Media frames Muslim terrorists as religion-driven simpletons while psychologizing non-Muslim perpetrators

Evidence

By contrast, Muslim terrorists were frequently described as angry extremists, motivated primarily if not solely by religion. Speculation on mental health problems was sparse and in most cases nonexistent. When Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad opened fire at a US military recruiting office in Arkansas in 2009, killing one, Fox News reported that “Muhammad was targeting U.S. soldiers ‘because of what they had done to Muslims in the past’ and was angry about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The same report suggested that the shooting “was part of what security experts call an alarming domestic trend” involving Muslim converts carrying out violent attacks in the United States. The New York Times initially focused on suggestions from experts, and even the defense lawyer, that Muhammad “was radicalized by Islamic fundamentalists in a Yemeni prison.” The media’s framing of Muhammad’s attack, like other terrorist attacks carried out by Muslims, reduced the perpetrator to a simple-minded, angry Islamic extremist with no complex motivations or forces shaping his actions other than revenge and religion. The media exerts little effort to psychologize, humanize, or nuance Muslim terrorists in the same manner as white non-Muslim perpetrators. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 506

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the earlier chapters on how the fear of Islam constructs Muslims as a homogeneous category lacking individual complexity. — 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; Mainstream media misattributed the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to Muslims. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 504 (+19 more)
• DEFINE: Illustrates the media pattern where religious motive is treated as automatically explanatory for Muslim violence but not for non-Muslim violence.

Broader Connections

• Powell’s study also claims that the media is much more likely to blame religion for the actions of Muslim terrorists than for white non-Muslim terrorists. This is evident in CNN’s description of… #exemplifies (0.90)
• Media coverage of Muslim violence superficially supports an Islam-violence link #corroborates (0.80) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 282
• American society explains rare Muslim terror through religion itself #corroborates (0.80)
• Market incentives drive the media to reinforce rather than challenge religious explanations of terrorism #expands (0.50)
• Clash of civilizations framing located terrorism’s cause within Islam itself #expands (0.40) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 266
• Media framing shapes American attitudes toward Islam and jihad #complicates (0.30) — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad, 75