Outrage at Muslim women’s suffering gets weaponized to justify racist war policies

Evidence

Outrage is an emotion that carries vast political potential. If we are outraged at the treatment of the oppressed Muslim woman, we are far more likely to support U.S. interventions in Muslim countries in the name of saving the women. The U.S. media participates in encouraging a particular form of outrage—outrage at the oppressive nature of Islam—while other forms of outrage are intentionally left absent, namely, that the United States has played a significant role in creating Islamic fundamentalism and current conflicts including 9/11 and the War on Terror. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 821 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Much of the discourse on the oppression of Muslim women abroad is primarily utilized in order to justify war and military intervention. However, as we have seen above, the oppressive Muslim men and the oppressed Muslim women (elsewhere) also serve as tools for generating enough fear of Islam to introduce legal measures against Islamic Law in US domestic policies. In anti-Muslim discrimination and hate speech, as well as in “saving Muslim women from Islam and Muslim men” discourses (Muslim), women are victims, real or imagined. However, gender considerations are also important in the following discussion of the role women play as producers of Islamophobic discourses. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 545 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Cassin used women’s status to justify withholding rights from Muslim colonies — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 270; Genuine concern for Muslim women was repurposed to justify war and racism — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race…, 817; Islamophobic rhetoric uses Muslim women’s oppression to justify war — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 545 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobic rhetoric uses Muslim women’s oppression to justify war #corroborates (0.95) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 545
• Media-cultivated outrage at Islam’s oppression of women justifies US military intervention. #corroborates (0.95) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 821
• Islamophobic discourse uses Muslim women as pawns to serve imperial and domestic agendas #corroborates (0.94)
• Humanitarian concern for Muslim women weaponizes their bodies for imperial agendas. #corroborates (0.93) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 50
• Genuine concern for Muslim women was repurposed to justify war and racism #corroborates (0.92) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 817
• Feminist positioning becomes a justification for imperial invasion of Muslim lands. #corroborates (0.92) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 62
• State protection of Muslim women can backfire by fueling anti-Muslim racism #complicates (0.75) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 393
• Racialized Muslim women perform emotional labor to dismantle stereotypes of their religion #complicates (0.72) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 387