Hear no evil, see no evil

The frequent abuse, harassment and exclusion of Muslims from economic, social and public life, including the rise in anti-Muslim bigotry in Western societies, has never been greater. In the last three decades, discrimination against Muslims in the West has become more explicit, detrimental and damaging. The mass media obsession with "Islam" is prevalent in all sections of our society, albeit dominated by a type of thinking we still today call orientalism. Islamophobia is a serious issue and concern in our societies as we continue to witness an increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes and innocent civilians falling victims to this poisonous and vile form of discrimination. Evidently seen in far-right extremist groups such as the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA), Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and the English Defence League(EDL).

In a recent study on the representation of Islam in the British press, Paul Baker, a professor of linguistics and English language at Lancaster University, found that for every mention of a moderate Muslim there are 21 examples of extremist Muslims in the British press. Studies by Cardiff University also found that there has been an increase in the frequency of reporting on British Muslims by U.K. national newspapers. The words that appear most frequently in association with Muslims in the press are "terrorist" at 22 percent, "extremist" at 18 percent, "radical" at 10 percent, "cleric" at 10 percent and "fanatical" at 7 percent.

Western media reports often reflect these violent, aggressive images of Islam, according to a 2008 study "Images of Islam in the U.K.: The Representation of British Muslims in the National Print News Media." It is likely that an Internet search of "Islam" together with "peace" or "non-violence" will return fewer results than "Islam" and "terrorism" or "violence." Muslim protesters are consistently represented as reactionary and/or violent, and it is these protesters who are focused on in the media with references to Muslims' "demands" as opposed to requests, "violent protests," "attacks," "anger" and "outrage."These are trying times and, above all else, they provide us with significant insight into the challenges of social reconciliation, respect for human dignity and freedom of expression. In my previous opinion-piece, "The crisis of liberal values," it was suggested that assaults on Muslims would be expected to rise following the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Since then, the demonization and criminalization of the Muslim community has proven to be the catalyst in the Chapel Hill shootings, the arson attack on the Quba Islamic Institute in Houston, vandalism of the Islamic School of Rhode Island and the cold-blooded murder of a young Muslim man shot dead at his home in Fort McMurray. These atrocities were motivated by religious hatred and discrimination, hatred stirred up by the media.

The inconsistency of coverage between the attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the "Sydney Siege" and the Chapel Hill shootings in North Carolina were nothing short of hypocritical and depreciated moral standards of the media. As Amer Zahr, a law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy suggests: "The ideal scenario is for it to be reported as breaking national news when it happens. If this were a case of a middle-aged Arab/Muslim man murdering three young, white, Christian Americans in their home, shooting them each in the head, we all know that it would have been carried immediately." Thomas Hammarberg, then Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, highlighted back in 2010 on the commissioner's blog, which has now been removed, the challenges Muslims also face in the labor market and education system. He said: "European countries appear to face another crisis beyond budget deficits - the disintegration of human values. One symptom is the increasing expression of intolerance toward Muslims. ... Opinion polls in several European counties reflect fear, suspicion and negative opinions of Muslims and Islamic culture. These Islamophobic prejudices are combined with racist attitudes - directed not least against people originating from Turkey, Arab countries and South Asia. Muslims with this background are discriminated against in the labor market and the education system in a number of European countries."

The scaremongering by the media and its use of language for Muslims only creates a social counterattack and an increase in animosity for innocent Muslim civilians. It seems Muslims are only given a platform by the media when there is a call for condemnation, but their concerns, worries and voices are often neglected and not heard when the Muslim community is attacked or ridiculed.