Pre-9/11 America was a country where “Islam was […] well on its way to becoming accepted” (Fichtner 2011), where “2.5 million American Muslims were accepted without question as Americans” and “people could distinguish between Osama bin Laden and their family doctors”. Yet after the attacks, “their world caved in around them”. The country “which still absorbs a million immigrants every year” became “paranoid” and made them its “internal enemy”. “[Unfounded] fear of and hostility towards Islam” (CAIR 2012) has lead to “discriminations [,] […] exclusion […] [and] stereotyping” of Muslims, “hate crimes” against them and “the presumption of guilt by association”. A national poll by the Media and Society Research Group of Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations shows that “44 percent of Americans […] favor curtailing some liberties for Muslim Americans” (Friedlander Jr. 2004) because they believe “Islam is a religion of violence […] [that] supports terrorism” (CAIR 2012) – despite in fact being “'[…] not very knowledgeable' or 'not at all knowledgeable' about Islam”. Muslim Americans are arrested and questioned at US airports by virtue of “a face or a name” (MacFarquhar 2006) and placed on a “watch list” that is no longer able to “distinguish between a lurking terrorist and a harmless citizen with a Muslim name”. Post-9/11 US Islamophobia therefore serves as an emphatic example of how unsubstantiated prejudice and racial profiling go hand in hand as the country becomes “locked into war mode” (Fichtner 2011).
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Post-9/11 Islamophobia in America
2. Ideological Delusion and the Knowledge Gap
3. Consequences of Prejudice and Racial Profiling
4. Critical Analysis of Counterarguments and Conclusion
Objectives and Topics
This paper examines how the post-9/11 climate in the United States has fostered systemic Islamophobia, driven by a cycle of unsubstantiated prejudice, paranoia, and the widespread practice of racial profiling against American Muslims.
- The impact of post-9/11 national paranoia on the perception of American Muslims.
- The relationship between public ignorance and the rise of biased surveillance and profiling.
- Social and institutional consequences for the Muslim American community.
- The cyclical reinforcement of Islamophobia and anti-American sentiments.
Excerpt from the Book
Consequences of Prejudice and Racial Profiling
Furthermore, a consequence that arises from these circumstances is the intensity and seemingly non-pliable insistence with which this conviction is pursued. A Muslim American can be arrested together with his wife at the airport “as their two preschool daughters [wail] in the back seat of their car […] [and be] discharged after four hours of questioning, with no explanation from custom officers” (MacFarquhar 2006). Complaints to the Department of Homeland Security or Customer Satisfaction Units are dismissed with “no further response”, yet at the same time the department “denies engaging in racial profiling”. As “'Americans don't differentiate'” (Fichtner 2011), American Muslims are driven “even deeper into social isolation”. Even the plan “presented by an imam, known for his enlightened views, […] to build an Islamic cultural and community center modeled after the YMCA […] [and] located two blocks from New York's Ground Zero”, a place of “intercultural dialogue”, is brutally objected with a “chorus of protests”, allegedly fighting against a “so-called desecration of the site of the attacks […] [as] Islam intends to build a place of worship at the site of its greatest triumph” - a statement that dwells in absolute ignorance of the fact that “[no] one […] was more afraid of further attacks than Muslims in America”. This ignorance, fueled by unknowingness, and the stubbornness in carrying out this prejudicial fear narrow the spectrum of acceptance and cultural exchange down to a maximally intensified racial profiling “with no [further] explanation” (MacFaquhar 2006).
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction to Post-9/11 Islamophobia in America: This chapter contextualizes the shift in American society from a state of relative acceptance of Muslims to a climate of paranoia and systemic hostility following the 9/11 attacks.
2. Ideological Delusion and the Knowledge Gap: The author highlights the pervasive lack of accurate knowledge about Islam in the U.S. and how this ignorance facilitates the labeling of the religion as a violent political ideology.
3. Consequences of Prejudice and Racial Profiling: This section explores how biased attitudes manifest in real-world institutional actions, such as unwarranted airport detentions and the targeting of Muslim communities by surveillance agencies.
4. Critical Analysis of Counterarguments and Conclusion: This final chapter addresses the paradoxical arguments used to justify Islamophobia and concludes that the prejudice-driven relationship is a self-reinforcing cycle that hinders true intercultural dialogue.
Keywords
Islamophobia, racial profiling, 9/11, prejudice, American Muslims, social isolation, counterterrorism, national security, ideological delusion, surveillance, discrimination, intercultural dialogue.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this paper?
The paper focuses on the rise of Islamophobia in the United States after September 11, 2001, and how it functions as a mechanism of prejudice and racial profiling.
What are the central themes discussed?
Key themes include national paranoia, institutional discrimination, the correlation between ignorance and fear, and the self-reinforcing nature of anti-Muslim rhetoric.
What is the central research question?
The research explores how unsubstantiated prejudice and racial profiling have become entrenched in the American response to national security threats post-9/11.
Which methodology does the author use?
The author employs an analytical review of contemporary reports, media studies, and sociological data to highlight the discrepancy between the lived experiences of Muslim Americans and public perceptions.
What does the main body of the work cover?
It covers the historical shift in American attitudes, the role of misinformation in shaping public opinion, and the specific discriminatory practices faced by American Muslims in daily life and travel.
Which keywords characterize this study?
The study is best characterized by terms such as Islamophobia, racial profiling, systemic discrimination, social isolation, and the impact of the War on Terror on civil liberties.
How does the author characterize the role of the New York City Police Department in this context?
The author cites the establishment of specific intelligence services within the NYPD that target Muslims as a prime example of institutionalized bias based on unverified stereotypes.
What counterargument regarding Islamophobia does the author address?
The author discusses the "Because They Hate" argument used by Islamophobes and explains why this justification fails due to the circular and escalating nature of the prejudice-terrorism relationship.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Marc Backhaus (Autor:in), 2012, Islamophobia as an example of the melt together of unfounded prejudice & racial profiling, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/278959
