The Islam-is-violent frame deflects attention from empire’s violence

Evidence

Barely moments after the Twin Towers came crashing down, US politicians and pundits began to associate that act of violence with Islam in ways not dissimilar to earlier constructions. From the public speeches of mainstream political figures to the rants of right-wingers such as Ann Coulter to the proclamations of the Pope and others, a slew of comments too numerous to list here connected the actions of a handful of people to the religion of Islam. This frame has a long history that goes back to the Crusades. However, its reproduction in later periods is the product of particular historical circumstances. Today, it serves to deflect attention from the violence of empire in the war on terror. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 345

Categorization

• XREF: Directly corroborates Rana’s and Razack’s claims that representing Muslims as violent terrorists functions as ideological cover for US imperial warfare. — connects to: Imperial violence is projected onto Muslims to appear proportionate — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 355; Islam was reframed as a rival political civilization to justify imperial violence — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 272; Imperial violence is recast as proportionate response to an inherently aggressive Muslim enemy. (+5 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 345

Broader Connections

• Imperial violence is recast as proportionate response to an inherently aggressive Muslim enemy. #expands (0.92)
• Imperial violence is projected onto Muslims to appear proportionate #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 355
• Even antiwar critics defaulted to Islamic imagery for violence and unreason #exemplifies (0.78) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 266
• Islam was reframed as a rival political civilization to justify imperial violence #responds-to (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 272
• Media coverage of Muslim violence superficially supports an Islam-violence link #corroborates (0.72) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 282
• The War on Terror recycled pre-existing Orientalist academic discourse into state violence #complicates (0.72) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 267