The violence-of-Islam myth traces to the Crusades and shapes coverage of the Danish cartoons.
Evidence
This myth has a long history. As we saw in chapter 1, its origins go back to the eleventh century and the start of the Crusades. One contemporary echo can be found in a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005. This cartoon featured the Prophet with a bomb on his turban, implying that Islam came into being with violence at its core. Muslims around the world protested angrily, but thanks to the actions of a small number of Islamists, the protests were interpreted in the West not as legitimate offense against an ancient slur but as a dogmatic response to the publishing of an image of the Prophet. Liberal columnists endorsed this position, defending the cartoonists on the grounds of free speech, and many US newspapers carried the cartoon on the same grounds, without recognizing or acknowledging that the cartoon itself endorsed the myth of an inherently violent Islam. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 193
Categorization
- XREF: Reaches back to chapter 1’s Crusade origin for the violence myth, giving the reader the genealogical line she explicitly wants — from a medieval domestic fear to a contemporary episode. — connects to: The Crusades were tied to enduring European xenophobia rooted in Greek thought; The Westergaard cartoon was read as tying Muhammad and Islam to violence. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 412; Historical memory of the Crusades drives Europeans’ anti-Muslim votes and stares (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- The Van Gogh murder seemed to confirm Islamophobia narratives about Muslim violence.
#exemplifies(0.60) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 379 - Media framing constructs the reality audiences accept about Islam.
#expands(0.50) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 497 - Post-war Middle East events made violence central to US Muslim depictions
#expands(0.50) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 521 - Media coverage of Muslim violence superficially supports an Islam-violence link
#complicates(0.40) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 282 - Majorities in Western countries blamed Muslims for the cartoon conflict.
#contradicts(0.20) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 419