What the Media Caused Post 9/11

COMM/112
September 21, 2012

What the Media Caused Post 9/11 Even though terrorists from the 9/11 attacks were from a Middle Eastern country, the media gave the wrong idea about Muslims after that day. Television showed the same shot of the Twin Towers falling down and the terrorists’ mug shot numerous times. The media never showed how most Muslims felt, or how they disagreed with the terrorists. Muslims were harassed every day, and threats were no longer threats, but a reality for some. The media only focused and aired certain things and ignored the peaceful statements that were said. The U.S. media is at fault for the hatred towards Muslims.
The media in the U.S. focused on Muslims in the most negative way possible. Most Americans saw all Muslims as terrorists because of what was being aired throughout the United States. The media showed a picture of Osama bin Laden, the real terrorist, and people automatically thought all Muslims were bad people. The media, without knowing it, were starting crimes, hate crimes towards Muslims. The number one scene all over U.S. on September 11 was the Twin Towers collapsing, and the plane crashing into the Pentagon. Along with that scene were the hijacker’s photos. From those photos being aired, Americans started looking at Muslims as a terrorist alliance. This was a start of awful events yet to come.
Islamic leaders made peaceful statements stating that they were not with this attack, but were against it. However, these peaceful statements were ignored and not shown on the media. Islamic leaders did not want to be looked at or treated differently, but they were. They wanted to let Americans know that they did not comply or agree with the events on September 11, 2001. They also felt sorrow for the people who were killed and affected by this event. They also wanted to state that, in their beliefs, there is no tolerance for this kind of crime. They hoped that Americans would understand that most Muslims were not in agreement with this. However, Americans never paid attention, and never showed these peaceful statements.
For instance, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the Sunna and Sira Council, Qatar, responded on September 13, 2001:
Our hearts bleed for the attacks that has targeted the World Trade Center [WTC], as well as other institutions in the United States despite our strong oppositions to the American biased policy towards Israel on the military, political and economic fronts. Islam, the religion of tolerance, holds the human soul in high esteem, and considers the attack against innocent human beings a grave sin, this is backed by the Qur’anic verse which reads: Who so ever kills a human being [as punishment] for [crimes] other than manslaughter or [sowing] corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and who so ever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. (Al-Ma’idah:32). (Islamic statements against terrorism, 2001-2012, para. 13) If the peaceful statements were aired, could there have been less hate crimes? Americans would have understood more. The media twisted things to make Muslims seem like horrible people. Which is false advertisement; Muslims are like any other American in the United States. The media is not always a reliable source from which to get information, and many know that, yet many people believed everything that was said about Muslims. The media was biased, and did not consider the feelings of Muslims at all. Many families were affected because of what the media had aired.
American Muslims were being affected by this all over the U.S. Muslims who have been raised in America, and who are friends with Americans, were being bullied at school, work, and in their community post-September 11th. Education is important to Muslim families, and the opportunity of learning was now being affected because of how Americans looked at them. “One student felt that