American’s nature and their view about Muslims from media

Americans tend to generalize. These generalizations are influenced by media. The media
associates all Muslims with the worst Muslims they know ‘Causing trouble’
Some attempts to move the Saudi Arabian-funded, full-time Islamic school, from Fairfax County,
Virginia, to Loudoun County. However, there were many views rejected this attempt , based on
xenophobia, racist opposition, and against Muslims in general.
After Saddam’s situation, Americans added some other skepticisms about Muslims;
1- That they can’t be trusted.
2- They bomb the world Trade Center
3- They build chemical weapons
4- They mistreat their women
5- The list could go on…
Americans are right to be wary of (certain) Muslims as for some (extremist groups).
So there were some people saying that the intended purpose of this school is to “bring Muslim
an Arab terrorists too Loudoun County”
Hysteria settled on Loudoun County as Ahlemann and others attempted to provide intellectual
justification for bigotry.
The xenophobia the Islamic Saudi Academy faced was the clear result of the distorted media
representation of Muslims. The media consistently fails to make a distinction between Muslims
who do bad things and Muslims who follow the Qur’an.

Edward Said, said, that by using academics and so-called experts, media reports give viewers
and readers the idea that they understand Islam. The news media doesn’t point out that these
experts often use biased material. He also added that Islam is considered as a scapegoat for
everything. And they don’t have an accurate understanding of Islam.
Thus, American use some inaccurate stereotypes to portrait Muslims. As a result, Americans are
unable to distinguish between what is reality and what is an over amplification or stereotype.

American misunderstanding of Muslims

Clearly, American misunderstanding of Muslims is not unexpected considering the events that
have occurred over the years, from the hostage crisis in Iran to the World Trade Center
bombing.
American media while covering these events lies mainly with;
 1- The most sensational stories
2- Reporters tend to link Islam with the criminal act
3- The media packages information in ways that make Muslims look bad.
4- Reporters use some headlines such as ‘Terrorism comes to America’
5- The talk shows and newspapers often use the word ‘fundamentalist’ to signify Islam. As
in (New York Times and Mashberg’s article in Boston Globe; reporters used a ‘Muslim
Fundamentalist’ referring to M. Salamah as convicted of the World Trade Center
bombing. They describe him as ‘thin, with neat brown beard and heavy eye brows’ He
used this description to fit many stereotypes of Arabs appearance. Mashberg speculates
about what ‘might’ be unprecedent terrorist regime in America. Through the word
‘might’ a reader will have the impression that there is a terrorist network of Muslims in
America. That means that all Muslims have a chaos agenda and terrorism is a way of life
for Muslims.
These things give all Muslims a negative image.

Similarly, in the press coverage of the TWA flight 800 crash. They pointed the finger at Muslims.
News headlines proclaimed Muslims as the prime suspects. The media did everything to blame
Muslims. At the end the reason of the crash was a mechanical failure.
The main reason anyone seems to think there may be a large number of American Muslims
terrorists is because of the work of Steven Emerson. He relies on outdated speeches and
lectures for evidence. His work is well known as biased, anti-Islamic, and poorly researched. His
agenda is to create anti-Muslim hysteria, which he accomplished after Oklahoma City bombing.
In the coverage of Oklahoma City bombing, Muslims stereotypes were used and Muslims were
suspected by the public and officials.
The media continues to find new ways to discredit Islam. They write about the oppression of
Muslim women
Much blame for Muslim’s negative image also lies with moviemakers; Disney film Alaaddin
1992.
Many Muslims are verbally and physically harassed in America.

How American Muslims gain better public image

On the other hand, USA Today editorial printed at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing that
Islam preaches peace, and most Muslims are victims not perpetrators of terrorism.
Positive articles appeared like in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor; trying to make
Islam look different.
Muslims have come a long way in the media relations in the last five years. The CNN coverage
of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca ‘half an hour’, to educate their audience about Islam beliefs
and rituals.
Muslims themselves are making more of an effort to show their friends and neighbors the right
image
We have Muslims groups devoted to improving the image of Muslims like ( CAIR/ Islamic
Networks Groups in San Francisco/ CIE/ IIS ) by making conferences, lectures, textbooks, TV
programs, etc..