Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump shockingly mentioned in a series of conversations last month that he would “absolutely” require “Muslims in the United States to register in a database" (Gabriel), also having earlier demanded the "surveillance of certain mosques" (Haberman). Ever since he started running for president, Donald Trump has been criticizing minorities and immigrants in a racist and stereotypical manner. But the most shocking part is that his poll numbers, increased sharply after he took his stance against the Muslims (Healy and Barbaro), according to the New York Times, making it clear that he is not the only American who thinks of Muslims as a dangerous threat.
America is home to more than a million peace-loving, patriotic Muslims. They abide by U.S. laws, follow the Constitution, and serve the country just like any other American. Just like any other peaceful American, they condemn the vile acts of extremist groups who claim to be Muslims. Given these points, there is no ground on which these people can be required to register in a database and be deprived of their basic freedoms. Requiring Muslims to register in a database due to the sole reason that they are Muslims goes beyond logic and is clearly racism. It is based on the logical fallacy: “Rahim is a terrorist. Rahim is a Muslim. Therefore, Muslims are terrorists.” One of the key factors behind Anti-Muslim sentiment or any other xenophobia is the human nature to generalize or stereotype. …show more content…
It is an undeniable instinct that leads to easy decision-making. Pointing a finger at something with complete confidence and clarity caters to our mechanistic thinking, where something is either certainly "this" or certainly "that". The media takes unethical advantage of this human tendency. Ever since the 9/11 bombings, the media has made Muslims the scapegoat for acts of terror. Whenever there is an act of terror, people can indubitably point their fingers at Muslims and have that clarity and certainty that their minds desire. This clarity essentially breaks down into "All terrorists are Muslims, which means everyone else is harmless”. With this standard, people don't have to go through the difficulty of seeing their own kind as terrorists since it's always the Muslims. This smoothly connects to the other human tendency that the media takes wrong advantage of: people’s tendency to project blame toward those who are different from them. …show more content…
When people scapegoat a certain group, they mentally remove the possibility of themselves or their kind being the culprits. A striking example of the media's purposeful intent to scapegoat Muslims is the New York Post changing their cover headline about the San Bernardino massacre from "Murder Mission" to "Muslim Killers" to emphasize the presence of a Muslim (Yakas). The media never puts out headlines like “White Killer” even though “white right-wing terrorists have killed almost twice as many Americans in homegrown attacks than radical Islamists have” according to a study conducted by New America Foundation (Plucinska). The media is aware that they have a deluded audience who would prefer to believe that the source of terrorism in their country are Muslims -- who they consider as outsiders -- and not their own kind. "In 209 out of the 336 days this year, at least one shooting left four or more people injured or dead in the United States" (LaFraniere, Cohen, and Oppel Jr.). These tragic events have created a sense of fear and insecurity among Americans, but they must understand that Muslims are not the threat. Except in only two shootings out of 209, the perpetrators were non-Muslims (Clark). According to an FBI report, between 1980 and 2005, 94 percent of the terror attacks were committed by non-Muslims (Obeidallah). However, any time there is a Muslim involved, some media outlets will surely include the word "Muslim" in the headlines to feed on people's paranoia, spreading xenophobia and creating racist sentiments. The anti-Muslim sentiment and paranoia created by the media and politicians has recently lead to many Americans being in favor of turning away Muslim Syrian refugees. These people have had their lives destroyed by the terrorist group ISIS, yet people in the US, including many political leaders, are regarding them as threats just because they are Muslims. People's ignorance and misplaced hate has victimized these people for the second time. It is imperative to realize
America is home to more than a million peace-loving, patriotic Muslims. They abide by U.S. laws, follow the Constitution, and serve the country just like any other American. Just like any other peaceful American, they condemn the vile acts of extremist groups who claim to be Muslims. Given these points, there is no ground on which these people can be required to register in a database and be deprived of their basic freedoms. Requiring Muslims to register in a database due to the sole reason that they are Muslims goes beyond logic and is clearly racism. It is based on the logical fallacy: “Rahim is a terrorist. Rahim is a Muslim. Therefore, Muslims are terrorists.” One of the key factors behind Anti-Muslim sentiment or any other xenophobia is the human nature to generalize or stereotype. …show more content…
It is an undeniable instinct that leads to easy decision-making. Pointing a finger at something with complete confidence and clarity caters to our mechanistic thinking, where something is either certainly "this" or certainly "that". The media takes unethical advantage of this human tendency. Ever since the 9/11 bombings, the media has made Muslims the scapegoat for acts of terror. Whenever there is an act of terror, people can indubitably point their fingers at Muslims and have that clarity and certainty that their minds desire. This clarity essentially breaks down into "All terrorists are Muslims, which means everyone else is harmless”. With this standard, people don't have to go through the difficulty of seeing their own kind as terrorists since it's always the Muslims. This smoothly connects to the other human tendency that the media takes wrong advantage of: people’s tendency to project blame toward those who are different from them. …show more content…
When people scapegoat a certain group, they mentally remove the possibility of themselves or their kind being the culprits. A striking example of the media's purposeful intent to scapegoat Muslims is the New York Post changing their cover headline about the San Bernardino massacre from "Murder Mission" to "Muslim Killers" to emphasize the presence of a Muslim (Yakas). The media never puts out headlines like “White Killer” even though “white right-wing terrorists have killed almost twice as many Americans in homegrown attacks than radical Islamists have” according to a study conducted by New America Foundation (Plucinska). The media is aware that they have a deluded audience who would prefer to believe that the source of terrorism in their country are Muslims -- who they consider as outsiders -- and not their own kind. "In 209 out of the 336 days this year, at least one shooting left four or more people injured or dead in the United States" (LaFraniere, Cohen, and Oppel Jr.). These tragic events have created a sense of fear and insecurity among Americans, but they must understand that Muslims are not the threat. Except in only two shootings out of 209, the perpetrators were non-Muslims (Clark). According to an FBI report, between 1980 and 2005, 94 percent of the terror attacks were committed by non-Muslims (Obeidallah). However, any time there is a Muslim involved, some media outlets will surely include the word "Muslim" in the headlines to feed on people's paranoia, spreading xenophobia and creating racist sentiments. The anti-Muslim sentiment and paranoia created by the media and politicians has recently lead to many Americans being in favor of turning away Muslim Syrian refugees. These people have had their lives destroyed by the terrorist group ISIS, yet people in the US, including many political leaders, are regarding them as threats just because they are Muslims. People's ignorance and misplaced hate has victimized these people for the second time. It is imperative to realize