Media’s Role In What ‘Terrorism’ Means to Americans
“If a Muslim committed a crime, immediately he is a terrorist.”
Over the weekend in London, a van driven by an angry white man plowed into a group of Muslim worshippers coming out of their mosque. Just a few days earlier, in the same city, a van driven by Muslim zealots plowed into a group of tourists on the London Bridge. Only one of these incidents received attention from the President of the United States.
Likewise, President Trump has ignored many other attacks against people of the Muslim faith, while simultaneously decrying any attacks on Western soil by brown people from the Middle East and using the violence as leverage to push for more travel restrictions.
The mainstream media is also quick to label violence by Muslims and Arabs as “terrorist” attacks, while we often hear about white attackers being “sick” or “crazy,” but not terrorists.
Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, speaks with Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson about the double standards that exist when it comes to labeling violent attacks committed by white men and people of the Muslim faith.
According to Siblani, when a white person commits a crime the narrative revolves around the person’s potential mental issues. However, “If a Muslim committed a crime, immediately he is a terrorist,” he says.
Siblani also makes it clear this issue is not all on President Trump.
“(Muslims being portrayed as terrorists) was built up by Hollywood and American mainstream media and they should take part of the blame…and try to fix it,” says Siblani.
Click on the audio player above for the full conversation.
