The 9/11 was a moment in History that resulted in a disequilibrium taking place for the representations of Muslims. Following this devastating tragedy, the FBI reported a 1,700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans between 2000 to 2001 (Anderson, 2002). During the process of adjusting to the aftermath of 9/11, Muslim Americans faced an upsurge in negative stereotypes expressed by the larger society (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, 2003) and Muslim immigrants, more than any other immigrant group, were met with negative attitudes. Since then, increased racial and religious animosity has left Arabs, Middle Eastenders, Muslims, and those who bear stereotyped physical resemblance to members of these groups, fearful of potential hatred and hostility from those of other cultures. It has been established that discrimination toward Muslim Americans was present before the attacks on September 11, which may relate to Islam being frequently portrayed by the media as intrinsically intolerant and violent (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002). Consistent with the accessibility principle, it is possible the higher amounts of media coverage immediately after the attacks presented vast amounts of negative images related to Muslims and Arabs in general, thus leading to greater but temporary prejudices towards this group (CAIR, 2001).
In this BBC clip (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06g55y0) of testing whether or not Britain is racist, I think it is clear that segments of it do relate to islamophobia. In the section where a Muslim woman walks down the street with her head scarf on, she recieves help from the public in shops and doesn't get abusive comments thrown her way from members of the public. In the section where she then puts on a Burka, the streets suddenly become a very intimidating and frightening area for Muslims who wear burkas. She gets told to go back to her "own country" and gets a lot of funny looks from the people she passes. Islamophobia is evident in the reactions of the public as they discriminate this woman for the way she dresses.
a theory we have not covered with regards to islam is orientalist (Said). hatred and misunderstanding of Islam has worsened substantially following 9/11 attacks. Worldwide war on terror, led by US. Postcolonialism explains demonization of Islam with concepts of orientalism, imperialism and (neo)colonialism. West needed justification for subordination of East, thus depictions of Orient as inferior, undeveloped and uncivilized. Demonization of Islam serves the imperialistic ambitions of political elites in West, which act on behalf of capitalist greed and multinational businesses.
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