The Media's Influence On American Culture

The media is at our fingertips and accessible almost all hours of the day, of course it’s going to have an influence on the way people think and act. The issue is the negative messages that the media is presenting. Media’s power helps spread false information that cultivates racist beliefs and broadly speaking, a culture of hate and violence. One example is seen in social media and advancing technology. There are countless cases of photo shopped pictures, and innocent people are attacked for this false reality perpetuated by media. For example, there was a picture circulating, even some news websites used it, of a Sikh man who originally was holding his ipad but it was photo shopped to him holding the Qur’an with a bomb strapped to his chest.
Colonialism created a belief that an individual (usually a white male) is the dominant in society. A hierarchy is formed and therefore, oppression. Because of this hierarchy any other civilization is seen as a permanent threat. Smith elaborates and states, “Orientalism serves as the anchor for war” (Smith 62). This fuels and justifies the marginalization, racial profiling, and violence towards those who resembles a Muslim. U.S culture’s acceptance and reinforcement of the distorted stereotype prevents people from learning the truth about Muslims; they are just like you and me. Also, can I add how ridiculous it is to say “resembles a Muslim”. Islam is a religion and you don’t go around saying he looks like a Christian. Anyone can have any faith it is not and should not be characterized by looks. Ok Uncle Steve, what I’m trying to explain is that Islamophobia has an extreme influence over U.S culture because it is being spread to the masses over social media and this makes the culture reflect the oppressing ideals and justifies violent acts towards anyone who may be a Muslim, and these acts are becoming more and more