Islam( in the Eyes of Western Media) - 2244 Words

ISLAM (THROUGH THE EYES OF WESTERN MEDIA) By Jasmine Bhangoo The worldwide Islamic revival of the 1970s and the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States have prompted many to predict that the two cultures are on a major collision course. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West. Nevertheless, the West has many stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam that are due to the media, prejudice, and ignorance. Islam is often looked upon as a extremist, terrorist, or fundamental religion. Many people hate Islam and do not want to acknowledge its true teachings. In many cases, the media s reports about Islam are incorrect due to ignorance. This is one of the reasons why the West often hates Islam.†¦show more content†¦The true images of Muslims, Islam, and Arabs are never taken into account and that is where the prejudice, hate, and discrimination originate. The positive stories are nowhere to be found about the Middle East region. The American public sees violence, war, and poverty associated with the Middle East region. Others might associate all Arabs as being rich because there is oil in the Middle East. People lump in all Muslims and all Arabs as all being the same but this is usually not done to other people, to other cultures, or to other religions. Most Americans don t know that the country with the largest population of Muslims is not in the Middle East; it is Indonesia, which is not a Middle Eastern country. Arabs only account for 18% of the Muslim population across the world. Adding to the fact that the media creates inaccurate ideas about Islam, the Western media is also very influential to its audiences in making negative Islamic stereotypes, such as the assertion that all Muslims are fundamentalists. The term fundamentalist is actually a term that is interpreted by the media. A fundamentalist, in fact, only represents a normal Muslim who follows his or her religion. 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