I thought the documentary was a great video. It offered information on race, media, politics and United States history.I also enjoyed listening to the speaker, Deepa Kumar. I was shocked to learn terror attacks by white extremists outweigh attacks by Muslim Americans since the 9/11 attacks. Her information on “War on Terror” in 1979, the Iran Hostage Crisis hit home with me as I lived through that media coverage when it actually happened as a high school senior in that year. Her information on how Americans have been taught to fear Muslims , and the actual threat posed by Muslim was very eye opening. She discussed terrorism to make me understand how bias the media can portray people from different cultures in the wrong way. I am the generation that started to view Muslims differently, because of this, that’s what the media did to my way of thinking. The connection Deepa Kumar makes between the ban on Muslims and the treatment of Japanese Americans during the second world war, is that the two are alike because of their ethnicity issues and one bad event that took place involving them with the United States. After the Pearl Harbor attack overseas, Japanese in the United States, whether citizens or enemy aliens were assembled in centers, removed from their homes, and treated poorly. They were treated bad because of their ethnicity and one bad event. The Muslims after 9/11 were also treated badly after one event and their ethnicity. Americans looked at Muslims as dangerous and discriminated against them,. Also, if they were citizens, it did not matter. If they “looked” Muslim, Americans associated them with being the enemy. Terrorism is misunderstood because of many things. One issue, would be President Trumps 90 day ban on Muslims entering the country or traveling. This would cause people to automatically think of terrorism. Trumps order for suspension involved countries, seven nations, that did not kill Americans in terrorist attacks. He called the, “Radial Terrorists”. in a way that is misunderstood. “Moral Panic”, it changes the world, because you have an image of terrorism that is misrepresented. Terrorism is not associated with the “white culture” in the media. Number of plots and number of attacks of terrorism in a study, showed that less than one Muslim per one million is involved in terrorism. But because of racism in the media, Muslims are held responsible. Extensive coverage of the middle east during the Olympics war on terror, made Americans look at Muslims differently, and misunderstanding terrorism. Dehumanization and demonetization are real. I do buy the argument. The examples of events in history she gave as examples are real. Native Americans fought to keep land from whites, African American slaves who were turned into property, they were seen as a threat. Chinese were brought into the United States to build railroads, but were denied citizenship because they also were seen as a threat to Americans. Cartoons, the media portrayed them as a threat . Also, the Irish and Italians experienced radicalization. This is the process in turning people into a threat, the media portraying them in a way that we see them in a different way because of their ethnicity. “Clash of Civilizations” argues that the media portrays the clash of civilizations because it helps to propagate the Us verses them mentality. Hollywood contributes this mentality by putting Muslim people in roles that show violence, the bad guy, Also other other ethnic backgrounds such as Asians. Putting people in roles that do not show diversity, but putting them in roles that the audience will think matches their ethnicity. Hollywood stereotypes. 1980’s-1990’s cultural stereotyped because of movies during this time was bias. The Oklahoma bombing was caused by a christian white male, but because of the media coverage, people automatically associated it with a Muslim attack. Blamed it on the middle east.The movies, American Sniper and Zero Dark 30 portrays Muslims , Pakistanis as the villain. Twitter became racist with comments about Muslims because of “Zero Dark 30”. The process can change if the government stops spending so much money on terrorism and war. Americans need to stop focusing on terrorism and bias views on Muslims and other ethnic groups. More apologies need to be made. Not grouping people in different ethnic groups in the media, and educating people on Islam and other countries , would play a key role. This bias terrorism mentality did not happen overnight. I believe this and the next generation need to be taught at home about terrorism, diversity, and having a fair world. You can not control what is in the media, the movies, the internet on your own. But what you can control is what you teach your children about diversity, and that will change the way people think in the future. Focusing on healthcare, education and a good quality of life, are most important to teach the next generation so things will change in the world for the better of all mankind.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation
https://shop.mediaed.org/constructing-the-terrorist-threat-p707.aspx
