Televised coverage of the Iranian revolution created the modern discourse of Islamic fundamentalism

Evidence

These televised images were the first time that the ‘conceptual’ threat of a newly resurgent Islam had been brought into the very epicentre of the West. not only did it bring this conceptual threat – one that evoked and reinvigorated many of the historical meanings and understandings about Islam and Muslims that many believed had been subjugated under colonial rule – but it did so through the medium of television: a medium that existed inside the previously safe confines of Western homes. Despite the physical distance that existed between Iran and the West, the dissemination of images into the very heart of Western living seemed to conceptually eradicate that same distance and the safety this afforded simultaneously. … Through Khomeini and his association with what was increasingly being reported as the most extreme and untenable form of Islam, so a new discourse relating to ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ or just ‘fundamentalism’ was conceived and born: a discourse entirely derivative of a media driven agenda that was conceptually closer, more urgent, more damning and far more real than anything that had proceeded it in terms of the threat posed by Islam and Muslims. — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 219

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s module on definition-as-political-act: the term ‘fundamentalism’ is shown here as a media construction rather than a neutral descriptor. — connects to: The ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ discourse was born from a media-driven agenda around Khomeini’s Iran — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 219; Televised Tehran hostage images brought the conceptual threat of Islam into Western homes — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 219; A coded lexicon spread fundamentalism’s connotations across all discourse about Muslims — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 223 (+4 more)
• SEED: Angle: how a single televised event (Tehran embassy storming) manufactured a durable discourse label that outlived the event.

Related

• The ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ discourse was born from a media-driven agenda around Khomeini’s Iran (similarity 0.93)
• Televised Tehran hostage images brought the conceptual threat of Islam into Western homes (similarity 0.89)
• Media reattributed the Iranian situation to timeless Muslim traits rather than real causes (similarity 0.88)
• Iran hostage crisis coverage monetized the fear of an encroaching Muslim threat. (similarity 0.81)
• The 1979 Iran hostage crisis made Khomeini the embodiment of Islamic evil to Americans. (similarity 0.79)
• Media imagery conflated Khomeini with all of Islam despite his minority Twelver Shi’a sect. (similarity 0.79)
• Iran’s 1979 revolution redirected US fear from secular nationalism to Islamism (similarity 0.78)
• The 1979 Iranian Revolution shifted US policy from promoting Islam to denouncing it (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ discourse was born from a media-driven agenda around Khomeini’s Iran #corroborates (0.95) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 219
• Televised Tehran hostage images brought the conceptual threat of Islam into Western homes #exemplifies (0.85) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 219
• A coded lexicon spread fundamentalism’s connotations across all discourse about Muslims #expands (0.85) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 223
• Media framing constructs the reality audiences accept about Islam. #expands (0.80) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 497
• American media conflated Iranians, Arabs, Sunnis, and Shiites into one Muslim menace. #exemplifies (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 254
• Media framing shapes American attitudes toward Islam and jihad #expands (0.75) — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad, 75
• Global events normalized Islamophobic discourse and made Muslims the ultimate Other #expands (0.75) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 255