The Politics of Stereotyping: Islam’s Negative Portrayal & the Media
...y call Islam. They saw the Pakistani army's excesses against Muslims (Bengalis) and the Mujahideen of Afghanistan and their mutual slaughter. They know big bad wolf Saddam and his use of chemical weapons against Muslims (Kurds) and the massacre of thousands of innocent civilians when some men with beards plunged planes of them into great buildings. They see these “Muslims” killing in the name of a greater purpose on TV everyday. It must be true. However, the American audiences are being deceived. The “holy war” does not exist. What they are witnessing is in fact the confusion, hatred and in some cases, ignorance of terrorists/extremists. The negative portrayal of Islam and of jihad stems from bad people doing very bad things. Terrorists/extremists have turned Islam’s ideal of peace and harmony on its head. “Such actions, if not sanctioned by the religion, have no place with it. They are not Islamic and should not be thought of as Islamic.” (Islam-Religion of Terror? 1) American audiences need not believe what CNN feeds them. They have a right to know what is really going on. Norman Soloman writes on his website, “[...] we're witnessing an onslaught of media deception. The greatest triumphs of propaganda have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by refraining from doing [...] Greater is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.” (2) Islam and jihad don’t equal death and destruction. The misuse and abuse of jihad by terrorists/extremists leads to the negative portrayal of Islam by the American media. In order to engage in a discussion about the negative portrayal of Islam, one must know the true meaning of Islam itself. In Islam – Religion of Terror?, Kenneth Woodward explains that the name Islam comes from the Arabic root word 'salama' which means peace. Islam is a religion which is based upon achieving peace through the submission to the will of Allah. Woodward writes, “It is a word that defines the faith of more than 1 billion people, and embodies the aspirations of Muslim societies from the west of Africa across a wide arc to the islands of Indonesia. It also expresses the vision of the Quran, the very words of God--so Muslims believe--revealed to the last of His prophets, Muhammad.” (66). It is not only a religion, as most people understand it to be. It is a way of life. Islam as a religion details the way millions of people live, work and play. There are rules of conduct for business interactions, the role of the student, the honor of a mother and the maturity of youth. What about jihad? The word jihad frightens most Americans. To them, this term means bloodshed and tyranny. Yet, to the majority of Muslims, the word jihad means the struggle to be good. Karen Armstrong explains that “the primary meaning of the word jihad is not "holy war" but "struggle." It refers to the difficult effort that is needed to put God's will into practice at every level--personal and social as well as political.” (3). Islamic scholars have challenged those who openly convey their disgust at jihad to look to the Quran and find the term “holy war.” The fact of the matter is the term does not exist. However, the term jihad is a fairly broad concept. It encompasses at its highest level, the struggle of the self, and to its lowest level, war and armed combat. In the Quran, the only acceptable war is in self-defense. "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress limits; For Allah loveth not transgressors." (Quran 2:190) "We ordained therein for them: “Life for life, eye for eye, Nose for nose, ear of ear, Tooth for tooth, and wounds Equal for equal.” But if any one remits the retaliation By way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself." (Quran 4:45) A quote not readily seen in the American media is of the Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him) telling his companions as they go home after a battle, "We are returning from the lesser jihad [the battle] to the greater jihad," the far more vital and crucial task of extinguishing transgression from one's own society and one's own heart. (Riyadh-us-Saliheen 162) So, how did jihad evolve from its peaceful beginnings to what the American public sees on TV? James Turner Johnson, a Professor of Religion at Rutgers University cites the role of the Muslim jurists after the Prophet’s death collectively interpreting jihad in a different way. The interpretation that is seen by extremists is that Muslims of the world are in an emergency state of affairs. Extremists believe the firm hand of West is puppeteer to their leaders and destroying the very fabric of the Islamic faith. “This extreme interpretation of the idea of defensive jihad implicitly rejects much of the actual history of Muslim societies and the Muslim faith.” (Johnson 14) Today, it stems from their frustration at American foreign policy and the lack of resolve in the Middle-East conflicts. Extremists see these things as acts of aggression on Islam and therefore believe that everyone is at War. It is their rationale for terror acts. Extremists not only believe what they are doing is right, but they also believe they have the mandate of God to do so. They refer to the Quran repeatedly in their “warnings” to the American public via Al-Jazeera. However, they are playing a game of deception themselves. "Muslims are ordered by God to "slay [enemies] wherever you find them!" (4: 89). Extremists such as Osama bin Laden like to quote such verses but do so selectively. They do not include the exhortations to peace, which in almost every case follow these more ferocious passages: "Thus, if they let you be, and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not allow you to harm them" (Quran 4: 90)." The American public sees Osama bin Laden and his cronies on TV and believe them to be ambassadors of Islam. The American media is awash with tales of terror and oppression by terrorists. In some cases, these tales are true but in others they can be much too tall. Perhaps the most vivid example of Muslim stereotyping played out last year in the 40 hours after the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City--prior to the capture of Timothy McVeigh. When the Oklahoma City bomb went off, a headline in 'Today' summed up with a picture of a fire fighter holding a dead child in his arms, the headline read: "In The Name of Islam.” Both the media and official sources fingered Muslims for the bombing that killed 169 people. The Muslim community was subjected to an enormous outpouring of vitriol and accusation. CBS news, for example, led its report the night of the event saying the bombing "has Middle East terrorism written all over it." It quoted Emerson saying, "Oklahoma City...is probably considered one of the largest centers of Islamic radical activity outside the Middle East." Talk radio hosts and newspaper columnists were more pointed. New York Newsday's Jeff Kamen, for example, recommended surveillance of "foreign nationals living here" and advised that special forces be empowered to "shoot them now, before they get us." According to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics, Middle East-based terrorism in the US is very low compared with that of other groups. Only three incidents (one of them the World Trade Center bombing in New York) were recorded in the past 10 years). (Marquand 6) Paulette Chu surmises that Western democracies have characterized Muslim culture as the next most serious threat to freedom and civilization. She states that plenty of Americans believe Islam inspires its followers toward violent passion and fanaticism; Western feminists question its treatment of women and consider the practice of veiling symbolic of female oppression. Outspoken evangelical Christians like Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson are now loudly condemning Islam as a “religion of violence.” People like Fox’s Bill O’Reilly are using the war on terrorism as an opportunity to promote a simplistic and unfair picture of the Muslim faith. (4-5) Of course one can hardly dismiss Hollywood and their movies of terrorists hijacking planes; bearded men shouting praises of God while wielding a plastic machine gun aimed at the President. In the Arnold Schwarzenegger spy movie "True Lies”, a group called "Crimson Jihad" tries to blow up Miami. The portrayal of Muslims as maniacal and bumbling, several officers felt, hearkened back to the grotesque Hollywood film images of blacks, Jews, and Asians typical in earlier eras. It seems as if Muslims are the last group you can still make fun of and not be politically incorrect have become a fact for many. It is in fact the rowdy voices of people like Falwell and O’Reilly and the colorful picture that Hollywood gives that proves a great tool of conveying the negative portrayal of Islam. Jihad has an immediate role in Islam’s negative portrayal. The present manifestation of jihad by terrorists has great audience appeal. It involves a lot of public opinion and allows room for media twists and dramatic flourish that bode well for the ratings. The fact of the matter is it isn’t the beauty of Islam or Christianity or any other religion that attracts people. It gives audiences the liberty to claim righteousness and liberty. Audiences have far more opinions about cardinal sexual abuse cases and suicide bombers than they do about not coveting their neighbor’s wife. They know more about the massacre of Jews during the Holocaust and the mutual slaughter of Muslims & Hindus in India than they do about the Angkor Wat Temples and the beauty of Mecca. Action, suspense, exhilaration, damnation is what audiences appeal to. The media…follows suit. In this way, jihad as it is presented will always have a place in the American media for as long as terrorists choose to represent it thus. In less than 10 minutes after the Twin Towers collapsed, CNN had the phrase “Holy War” coined on the air. Perhaps the media has taken more liberties than it should in handling sensitive issues of religion, but that has not stopped them from doing so. It ultimately lies with the...