The long history of encounters between Western civilization and Islam has produced a tradition of portraying, in largely negative and self-serving ways, the Islamic religion and Muslim cultures. There is a lot of literature cataloguing (and sometimes correcting) these stereotypes. It is not my intention to rehash this corpus here, though I do rely upon some of the more important works. What I want to do instead is focus on a particular dimension of these encounters, and examine why the West has consistently constructed and perpetuated negative images of Islam and Muslims. My focus will be on the utility of Islamic imagery in Western civilization.
Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations (1996) tried to persuade the American public to accept that war between the West and Islam is inevitable...
Even as it acts more and more aggressively against Muslims around the world, the US has launched a massive propaganda campaign in the Muslim world...
Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources and Strategies by Cheryl Benard. Pub: Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, 2004. Pp: 118. Pbk: $20. (Also available on-line to download.)
Television has now become the primary mode of entertainment and information for millions of people worldwide...
An increasing proportion of popular entertainment in Muslim countries now comes from the West, particularly the US. YUSUF KHABBAZ discusses whether such entertainment is proper for Muslim families and societies.
Imagery is the key to understanding TV, and there are several angles we could select in order to evaluate the impact of this imagery on our lives. We could look at biological or physiological impacts, or we could look at cultural or social impacts, even political and economic.
1The Western world has seldom seen public demonstrations on the scale that occurred during the weeks preceding the invasion of Iraq earlier this year. Millions of men, women and children marched in the streets of London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington DC, in the hope that this public outcry would stop the impending attack
Since its creation in the 1990s, al-Jazeera Satellite Television has become a darling of parts of the Western establishment, hailed as a voice of modernity and democracy in the Middle East. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ asks why...
Iraq handed UN officials a detailed dossier of its chemical, biological and nuclear research projects and facilities earlier this month, in accordance with last month’s UN resolution.
The television has become one of the most essential and ubiquitous items of a modern lifestyle, but few people are aware of the role it plays in shaping society. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses its link with consumerism
After the strident and aggressive tone of much Western writing about Islam in the last few months, it is almost a pleasure to read this much more moderated, thoughtful and sympathetic study of Muslim politics. This is only partly because it was published in 2000, long before the events of last September...
Interpreting Islam edited by Hastings Donnan. Pub: Sage Publications, London, 2002. Pp: 196. Pbk: £18.95.
US needs some one now, as it has needed in the past, to position as an "evil other" in opposition to its good self. The "evil other" in history has taken on many names and shapes, from despots, to pirates, to bandits, to terrorists. In Western civilization, which is ferociously dichotomous, there is a necessity to define through opposition, and therefore a "terrorist" or some other nefarious character -- real or imagined -- is actually necessary for the maintenance of a western self image.
Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia by Robert W. Hefner. Pub: Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA, 2000. Pp: 286. Pbk: $17.95 / £12.95.
Flushed with their success in controlling news at home about the ‘war’ in Afghanistan, some Pentagon planners want to extend such manipulation to other parts of the world. The name of the game is deception: planting lies in newspapers, and on radio and television channels around the world...
Journalists working for British newspapers have been grumbling recently about the way the British government is leaning on editors to fall behind its phony war in Afghanistan. Even staff at the left-of-centre qualities have noticed a definite reduction in the anti-war tone struck in the days immediately after September 11...
Steve Emerson has achieved a certain notoriety among north American Muslims. This self-styled expert on ‘terrorism’ is the producer of the scandalous documentary ‘Jihad in America’, which was first aired on PBS television on November 21, 1994
The gladiatorial contest between the government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the Jang Group of newspapers would be comical were it not for its deadly intent. Both sides are trying to occupy the moral high ground where none exists.
The Crescent International is often considered ‘blunt’ in its reporting of world events. We make no apologies for this. We tell the truth as we see it without mincing words. The western media, with minor exceptions, indulges in double-speak.
