The media codes only certain groups’ violence as religiously motivated

Evidence

Looking at Christianity’s brutal history today, one might well advance an argument that all Catholics are bloodthirsty fanatics. Indeed, this logic would be analogous to the argument that Islam is inherently violent and that Muslims have a “predisposition” toward violence. Yet such a generalization is unthinkable. To my knowledge, no mainstream newspaper or magazine has drawn a straight line between the Crusades and the Nazi Holocaust of Jews, let alone between the birth of Christ and various acts of terrorism committed by Christian fundamentalists. Furthermore, as Talal Asad argues, the same people who call the actions of suicide bombers unjustified legitimize the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands. In short, only the violence of certain groups is highlighted and coded as a product of those groups’ religious affinity. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 198

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the reader’s own work with Rana and Iftikhar on asymmetric racialized coding; the double standard is the mechanism behind the myth. — connects to: Violence by one Muslim is generalized to all while Christian violence is not — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 54; Media coverage of Muslim violence superficially supports an Islam-violence link — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 282; Powell’s study also claims that the media is much more likely to blame religion for the actions of Muslim terrorists than for white non-Muslim terrorists. This is evident in CNN’s description of Luke Halder, a university student who set off pipe bombs throughout the Midwest in 2002, as ‘an intelligent young man with strong family ties’ and the media’s speculation that his actions were motivated by mental instability. (+15 more)
• SEED: Angle: a side-by-side media comparison of how Christian vs Muslim mass violence gets explained — an essay could compile the counterexamples the ‘mainstream’ omits.

Broader Connections

• Religious labeling of criminals applies to Muslims but not to Christians #corroborates (0.85)
• Media frames Muslim terrorists as religion-driven simpletons while psychologizing non-Muslim perpetrators #corroborates (0.80) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 506
• Media framing shapes American attitudes toward Islam and jihad #expands (0.65) — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad, 75
• Media framing constructs the reality audiences accept about Islam. #expands (0.60) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 497
• Even non-terrorism shows define Muslim characters through violence #exemplifies (0.60) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 533
• Structural media economics favor religious explanations over complex political ones #expands (0.55)
• Media framing of hate crimes as individual acts obscures state and media complicity #complicates (0.50) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 103