Conservative Islamophobes shaped media frames even when they lost foreign-policy battles

Evidence

The confrontationists, representatives of conservative Islamophobia, however, continued to fight for their position. While they would have little success in shaping foreign policy, they made headway in influencing media perceptions of the Islamic terrorist. Thus, after the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 they argued vociferously that an international network of Muslim terrorists was out to destroy the West. As I argue in Chapter 7, conservatives and the Right actively sought to cultivate the image of the existential “Islamic threat” against whom only a confront-ationist approach would work. They were successful to the extent that when the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995 by Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh, the media were quick to jump to the conclusion that Muslims were to blame. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 423

The confrontationists, representatives of conservative Islamophobia, however, continued to fight for their position. While they would have little success in shaping foreign policy, they made headway in influencing media perceptions of the Islamic terrorist. Thus, after the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 they argued vociferously that an international network of Muslim terrorists was out to destroy the West. As I argue in Chapter 7, conservatives and the Right actively sought to cultivate the image of the existential “Islamic threat” against whom only a confront-ationist approach would work. They were successful to the extent that when the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995 by Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh, the media were quick to jump to the conclusion that Muslims were to blame. The neocons were a central part of this strategy of confrontation. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 435

Categorization

• XREF: This is the evidence trail for the reader’s core question about how 1990s anti-Muslim media framing—illustrated by the McVeigh misattribution—prepared the post-9/11 crystallization. — connects to: Right-wing Islamophobia shaped media bias before and independently of state power; Islamophobic discourse moves from right-wing media to mainstream and shifts the center rightward
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 423; Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 435

Broader Connections

• Right-wing Islamophobia shaped media bias before and independently of state power #corroborates (0.85)
• Islamophobic discourse moves from right-wing media to mainstream and shifts the center rightward #expands (0.75)