A Mob's Always Made Up Of People

Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird said the profound statement, “A mob 's always made up of people, no matter what (Lee, 1960).” Harper Lee shows the power of a group of people. It is interesting to think that there would never be trends, mobs, or a government. If one person has an idea and others want to follow a group, a mob, a government, a belief, or a trend will be started. Every individual idea formed -benevolent or abominable- has started an entity whether it be a revolution, discrimination, Islamophobia, Anti-Catholicism, or a leadership based on misguided beliefs. Every action has meaning behind it and the leader of that feeling is the person-or people- who fostered that belief. In America, an idea of “Us vs Them” has become more prominent in the way people communicate. One of the major causes is the media. The mass media have created a divide between Muslims and non-Muslims in America. This has become more pronounced since 9/11 though it started dying down in 2013. According to a Reuter’s survey “51 percent of Americans view Muslims living in the United States the same as any other community, while 14.6% are generally fearful (Gibson, 2015)”. The 14.6% of people creates a mob mentality that pervades the way media has been presented about Islam. Due to anti-Islamic propaganda the increased mentality of the “mob” has risen with reports from the FBI stating that in 2013 out of 1,223 people killed based on anti-religious sentiments that “13.7 percent were victims of anti-Islamic (Muslim) bias (FBI, 2013) That equals about 167 Muslims alone not counting the racial crimes that people thought were Muslims due to their looks or descent. To further explain, some key terms that need to be introduced to fully examine the topic presented are as follows: Islamophobia, Zionists, xenophobia, intolerance, Islam, mainstream culture, and sentiment. Islam is the main term that needs to be understood to fully grasp the research paper. Islam is a monotheistic faith based on their god known as Allah and the prophet, Mohammad. Another important term is Islamophobia which can be defined as the fear people hold for the Muslim people and the religion as a whole. Mainstream culture in America tends to exploit that fear by using the news and internet sources to show propaganda that feeds the news or politics to portray what “America is about”. Furthermore, mainstream culture fosters intolerance of people, whether it is Anti-Muslim feelings or Anti-American feelings. The intolerance- the lack of acceptance of others- is what has fostered the mob mentality that is gaining momentum. The ideas negative or positive that people have been holding have been the leading factors of the belief. The last word-xenophobia- may be by far the most important term to use in the situations arising in the political field. Another important term to be aware of is Zionists. The Zionists religion is that of Jews who want to reestablish their rule in Palestine. Some Muslims have gained a conspiracy theorist idea that Zionist is in control of ISIS and have America in their pockets which has been where the anti-Muslim sentiment has started. Xenophobia is the fear of foreigners. A rising topic in America is should the country allow Muslims from foreign countries in America. This fear and uneasiness played up in the media has helped form the beliefs of some people in America towards Muslims as a whole. In light of how the topic has been presenting itself so far, the amount of data …show more content…
While one article shows the insensibility of targeting the Muslim community rather than the extremist the author talks about many Muslims not wanting to believe that the events actually happened like that of 9/11 or even that ISIS exists. On the non-Muslim side Jessica shows the need to isolate a group rather than many innocent people of a religion, while on the other hand, Hasan shows the need to accept reality on the Muslim part to rise up and not accept the feeling of helplessness. These articles show together that both “sides” of this argument have to give or take, since the problem isn’t a blame game, it is both ideas to work together to discern a medium. The articles show that Muslims and Non-Muslims need to put aside their differences as to tear down the barrier