and fair press at best do disservice to our interactions with the larger community. They attach various other dimensions to a group, generalizing and thus creating common characteristics for us to identify a group with. And the mind absorbs these because we live in world flooded with media images, not on an Island. So, we discriminate and racism never goes despite all the talks and debates and steps because it is deeply ingrained in our sub-conscience. And media is the culprit.
We had been talking about religion and the conversation turned to Muslims and Pakistan.
The argued that terrorists were mostly Muslims or in fact most Muslims were terrorists. He used the two words as synonyms.
Isn't that precisely our problem?
The recent controversy regarding the Danish cartoons and subsequent conversations have made me uncomfortable about how we jump to conclusions, stereotype so easily and live in a conformist world.
A few of my classmates at my journalism school said in a session on religion and media said that Muslims are arrogant and the Danish paper was just exercising its freedom of expression.
They had problems with the reaction that had Muslims all over the world burning embassies, protesting and issuing fatwas broadcast so many times over by news media, the media that has failed to highlight the other point of view.
We are all absolutists, at least we like to be called the First Amendment people...with fierce loyalties to the freedom of speech and expression. Is that just for fashion only?
Isn't that we all strive for? Isn't that our profession? What is the freedom that we are talking about? Is it a freedom that we impose on others? And does it freedom when we impose it on others?
But is that responsible profession...that's what I ask every journalist.
I am no spokesperson for Islam or for Muslims. But what shocks me is the branding that we are indulging in and at the cost of 1.5 billion people, who are victims of neegative stereotyping and are trying to fit in. I have been following the issue and the television space is flooded with images of crazy, fanatic Muslims burning down building, dressed up as suicide bombers shouting death threats denouncing America. Have we ever sat down to think what we are doing is creating a myth, a myth of Muslims as fundamentalists, who will damn anybody who upholds freedom, who are about too push the world into the dark ages where women have no rights.
The media images of Muslims are almost always negative, a bunch of crazy fanatics out there to take on the western world. Why can’t the media be more responsible? Why can’t they be fair? Almost all the initial reports that I read in the papers or the internet had no moderate Muslim speaking or expressing his views. The views were extremist and I feel the newspaper, and I am talking about the U.S. media, had an agenda, to defend what the Danish paper did. What is the justification for publishing those cartoons? Just to show that WE CAN DO IT or we are the champions of freedom of expression. Well then, that’s their expression and the whole world does not go by the western world’s liberal views. They are an entity and we need to respect that.
Why do we attribute arrogance and anger as being characteristic or defining features of a community? How much of effort do we make to understand and be tolerant of those of other faith and regard them as individuals? And should we not do it considering the present situations?
Religion is dear to people. And a lack of understanding of other religions or groups can lead to negative stereotypes that can in turn create fierce group loyalties. When people think there identity is under threat or their background is misunderstood, they start becoming a closed group. This is what the world at present is dealing with in case of Muslims. They are branding them and creating a stereotype, a negative one.
This is racism. A different kind of racism, something that is orchestrated and will have more serious ramifications if the media does not get its act together. Blacks were portrayed as evil or bad, but Mulsims are being shown as terrorists. Who is fighting for them here? That’s something for us to think about.
During my interactions with various Muslims and spiritual leaders, I have come across horror stories, stories of fear and rejection. Muhaasen Deb, a local, told me his car was vandalized after 9/11 because people saw the Arabic letters pasted on his car screen. He was scared then. And he feared for the safety of his mother and sisters who wear the hijab or head scarves.
Most Americans blamed Muslims and some even went to the extent of ostracizing them or physically assaulting them after the incident. However, this does not trace itself to 9/11. Although things got worse after the fateful day, the stereotypes existed before it. Perhaps they were enforced after Taliban and when Saudi Arabia came to be ruled by a religious group that followed the Koran rigidly.
There is a fundamental difference between how the west communicates and how the other cultures communicate. And it is the media, which distorts messages and create stereotypes, either because of their lack of understanding of different cultures or their utter disregard of others in order to serve political or other interests.
And it is not just this one stereotype of a terrorist that Muslims have to deal with but countless others. Deb said people thought Muslims were barbaric, religious fanatics and abusive toward women. Nobody cared to explain the faith or the sentiments attached to the faith. When France banned the hijab in school it did not ban the cross that many Christians wear. There was not much debate on the issue and media is to be blamed when it does not give the context.
For instance, they show the images of all these bearded Muslims rioting but seldom do they care to explain the religious belief and why Muslims are offended. This is modern face of racism, branding a whole community as criminals or possible threats to security and peace.
A Cornell research conducted in December of 2004 on perception of Islam and Muslims in America tied people’s notions with television-viewing. Around half the people surveyed said they wanted the government to curtail the civil liberties of the Muslims here. Twenty-two percent said government should profile citizens as possible threats depending on whether they had Middle-Eastern heritage or were Muslims. It also showed that people who watched more television were more scared and fearful. A large proportion said Islam was encouraging violence. And that’s because the word Islam or Muslims are almost always placed with terms like fanatics, fundamentalists and terrorism. That’s how media shapes perceptions and responses and thus racism is created. It is a construct.
Imam Taqiuddin Ahmed of the Islamic Society of Central New York said he often heard phrases like moderate Muslims, fundamentalists and fanatic Muslims and said he dismissed all these categories. It is all media’s doing, he said.
And as per the discussion in class about schema, when we see Muslims, we associate them with the media images. The media manipulates and forms our responses.
Media also accords coverage selectively. Media is a power institution, appropriately considered the fourth estate. The illusions of a free and fair press at best do disservice to our interactions with the larger community. They attach various other dimensions to a group, generalizing and thus creating common characteristics for us to identify a group with. And the mind absorbs these because we live in world flooded with media images, not on an Island. So, we discriminate and racism never goes despite all the talks and debates and steps because it is deeply ingrained in our sub-conscience. And media is the culprit.
posted by chinki at 9:58 PM
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