Muslim Mindset: Radical Islam

Conservative media outlets such as Fox News often criticize the president for not using the term “radical Islam.” They think this expression must be used when describing the events overseas. What these pundits fail to understand is that this kind of language empowers the terrorists. It helps reinforce the myth of the clash of civilizations between Islam and the West.

This phrase is also used to dehumanize Muslims. It makes the case that they are all extremists. It justifies military action against them even if they’re just fighting against oppression. No distinction is made between these Muslims and the Muslims beheading journalists and enslaving women and children.

Outlets like Fox News know nothing about the basic tenets of Islam, let alone anything about religious extremism. They mention nothing about the social and economic conditions that lead to terrorism and instead blame it all on a religion that 20 percent of the world practices. They fail to mention that the vast majority of people killed by these “Islamic” terrorist groups are Muslims. At the same time as the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Boko Haram in Nigeria killed nearly 2,000 people, a majority of them Muslims. 

Just last week a Shia (Muslim sect making up 15 percent of the Muslim population) mosque in Pakistan was bombed by the Taliban. Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad are regularly attacked by ISIL. The same thing happens in Yemen. Muslims, more than any other group, want to end terrorism and religious violence. It effects them most of all.

Where are “fair and balanced” media organizations like Fox News when Buddhist mobs murder Muslim women and children in Burma? Or when Christian militias in the Central African Republic decimate Muslim villages? They remain silent.

These kinds of events are not considered newsworthy because there’s no agenda that can be pushed. You can’t possibly say that Buddhism and Christianity are inherently violent. But somehow when speaking about Islam, it becomes acceptable. If the conservative media really wants to end extremism, it should cease generalizing Muslims. They should practice what they preach and truly become fair and balanced. There is no room for bias and partiality to the military industrial complex.