Terrorism declined while mass shootings rose, yet only Muslims faced surveillance

Evidence

In the decade after 9/11, the approach to law and order in the United States changed drastically with surveillance being a necessary and supported tactic in a society hyperconcerned with preventing another terrorist attack. Surveillance is the observation and monitoring of behaviors and actions that are deemed suspicious. The domestic and international War on Terror legitimizes the political and economic need for increased surveillance, resulting in the corporatization and federalization of surveillance. In other words, surveillance has become big business in the United States, where companies profit from surveillance technologies and tools, such as maintaining databases of information on the general public and then selling them to the government for purposes of security. A surveillance society can only survive as long as there is a need to monitor and observe bodies that threaten security. The War on Terror created conditions where Muslim bodies are racialized, justifying the need for their surveillance. But surveillance does not impact Muslim men and women in the same way; rather, surveillance is gendered, highlighting how racialization is also gendered. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 29 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

One does not need a Ph.D. in sociology or psychology to see that this is an inherently racist behavioral model fraught with double standards. For instance, the same kind of surveillance does not take place in white Christian communities, even though white supremacist terrorist organizations have long existed in the United States. A DHS report released in 2009 cautioned against violence by white supremacist groups: “The threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years. In addition, the historical election of an African American president and the prospect of policy changes are proving to be a driving force for rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalization.” The report also names the recession and economic insecurity as factors that spur the growth of domestic terrorism. One of the key differences between the DHS report and the aforementioned NYPD report is that race, gender, and religion are incidental to the DHS’s analysis. While it speaks about the anti-black, anti-immigrant, xenophobic, and pro-gun politics of white supremacist groups, it fails to make the leap to the conclusion that there is a four-step process of radicalization that begins with a person simply being a white Christian male. Naturally, there is no program to infiltrate white Christian communities to see how these dangerous men eat, worship, play, or shop. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 487 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: CVE shifted counterterrorism focus from foreign groups to homegrown Muslims. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 363; Foreign terrorism kills vanishingly few Americans relative to other risks; Surveillance of whole populations weakens democracy while failing to prevent terror (+10 more)

Related

• Surveillance targets Muslims while ignoring white supremacist militias (similarity 0.91)
• Surveillance of whole populations weakens democracy while failing to prevent terror (similarity 0.90)
• The War on Terror racialized Muslim bodies to justify their surveillance (similarity 0.88)
• The War on Terror racially constructed Muslims as terrorists. (similarity 0.87)
• Mass state surveillance laws target white citizens and Muslims with unequal public scrutiny (similarity 0.86)
• Support for a targeted minority doubles as surveillance and control of that minority (similarity 0.86)
• Racializing Muslims as threats sustains a surveillance state with gendered effects (similarity 0.86)
• Socioeconomic status does not protect Muslims from racialization during war (similarity 0.86)
• Terrorism is a racial construct that excludes white freedom fighters (similarity 0.86)
• Mass surveillance based on racial stereotypes weakens democracy without preventing terrorism. (similarity 0.86)
• White supremacist violence is analyzed without racial profiling theories. (similarity 0.84)
• The surveillance industry needs racialized Muslim bodies to justify its funding (similarity 0.84)
• The War on Terror legitimizes expanded police repression at home (similarity 0.84)
• Each terrorist attack triggers renewed citizen anger and state surveillance against Muslims. (similarity 0.84)
• Mass shootings by non-Muslims produce no surveillance, while innocent Muslims do (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Surveillance targets Muslims while ignoring white supremacist militias #corroborates (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 487
• The War on Terror racialized Muslim bodies to justify their surveillance #corroborates (0.80) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 29
• Mass surveillance based on racial stereotypes weakens democracy without preventing terrorism. #corroborates (0.75)
• Muslim bodies are treated as potential terrorists until proven otherwise #expands (0.70) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 282
• Terrorism and extremism are treated as exclusive to Islam #corroborates (0.70)
• The surveillance industry depends on racialized Muslim bodies to stay funded #expands (0.60) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 671
• Racializing Muslims as threats sustains a surveillance state with gendered effects #expands (0.60)
• Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act enforcement targeted Muslims despite neutral wording. #qualifies (0.45) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 259
• Each terrorist attack resets Muslims into heightened suspicion and surveillance #qualifies (0.40) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 666