Preconceptions about Muslims filter out information that contradicts them

Evidence

Since the events of 9/11, politicians and the media have not just promoted Islamophobia—they’ve turned the dial up to eleven. This rhetoric was not invented after September 2001; it has a long history, as we saw in the previous two chapters. This chapter will examine some images of Muslims that have persisted to the point of becoming “common sense”—ideas which are believed to be true and so obvious that they need no verification. In particular, we will look at five myths about Islam and Muslims. I use the term “myth” for both its meanings—as a traditional story of supposedly historic events that shed light on the worldview of a people, and as a false and questionable story. Myths about Islam in the twenty-first century are indeed historical, but they are based on a distorted or selective interpretation of the past. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 155 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Knowledge of Hausa revolts was distorted by planter manipulation and anti-Muslim bias; Factual correction fails against holders of complex ignorance about Islam. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 653; The brain prioritizes threatening information, which explains why negative Muslim stereotypes persist despite counter-evidence — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 662 (+11 more)

Related

• Islamophobic myths rest on distorted readings that have become unquestioned common sense. (similarity 0.89)
• Norms of secular textual reading mark Muslims as deficient by unstated Western standards. (similarity 0.82)
• The monolith myth underlies all other claims of Islam’s inherent traits. (similarity 0.82)
• Factual correction fails against holders of complex ignorance about Islam. (similarity 0.81)
• Philological analysis of key texts established Muslims as static subspecies (similarity 0.80)
• Islamophobia spans the political spectrum and is embedded in empire’s infrastructure (similarity 0.80)
• Islamophobic claims serve to positively define their speakers rather than describe Muslims (similarity 0.79)
• Anti-Muslim racism’s power lies in unexamined assumptions presented as fact. (similarity 0.79)
• The false eighty-percent-mosque claim circulated unchallenged across mainstream media (similarity 0.79)
• The monster image of Islam persists because it was a self-serving fantasy (similarity 0.79)
• Reifying Islam as a unified agent underwrote conspiracy theories of a pan-Indian jihad (similarity 0.79)
• Enemy societies get deformed into shared myths barely tied to fact (similarity 0.78)
• War on Terror discourse makes suspecting Muslims feel rationally normal (similarity 0.78)
• The brain prioritizes threatening information, which explains why negative Muslim stereotypes persist despite counter-evidence (similarity 0.78)
• Islamophobia need not rest on false claims, so debunking accuracy misses the point (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobic myths rest on distorted readings that have become unquestioned common sense. #corroborates (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 155
• Representations of Muslims as monsters persist despite statistical evidence against them #exemplifies (0.70)