Media commentators framed Muslim soldiers as programmed by religion, ignoring war-complicity motives.

Evidence

In short, for Varadarajan, all Muslim Americans are “imminently violent,” and while they appear to be integrated into American society, they are in fact ticking time bombs who could explode into violent, murderous rage. Kundnani argues that Hasan carried out the attack in large part due to the fear that he would be deployed to a Muslim-majority country and become complicit in war crimes against Muslims. He adds that Hasan also may have acted because the authorities had refused to investigate allegations of war crimes that had emerged in his counseling sessions with army patients. Discounting these real lived circumstances that might have explained his actions, cultural racism was deployed to make the argument that Muslims are driven by “Islam” to be violent. The homegrown terrorist, predominantly identified as brown, male, and Muslim, is inherently violent despite all semblances to the contrary. What made the racialized Muslim a threat (and this category occasionally includes white Muslims like Colleen LaRose who was arrested on terrorism related charges in 2010) is their religion; they are culturally programmed by Islam to carry out murder and mayhem. In making this argument, Varadarajan was simply echoing the logic of “preemptive prosecution” and theories of radicalization employed by the law enforcement apparatus. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 609

Categorization

• XREF: Corroborates the vault’s Aziz/Razack claims that racialized Muslims are cast as inherently violent regardless of lived circumstance; also dialog with Rana on preemptive prosecution. — connects to: Media links terrorism, Islam, and perverse sexuality while ignoring political conditions.; Media portrayals frame Muslim religious expression itself as irrational fanaticism — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race…, 971; Media frames Muslim terrorists as religion-driven simpletons while psychologizing non-Muslim perpetrators — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 506 (+1 more)
• ADDENDUM: Not relevant to existing three articles directly.

Broader Connections

• Media frames Muslim terrorists as religion-driven simpletons while psychologizing non-Muslim perpetrators #corroborates (0.88) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 506
• Media links terrorism, Islam, and perverse sexuality while ignoring political conditions. #expands (0.85)
• Media portrayals frame Muslim religious expression itself as irrational fanaticism #expands (0.80) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 971
• Media portrayals of Islam perpetuate hostility rather than convey understanding #corroborates (0.78) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 65