Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The purpose of this blog is to examine the way that muslims are portrayed in the media. We will use knowledge about media theories, as well as thorough research, to disseminate political cartoons and judge the truth, or "truthiness", of the facts behind the opinions that are stated. Put simply, this blog seeks to answer the question, "Does the Muslim community deserve the negative light that they are frequently portrayed in, leading to unfounded racism and hate?"

Here on the Introduction and Media Theories page, we will attempt to open the reader's mind. There are many who would deny the existence of Muslim racism in America. We will prove that this topic is, in actuality, "Kind of a Big Deal." We will then go over some basic media theories, used to evaluate the media we are exposed to, and educate our audience on the difference between "Truth" and "Truthiness."

No black people inside... Oh Wait... This kind of blatant racism brings us back to the days of Martin Luther King Jr., when once again, a minority was discriminated against. As you can see discrimination is alive and well in the U.S., and this is not the worst of what is being done to our Muslim brothers and sisters.
On the right we see one person's ideal solution to Muslims in our communities. The Holocaust, the worst genocide to ever occur in world history, is being referenced here. The gas chambers of Auschwitz alone were responsible for the deaths of 2.5 MILLION people. And here we have a call for their return.
But what about actions? Has this attitude made itself manifest in our society through hate crimes? Of course. The number of Muslim hate crimes peaked after Sept 11, and have been on a slow decline, but hate still makes itself known every year through the victimization of Muslims. For a few examples, visit civilrights.org and read a brief report on the increase in hate crimes following September 11. And these only list documented hate crimes. Prejudice and mistreatment go on every day across the nation.
 So how does the Muslim community feel about this? As one would expect them to. Labeled, as seen in the picture to the left, and victimized, as seen to the right.
Whenever people are treated in such a way as to make them feel like this... Well, it's kind of a big deal.














But they are not alone. Muslims are not portrayed solely in a negative light by the media. Frequently people stand up and demand for the hate to end. One of the most frequently used venues is satire. Whether on The Daily Show, as seen below, or The Colbert Report, whether in print through political cartoons, or op-ed pieces, people are calling for liberty and justice for all.


In this amusing piece of satire found on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart and his staff demonstrate both the heartwarming co-operation between religions, while pointing out the utter ridiculousness of the stance of the extremists who refuse to get along with their fellow man. They show that Islam preaches tolerance and love.

Examples like these abound. To say that Muslims play a prominent part in today's media would be an understatement. But what can we do to sort through what we are presented? How can we identify what is real and what is not? By arming ourselves with knowledge.

Truth vs. Truthiness


Truth is something that can be verified with facts, backed up with data. It is the complete picture, an accurate and fair accounting of the event, statement, what have you. Truthiness on the other hand, is truth twisted in such a way as to sound right, but in actuality is only partially true; truth framed in such a way as to give the opinion that the speaker, or writer, wants you to think. Stephen Colbert, the inventor of the word "truthiness", explains it best.


Framing
Frequently employed by those who seek for the Truthiness, rather then the Truth, framing is a technique used to "frame" something in the light that the user wishes you to see it. Whether it's giving the truth, but not the whole truth, or using language and images to reinforce a certain ideal, it's considered framing. In this excellent clip from The Daily Show, it is easy to see how framing is being used.


The Daily Show comes right out and points at the "framing" being used by the Fox Network. First we see  many of the networks get angry about using NASA as a diplomatic tool, something they criticize as ridiculous. Later we see that Ronald Reagan, a widely respected man, had similar goals for our nations space program. You can also see framing when they turn the NASA logo into the symbol of Islam. Framing is present at every turn in this clip. See if you can find it all. Specifically look at the language being used when discussing Muslims.

Cultivation
Cultivation occurs when the framing of certain issues by the media changes the way people perceive and interact with the world around them. Stephen Colbert makes an excellent example of this when he uses the media to change the very nature of reality.


Shortly after this show aired, Wikipedia had to shut down its page on African Elephants, as it then read that the number of elephants in africa had tripled. Having seen this clip, people changed the way they acted, and influenced something larger then themselves. This is a very blatant example of a much more subtle principle. Being exposed to language like that used to describe Muslims in the media has the effect of slowly changing the way we think about them. Media can, and does, have a powerful effect on people, and this effect is called cultivation.

Conclusion
We have seen that the issue of prejudice against Muslims is alive and well in America. We have also looked at a few examples of the media, and the way Muslims are portrayed. In the next few tabs of this blog, we will use the media theories discussed above, as well as thorough research, to examine various facets of the racism against Muslims in America. We will investigate the general image that Muslims are portrayed in, whether positive or negative, the hypocrisy that can be found in racism, the historical precedent and correlation between Japanese internment camps and the present treatment of Muslims, and the foundation of the hatred frequently found in racism. We will then summarize our findings and finally answer the question, "Does the Muslim community deserve the negative light that they are frequently portrayed in, leading to unfounded racism and hate?"

Enjoy
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