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Islam In The Media Traditionally, Thesis

Apparently, Islamic terrorists are the media marketing executives.

Once more, the tendency is to project American viewpoints and values on to supposed Islamist enemies. The same individuals and groups that are utterly alien to America's most cherished beliefs are also masters of manipulating Americans' views of themselves and of using the media to their own advantage. The idea that Islamist groups might possess some sort of legitimate grievance, or might be railing against actual conditions is dismissed in favor of complex marketing ploys. Terrorism is a product, just like everything else that is promoted on American television and in American newspapers and magazines. The only difference is that the Islamist product is a bad product. Other Western media too have taken up the general theme of Islamic terrorism as but the ultimate expression of Islamic failure to grasp the potentialities of the modern world. As presented in the French Canadian press, the modern Islamic world is an utter failure, still desperately trying to explain its fall from power and influence -- "The Arab-Muslim world, because this is primarily what we are talking about, has still not caught up with the military, economic, scientific, and technological progress the West has made during the last two centuries."

Islam's violent propensities constantly portrayed in the American media and in other Western nations as well are symbolic of Islam's lack of development. The Islamic World is backwards in comparison to the West. That terrorists can use the Western media while at the same time being incapable of adopting other modern Western ideas is never questioned. Merely, it fits the narrative that the West is wholly in the right, and that it is Islam that is at fault. The failings of Islam are inherently cultural failings. The message of the media is that if the Islamic World were to adopt Western ways, the violence would cease. The Islamic world would settle down and join the global marketplace, becoming peaceful partners with the United States and the rest of the "global community."

So the media portray the Islamic World in a way that is calculated to highlight perceived flaws within Islamic civilization. These flaws are always shown against the triumphs of Western society...

Modern nations are good because they live in peace with one another. Among modern nations and peoples, trade has replaced war as a means of interaction. Disputes and grievances that lead to violence against Western nations, the United States in particular, must be rooted in a clinging to primitive, outdated ideas. Yet, these same terrorists present other problems for the West in the way that they seek to undermine modern western values. They use the tools of Western Civilization, that is, the technology of the modern media, against the West itself. They are masters of manipulation spreading themselves through the countries of their adversaries and causing chaos among otherwise peaceful peoples and societies. Ultimately, the Western media coverage is a kind of mirror of the West itself, the complaints of the Islamic World about Western meddling and exploitation are turned back on the terrorists. For America's media, and those similarly inclined in other nations, the war against "Radical Islam" is a war against those who refuse to except Western values -- the real complaints of the Islamic World do not matter.
Works Cited

Albritton, James S. "The Technique of Terrorism." Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table (2006).

Belkhodja, Chedly, and Chantal Richard. "The Events of September 11 in the French-Canadian Press." Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal 38.3 (2006): 119+.

Dunsky, Marda. "Missing: The Bias Implicit in the Absent." Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) 23.3 (2001): 1.

Vaisman-Tzachor, Reuben. "Psychological Profiles of Terrorists." The Forensic Examiner 15.2 (2006): 6+.

Marda Dunsky, "Missing: The Bias Implicit in the Absent," Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) 23.3 (2001): 1.

Marda Dunsky, (2001): 1.

James S. Albritton, "The Technique of Terrorism," Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table.

Reuben Vaisman-Tzachor, "Psychological Profiles of Terrorists," The Forensic Examiner 15.2 (2006).

Chedly Belkhodja, and Chantal Richard, "The Events of September 11 in the French-Canadian Press," Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal 38.3…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Albritton, James S. "The Technique of Terrorism." Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table (2006).

Belkhodja, Chedly, and Chantal Richard. "The Events of September 11 in the French-Canadian Press." Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal 38.3 (2006): 119+.

Dunsky, Marda. "Missing: The Bias Implicit in the Absent." Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) 23.3 (2001): 1.

Vaisman-Tzachor, Reuben. "Psychological Profiles of Terrorists." The Forensic Examiner 15.2 (2006): 6+.
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