The unfair portrayal of Islam in the West Essay

The unfair portrayal of Islam in the West - Essay Example Muslims all over the world are now seen with contempt and hatred by the western community. This is more like a generalization about the whole western world but to some extent it is true. Some important questions arise as to who is responsible for this drastic transformation? Why has such a change taken place? Why does West feel threatened by Islam? For how long this war between West and Islam will continue? What can be done to change the image of Islam in the minds of the western community? For decades there has been a social war between the west and Islam. Their concepts and culture differ from the very beginning. There has always been a very well defined boundary between both the worlds. One cannot ignore the fact that power of the whole world lies in the hands of the West. The West sees Islam as a conservative religion and considers the followers of this religion as narrow-minded beings. Muslims all over the world are being discriminated and in some places it is even seen that they are humiliated. But this is more like digging into the past and gaining evidence on the basis of social sciences. The present scenario of the world is more important to answer the above mentioned questions (Shadid & Koningsveld 2002). It all started when the world was shaken by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. According to the investigation reports it was found that the people responsible for these attacks were Muslims. This was the first time when the whole world came to know about Taliban and Al-Qaeda. These are Muslim groups that are believed to be the backbone of all terrorist activities going on in the present world. In the last decade this world has faced the most ominous terrorism events. A list of examples can be quoted where the West has linked Muslims to terrorism in the present day. London Bombings and Mumbai Bombings are a great example of such events. After the 9/11 attacks, London also fell as a victim to the terrorist activity. On July7, 2005 London’s transportation system was hit by deadly explosions. Three bombs exploded in the underground tubes and one explosion took place in a double Decker bus. Together these four suicide bombings took away the lives of fifty-six innocent peo ple and left more than seven hundred and fifty injured. When the investigation report was issued, it stated that the attacks were conducted by group of Muslim people. And the reason stated for the motivation of these attacks was that this group of people wanted justice because they perceived that West was unjust to the Muslims. But the authorities failed to report how these attacks took place and even the involvement of Al-Qaeda remained unclear in the report. Now this is where the role of media came in (BBC News 2005; Amin 2003). Media has been the main factor after the terrorist activity that has led to the deterioration of the image of Islam in the minds of the Western community. Media exaggerates all such activities by showing sick videos of the event and its victims. The vocabulary that the media uses to narrate such events is enough to cause disgust against the Muslims. This all sounds more like a game. It all seems like the West is trying to plot against Muslims. Western medi a is the strongest and the most impactful media. They show what they want to and create the exact impact that they aim to (Amin 2003). Everything is in bits and pieces but when joined together it all gives the same conclusion that Muslims have been cornered out by the West. Now the situation is that whenever a terrorist activity takes place, even before the investigation starts, Muslims are believed to be behind that. And somehow or the other, evidence is created in such a way that the end result is that Muslims are behind the whole terrorist