It has been 12 years since the terrorist attack on 9/11, 2001. In the aftermath of this, the media has been a strong influence on American's perception and reality surrounding the Middle East and people who are religiously Muslim ( given America's predominantly Christian heritage and their knowledge of the Al Qaeda terrorists' religious convictions). This has led to much unneeded discrimination and certain cultural biases that are often overlooked in the discourse.
As a result of these events and the aftermath, American culture has become much more inclined to think negatively of Middle Eastern culture. Most scholars refer to the term "culture war" as conflicting ideologies within one culture (i.e. American religiosity v. abortion and marriage rights etc.), but I would like to propose a usage here that insinuates an attack on the ideologies of prevailing ideologies in the Middle East, namely Islam, by American culture. Anti-Islam sentiment seems to be a subconscious, yet pervasive feeling in today's culture, especially among the conservative Christian population. Even outside of this particular subculture, it seems that we are quick to "name the enemy" when it comes to any sort of aggressive act toward the U.S. by anyone in the Middle East who might define themselves as any number of things, but if one of those identities happens to Muslim, many are quick to blame the whole religion for any terrorist act against our country in the recent past. The reality is however, that 1.6 billion people in the world are Muslim--that's twenty-three percent of the world's population. In addition, the plurality of these people live in the Asia-Pacific region, but if polled, the average American would picture a Muslim as a Middle Eastern man in a turban, or woman in a hijab. In comparison to that number, it is estimated that only a couple thousand are part of Al Qaeda. That number is a very small percentage of all Muslims in the world, and yet because of 9/11, a terrorist is the prevailing image many in America have of a Muslim. It is important that we become as aware as possible in order to disperse this misconception.
As a result of these events and the aftermath, American culture has become much more inclined to think negatively of Middle Eastern culture. Most scholars refer to the term "culture war" as conflicting ideologies within one culture (i.e. American religiosity v. abortion and marriage rights etc.), but I would like to propose a usage here that insinuates an attack on the ideologies of prevailing ideologies in the Middle East, namely Islam, by American culture. Anti-Islam sentiment seems to be a subconscious, yet pervasive feeling in today's culture, especially among the conservative Christian population. Even outside of this particular subculture, it seems that we are quick to "name the enemy" when it comes to any sort of aggressive act toward the U.S. by anyone in the Middle East who might define themselves as any number of things, but if one of those identities happens to Muslim, many are quick to blame the whole religion for any terrorist act against our country in the recent past. The reality is however, that 1.6 billion people in the world are Muslim--that's twenty-three percent of the world's population. In addition, the plurality of these people live in the Asia-Pacific region, but if polled, the average American would picture a Muslim as a Middle Eastern man in a turban, or woman in a hijab. In comparison to that number, it is estimated that only a couple thousand are part of Al Qaeda. That number is a very small percentage of all Muslims in the world, and yet because of 9/11, a terrorist is the prevailing image many in America have of a Muslim. It is important that we become as aware as possible in order to disperse this misconception.
image borrowed from http://findaspot.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-am-muslim-too.html