Islam Times: CNN published an article entitled “Study: Threat of Muslim-American terrorism in US” and it has become clear that this report was greatly flawed; according to a study released by Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “the terrorist threat posed by radicalized Muslim-Americans has been exaggerated.”
Yet, citizens of America and Europe continue to live in mortal fear of radical Islam, a fear propagated and inflamed by right wing Islamophobes.
If one follows the cable news networks, it seems as if all terrorists are Muslims. It has even become axiomatic in some circles to chant: “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but nearly all terrorists are Muslims.”
Muslims and their “leftist allies” respond feebly, mentioning Waco as the one counter example, unwittingly affirming the belief that “nearly all terrorists are Muslims.”
But perception is not reality. Statistics do not lie, and the data speaks differently.
On the FBI’s official website, there exists a chronological list of all terrorist attacks committed on U.S. soil from the year 1980 all the way to 2005.
According to the FBI data, only 6% of terrorism acts within the US were done by “Muslims”. The other 94% was non-Muslims – “Muslims actually accounted for the LEAST terrorism acts on US soil.
According to this data, there were in fact more Jewish acts of terrorism within the United States than Islamic (7% vs 6%). These radical Jews committed acts of terrorism in the name of their religion. These were not terrorists who happened to be Jews; rather, they were extremist Jews who committed acts of terrorism based on their religious passions.
Yet notice the disparity in media coverage between the two.
It would indeed be very interesting to construct a corresponding pie chart that depicted the level of media coverage of each group.
The media gives menial (if any) coverage to such events where terrorism acts are committed by other radical groups.
If a terrorist attack does not fit the “Islam is the perennial and existential threat of our times” narrative, it is simply not paid much attention to, which in a circuitous manner reinforces and “proves” the preconceived narrative.
It is to such an extent that the average American cannot remember any Jewish or Latino terrorist; why should he when he has never even heard of the Jewish Defense League or the Ejercito Popular Boricua Macheteros? Surely what he does not know does not exist!
The Islamophobes claim that Islam is intrinsically a terrorist religion.
The proof? Well, just about every terrorist attack is Islamic, they retort.
Unfortunately for them, that’s not quite true. More like six percent.
Using their defunct logic, these right wingers ought now to conclude that nearly all acts of terrorism are committed by Latinos (or Jews).
Let them dare say it…they couldn’t; it would be political and social suicide to say such a thing. Most Americans would shut down such talk as bigoted; yet, similar statements continue to be said of Islam, without any repercussions or consequences.
The Islamophobes live in a fantasy world where everyone is supposedly too “politically correct” to criticize Islam and Muslims. Yet, the reality is the exact opposite: you can get away with saying anything against the crescent.
Can you imagine the reaction if someone said that Latinos should be profiled because after all they are the ones who commit the most terrorism in the country? (For the record: I or IslamTimes don’t believe in such profiling, because I am–unlike the right wing nutters)
The West in general ought to calm down when it comes to “Islamic” terrorism and people out to stop relying on what that small box (television) is telling them – rather they should research on such topics thoroughly before getting involved.
© Islam Times
