Media and state mutually reinforce Islam-violence associations for distinct functional reasons

Evidence

This ongoing dialogue between the state and its polity regarding Muslims by way of law, official rhetoric, and war-on-terror policy is central to this book’s framing of Islamophobia. Beyond defining Islamophobia as merely irrational fear or hatred held by a caricatured bloc or demographic, or as deviant violence committed by individual actors, this book’s definition is complex, multidimensional, and anchored in law and government policy. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 83 (#expands, via linked claim)

Looking at Christianity’s brutal history today, one might well advance an argument that all Catholics are bloodthirsty fanatics. Indeed, this logic would be analogous to the argument that Islam is inherently violent and that Muslims have a “predisposition” toward violence. Yet such a generalization is unthinkable. To my knowledge, no mainstream newspaper or magazine has drawn a straight line between the Crusades and the Nazi Holocaust of Jews, let alone between the birth of Christ and various acts of terrorism committed by Christian fundamentalists. Furthermore, as Talal Asad argues, the same people who call the actions of suicide bombers unjustified legitimize the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands. In short, only the violence of certain groups is highlighted and coded as a product of those groups’ religious affinity. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 198 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Media framing constructs the reality audiences accept about Islam. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 497; Western media frames Islam chiefly through terrorism and women’s oppression. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 499; Monolithic Islam assumptions enable guilt-by-association targeting — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 55 (+21 more)

Related

• Media coverage of Muslim violence superficially supports an Islam-violence link (similarity 0.88)
• The media codes only certain groups’ violence as religiously motivated (similarity 0.88)
• Media and political elites may have an interest in promoting the Islam-violence stereotype. (similarity 0.87)
• Both media and state profit from keeping Islam and violence linked (similarity 0.86)
• Media and state both profit from perpetuating the Islam-violence association. (similarity 0.85)
• The state perpetuates Islam-violence associations to justify expanding its authority (similarity 0.84)
• Environmental framing made Muslim violence seem causally inevitable (similarity 0.84)
• The Islam-is-violent frame deflects attention from empire’s violence (similarity 0.83)
• Western media frames Islam chiefly through terrorism and women’s oppression. (similarity 0.83)
• Islamophobic ideology selectively attributes violence to religion only in the Muslim case. (similarity 0.83)
• Sustained media focus reframed Muslim citizens as enemies of the state (similarity 0.83)
• Only Muslim violence is read as caused by the perpetrators’ religion (similarity 0.83)
• Media distinction between Islam and terrorism was blurred by inflationary language (similarity 0.82)
• Applied to Christians or Jews, such rhetoric would be considered taboo (similarity 0.82)
• Media imagery ties Islam to violence against women to justify intervention (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobia is transmitted through state-polity dialogue via law and rhetoric #expands (0.70) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 83
• Islamophobic tropes become real violence through perceived enemy images #expands (0.65)
• Four interconnected groups jointly project the Muslim-enemy image #expands (0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 537
• The media codes only certain groups’ violence as religiously motivated #corroborates (0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 198
• Clash-of-civilizations rhetoric ideologically legitimized both foreign wars and domestic attacks #corroborates (0.50) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 421