As stated in a previous blog, Islamophobia stems from American's general ignorance (and intolerance) of other cultures and beliefs. The Orlando shooting just 16 days past, Istanbul airport bombings hot on the press--violence begs to be confronted with blame. We have expanded the blame from a sick, vindictive terrorist organization to an entire religion, an entire culture. How do we change the perceptions of Muslims in an entire nation?
The answer is representation. Individual Muslim identities must be expressed in the media, in journals and on blogs and on television. An increase in Muslim journalists could provide first-hand insight to racial discrimination and social problems that the general public could not begin to understand on its own. Such instances of Islamic representation in the media are explained in this article from Religion News Service. The author, Lauren Markoe (not Muslim), states that journalism should be an equally important career for Muslims who wish to change the deep-rooted biases American culture has today. Demographic changes in journalism are occurring, but not nearly as quickly or greatly enough as is needed to alter an entire country's bias. Advertising journalism as a preferable career to medicine or law is not an easy task, and it is not one that will make itself clear to thousands without national consensus or effort.
In the end, I do not know what it will take to improve cultural relations. The greatest failure would be to ignore the issue completely, to pretend it is not a problem and to add fuel to a fear that has long been charring relations. Perhaps this is one of those instances where a million individual thoughts will eventually come together to induce improvement. One thing is certain: in light of tragedies, existing journalists must seek the opinions of those who are wrongfully given the blame.
No comments:
Post a Comment