Televised Tehran hostage images brought the conceptual threat of Islam into Western homes

Evidence

The Islamic Revolution in Iran was a hugely significant event and undeniably integral to the way in which Islam and Muslims have since been attributed with understanding in the West. Possibly less to do with the actual revolution itself, its impact was as Buckley writes, one where ‘the sudden collapse of the Shah’s regime took most Western observers by surprise’. Significantly adding to this surprise were the previously unheralded global television news networks and their dissemination of pictures showing more than 3,000 Iranian students storming the American Embassy in Tehran. 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. — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 219

Categorization

• XREF: Said’s ‘news overkill’ and the media-driven origin of ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ discourse — connects to the text’s anti-racialization framing. — connects to: Televised coverage of the Iranian revolution created the modern discourse of Islamic fundamentalism — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 219; Iran hostage crisis coverage monetized the fear of an encroaching Muslim threat. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 250; Western media frames Islam chiefly through terrorism and women’s oppression. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 499 (+7 more)

Related

• Televised coverage of the Iranian revolution created the modern discourse of Islamic fundamentalism (similarity 0.89)
• Iran hostage crisis coverage monetized the fear of an encroaching Muslim threat. (similarity 0.87)
• Media reattributed the Iranian situation to timeless Muslim traits rather than real causes (similarity 0.86)
• Hostage-crisis coverage warned Americans about a domestic Muslim takeover. (similarity 0.82)
• The ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ discourse was born from a media-driven agenda around Khomeini’s Iran (similarity 0.81)
• Iran’s 1979 revolution redirected US fear from secular nationalism to Islamism (similarity 0.81)
• The 1979 Iran hostage crisis made Khomeini the embodiment of Islamic evil to Americans. (similarity 0.80)
• The 1979 Iranian revolution and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan triggered the Middle East buildup (similarity 0.80)
• Post-war Middle East events made violence central to US Muslim depictions (similarity 0.80)
• American media conflated Iranians, Arabs, Sunnis, and Shiites into one Muslim menace. (similarity 0.80)
• The American public first linked Islam with terrorism only after the Iranian Revolution. (similarity 0.80)
• Domesticating the Muslim threat made it feel closer and more dangerous (similarity 0.79)
• The 1979 Iran hostage crisis created the demand that birthed a new news format (similarity 0.79)
• Media mapping equates imagined Muslims with physical proximity to the West (similarity 0.79)
• Both Americans and Britons held Islam a perennial menace by its proselytizing and violence (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Iran hostage crisis coverage monetized the fear of an encroaching Muslim threat. #corroborates (0.95) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 250
• Proximity converted a remote global Muslim threat into a domestic one #expands (0.85)
• Iran’s 1979 revolution redirected US fear from secular nationalism to Islamism #expands (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 246
• Media mapping equates imagined Muslims with physical proximity to the West #expands (0.80) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 240
• Domesticating the Muslim threat made it feel closer and more dangerous #expands (0.80) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 236
• Disproportionate media coverage reifies fear and mistrust of Muslims #corroborates (0.78) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 240
• A worldwide Muslim threat narrative came to frame British perceptions #expands (0.78)
• Western media frames Islam chiefly through terrorism and women’s oppression. #expands (0.75) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 499