Anti-Muslim propaganda won mainstream legitimacy on PBS as early as 1994

Evidence

The overall dynamic is one in which the right-wing media are the hubs of Islamophobic propaganda, which then spills over into the mainstream media through the Islamophobic warriors or through sympathetic politicians. The political center then adapts and moves further to the right. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 698 (#expands, via linked claim)

The Danish cartoon controversy illustrates how this frame of Islam and violence operates, and how it serves to desensitize western audiences to the mass killings of Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (J-P) posted twelve depictions of the Prophet Mohammad, which were solicited by its cultural editor. One of these cartoons featured the Prophet with a bomb on his turban. This cartoon not only depicts Mohammad as a terrorist but Islam as being imbricated with violence from its origins. This argument was a staple of the Right, but made its way into a liberal newspaper in Denmark in 2005. The cultural editor claimed to be motivated by the desire to defend free speech even if that meant offending Muslims. Shortly before this, J-P had published a series of editorials and op-eds that were anti-immigrant and that portrayed Islam as a dangerous and belligerent religion. The cartoons therefore didn’t come out of nowhere. Anthropologist Peter Hervik has argued that the logic of J-P’s cultural editor derives from what is called “entitlement racism,” which involves “the right to offend and to humiliate” in the name of liberal principles. … Muslims around the world protested these cartoons and some Islamists turned to violence. The response in Denmark and elsewhere was to point to Islam’s illiberalism and anti-modern attitudes. In fact, Hervik argues that in the decade since the cartoons were published, the hegemonic position grew stronger so that “resistance to, or criticism of, the publication, even when set in a democratic dialogue” became a “sign of the opponent’s lack of integration or of cowardice, and lack of character and courage to stand up for free speech.” At the time and since, liberal columnists endorsed J-P’s position, defending the cartoonists on the grounds of free speech. Many US newspapers carried the cartoon of Mohammad with the bomb on the same grounds, without recognizing or acknowledging that the cartoon endorsed the frame of an inherently violent Islam. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 346 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Representations of jihad in American film and television are also very relevant to how Americans view jihad and Islam. In fact, this is not a new phenomenon. American film and television have a history of misrepresenting jihad. A very good example of this is the primetime drama, 24 (2001–2010, 2014). The show followed Jack Bauer, an agent with the U.S. government’s Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU), who impedes domestic and international terrorist plots. In the show, Muslims were often featured as terrorists. In the second season, Jack Bauer tracked down a Muslim terrorist and tortured him into confessing the location of a nuclear bomb. When the terrorist refused to disclose the location of the bomb, Bauer threatened to inflict more pain, to which the terrorist responded, “Then I will have much more pleasure in paradise.” — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad, 47 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mainstream American television has a history of misrepresenting jihad — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad: A Cause of…, 47; Islam-as-violence framing migrated from the right into mainstream liberal media — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 346; Islamophobic propaganda moves right-wing to mainstream to center — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 698 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobic propaganda moves right-wing to mainstream to center #expands (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 698
• Islam-as-violence framing migrated from the right into mainstream liberal media #corroborates (0.82) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 346
• Mainstream American television has a history of misrepresenting jihad #expands (0.78) — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad, 47
• Anti-Islam rhetoric gained legitimacy by wrapping itself in liberal values. #corroborates (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 316
• Domestic anti-Muslim campaigns needed liberal commentary to reach the mainstream #contradicts (0.70) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 497