The 9/11 attack at the heart of America saw the destruction of the two prestigious buildings in New York and America. Osama bin Laden the propagator of the attack intended to destruct or destroy America by attacking its financial heart. The attack was not the first in America but it was the largest in American soil. The Al Qaida had previously attacked American diplomats for instance in Kenya and Tanzania but never in the country (Considine, 2017). The bombing of the Twin Towers resulted in over 2,000 deaths, which led to changing the perspectives of the Americans. The American government had always taken a passive step on the war on terror and anti-terrorism policies were never among the priorities before the attack. However, the devastating nature of the attack and the acknowledgment that America was not immune to terrorist attacks.
The attack resulted in massive changes but few studies have focused on the sociological impacts of the 9/11 attacks (Semaan, 2014). Therefore, this paper focuses on the effects of 9/11 from a sociological standpoint. The paper intends to demonstrate the different ways of living and association of Muslim and Non-Muslims, the media depiction or covering of the 9/11 attack and the impacts on Americans social connectedness.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Hate Crimes
The incident resulted in the depiction of Arabs and Muslims as the enemy against the western culture. This notion of thinking as depicted by Obama’s statement after the killing of Osama in 2011 demonstrated that the country never planned to engage in the war but they, ‘the likes of Osama’ forced America into the war created a notion that dominated the country since the attacks. That is, it created the ‘we against them’ that enhanced the constraints in the social relationship between the Americans and Arabs or Muslims. Disha, Cavendish, and King (2011) in reference to different FBI and police departments depicted that hate crimes against the Muslims or Arabs were 28 between 2000 and 2001 (Disha, Cavendish & King, 2011). However, the incident result hatred, which resulted in 481 from 2001 to 2002.
Considine (2017) argues that the event and the media resulted in Islamophobia in the U.S. Islamophobia is termed as the fear of Islamic and Arabs. The study demonstrated that although Islam is a religion the continued association of Islamic religion and the Middle East results in viewing people who look like the Middle East Arabs to face victimization due to the fear that they perpetuated the bombings. Non-Muslim Americans tend to visualize of a terrorist based on the paranoid or politically motivated imagination that describes the face or image of a terrorist. The study demonstrates that before the 9/11 incident, very few people knew or cared about Muslims or Al Qaida association.
However, the aftermath of the attack resulted in the stereotyping that every Muslim or Arab was an extremist thus a threat to national security (Considine, 2017). Mohammed (2016) states that although no single race or culture dominates the American Muslims, However, the paranoia that the Muslims have to have connections to the extremists result in formulating a new type of minorities known as Islamic-Arabs. Studies also demonstrate about two-thirds of the American Arabs are Christians rather than the stereotyped assumptions that they are Muslims. CAIR (2017) concurs with Mohammed’s arguments by stating that the American Muslims are caught-up in racialization clashes whereby Islam becomes an identity or race and leading to racial profiling. The Bush administration following the bombing vowed to ensure that the perpetrators of the bombings would pay for their horrendous acts.
The transformation of the DOJ to establish the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that joined the different departments and agencies to enable the fight against terrorism led to racial profiling of the suspects under the continuous surveillance after the Patriot Act (Khan & Ecklund, 2013). The act allowed the surveillance of suspects without the requirement of warrants and the detention of the suspects for interrogations. The Patriot Act passed due to the panic and fear following the incident is evidence of the fear within Americans who needed a way to ensure prevention of a similar attack on American soil. The act violates the rights of privacy and unwarranted searches and seizures but due to the scale of fear, pain, and anger for the deaths and vulnerability that the terrorists exploited. Americans believed that being a superpower; the country was immune from such small terrorist groups as Al Qaida.
The success of Osama and his suicide bombers was a wakeup call to all Americans that they were vulnerable and thus needed to support the Patriot Act to strengthen their foreign and internal security. A Study on popularity and discontent on the Patriot Act have demonstrated that the first three years more than 60% of Americans supported the act (Mohammed, 2016). Americans believed that the Patriot Act would eliminate the terrorist attacks as witnessed in New York. However, as time passed American’s privacy violation became one of the biggest contentions from the public calling for limiting the surveillance. The decline in popularity of the act depicts that fear was declining and the public realized that the government exploited their fear into creating the Patriot Act. As of 2012, the support for the Patriot Act was less than 40% demonstrating that immediately after the incident fear resulted in a higher number of people willing to give up their privacy to increase their security but years after the attack the fear no longer existed. The public saw that the continued surveillance was too much as it depicted that the government intruded their privacy, citizens mainly after the killing of Osama saw no threat from the extremists, therefore, it did not seem worth to give up their privacy whereas there was no imminent threat. Psychologists and Sociologists argue that fear results in anger and the need to ensure that a person is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that they do not experience the same fears in the future. The anger results in support of inhumane techniques to suppress the threat. By supporting the Patriot Act, Americans provided the DHS and the FBI among other agencies with the needed power to exercise illegal detention and deportation of racially profiled Arabs and Muslims who were not related to the extremists. The American-Muslims experienced the wrath of being the main suspects of the surveillance, detention, interrogations, and deportation for practicing their religion.
Mohammed (2016), argues that the breaking of families and assumptions that all Muslims supported the extremists resulted in attacks or abuse from the law enforcement and civilians (Mohammed, 2016). According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the 9/11 event is still the main cause of the increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes even after 15 years. The report demonstrated that non-Muslim Americans who look alike with the Jihadists or the Islamophobia propagandas have resulted in non-Muslim individuals encountering violence from the perpetrators of the anti-Muslim hate crimes. For instance, Frank Roque, a U.S. citizen shot, Balibar Singh Sodhi, a Sikh, at a gas station in Arizona. Frank Rogue thought that Sodhi was a Muslim because of his turban. He told the court that the only reason he shot Sodhi was to fulfill a promise that he would kill a Muslim to revenge for the 9/11 attacks. The hatred and willingness to kill and face imprisonment for such an action is evidence of the breakdown of social integration in the country. Sikhs are a non-Muslim group of people hailing from India but due to the media as discussed later in the paper, Americans tend to stereotype Muslims, Arabs, and their lookalikes as terrorists (CAIR, 2017). Moghul (2016), states that the dominant misconception that all Muslims are Arabs and vice versa resulting in the creation of the idea that every Muslim or Arab supports extremists ideology. These misconceptions have resulted in the discrimination of Muslims mainly in air travels. The countless incidents denying Arabs or Muslims from boarding a plane or having to engage in interrogations due to the dominant assumptions that these passengers are civil aviation threats.
America is known for its role to spearhead equality and human rights, but the strategy employed by the government allowed the continued stereotyping of American-Muslims. Studies on criminology depict that immigrants are less likely to engage in crimes compared to the natives. The assumptions that American-Arabs and Muslims supported the horrendous acts was a misconception that the government employed to detain these helpless individuals. The deportation of the Arabs results in separation of families in the case the children were Americans by birth. These methods and social impacts that disregard an entire group of people as a terrorist even with no evidence due to their race or religion destroys the image of the country and exposes it to future attacks (Khan & Ecklund, 2013). The deported or discriminated individuals are likely to join the extremists to avenge their wrongful deportation, which would expose the country to aggravated attacks. For instance, Osama handpicked the suicide bombers for the 9/11 attack. He ensured that the perpetrators were conversant and fluent English speakers had lived in the country or in Europe and had some grievance with the Western administrations. The success of the attacks demonstrates that the continued alienation of the American-Muslims should stop as their ability to retaliate with the help of extremists would be worse than the 9/11 incident. Preventing the radicalization of the American-Muslims and enhancing cohesion as proposed by the CAIR (2017) would eliminate the Islamophobia that alienates the people in the society.
The Role of Media
The media influences the public as it holds a high moral place in the society to provide information vital for decision making for the public. The role of media since the use of Radio and Television in Roosevelt and JF Kennedy in 1920s and 1960s demonstrate that mass media influence the manner people view or understand people or certain issues. The media’s description and continued addressing of the terrorist attack was vital in shaping most of the prejudiced assumptions. According to a study undertaken Seamaan (2014), the 10 years prior and after the 9/11, attack demonstrated a drastic covering of terrorist organizations and leaders or other issues. The study portrayed that before the attack, there were about 33 articles covering attacks similar to the September 11 incident but most of the media reported the attackers as either resistance groups or guerrilla troops. The media move to update the public on the numerous incidents demonstrated a passive tactic that the role of the media was to inform rather than create an emotional response from the public.
Seamaan, (2014) demonstrate that Al Qaida and Taliban were rarely used and even the term Osama was rarely used in the 33 articles reviewed. However, by searching the same keywords on after 9/11, the author was able to acquire about 481 articles. The names Al Qaida and Osama dominated the articles and Osama became public enemy number one. However, Hawthorne (2012) states that the increased use of the term terrorism and terrorist is a complex name due to the two extremes created based on whether a person is a victim or associated with the perpetrators. Hawthorne argues that a terrorist is one who creates havoc or inhumane activities that include maximizing the physical and psychological harm to another. The use of bombs and other weapons to suppress the victim as employed by terrorists also ensures that the targeted victims are unable to gain an upper hand over the perpetrator. However, these acts bear different meanings because some people believe that the bombings are essential to protect the minorities, therefore, one’s terrorist is another person’s hero. The jubilation covered in some parts of the Middle East and the supporters of Osama bin Laden are evidence that he was their hero (Hawthorne, 2012). Osama was deemed a superhuman for attacking the U.S., a country they viewed was abusing its power and authority in aiding Israel to perpetuate their terrorist attacks on Islamic nations. The Americans, on the other hand, viewed Osama and other Muslims as terrorists who did not mind killing and destroying the lives of innocent civilians in their bid to expose their power.
The two extreme demonstrate that it is difficult to determine the best definition of terrorism, however, based on the 9/11 incident, the world considered Al Qaida and Osama as the greatest threat (Kampf, 2014). In the past, terrorists hide their activities rather than expose their violent activities, however, the aftermath of 9/11 resulted in terrorist organizations exploiting the media to demonstrate their activities and establish their mightiness. The ISIS is one of the terror groups that used online mass media to portray their violence and extreme views towards non-Muslims for instance, Christians in Syria and other Islamic nations were forced to escape in the bid to avoid execution. The hatred created after the 9/11, the media depiction of terrorists as learned or educated male Arab between the age of 22, and 25 years dominated the public’s Islamophobic image. Nagar (2010) argues that the t-word becomes a mainstay in the media with acts such as hijacking, suicide bombing, and assassinations considered to warrant as a terrorist act. The use of the t-word became common in the media and enhanced the Islamophobia among Americans. The media live coverage of the bombings and celebration by the Al Qaida through the footage elevated the hatred towards Muslims and Arabs (Nagar, 2010). The Patriot Act portrayed the extent American were willing to sacrifice to prevent a similar incident.
The media condoned the jailing of innocent American-Muslims and their deportation after the 9/11 incident as Americans supported the government and its eventual war in Afghanistan. The media increased the religious stigma as CAIR report of 2016 depicted (CAIR, 2017). The continued illustration of Muslims as terrorists even in films and other mass media platforms resulted in increased stereotyping and creation of anxiety among citizens in their reference towards the Muslims. Hawthorne (2012) argues that the claim by Obama after the killing of Osama boosted the notion of us versus them, which is vital in the continued violation, and discrimination of the American-Muslims. The study portrayed that the media’s engagement in political propaganda played a major role in enhancing fear and support of the Patriotic Act with little or less regard on what the public was giving up by supporting the act (Hawthorne, 2016). However, organizations such as the CAIR and other non-extremist Muslims and American Arabs call for peaceful coexistence in the country. The changes in the scope of calling for cohesion and humanity result in media promotions for ending hate crimes. The media tries to engage in promotions to eliminate hatred but due to lack of incentives, American-Muslims continue to face discrimination and stares or violence from the non-Muslims.
The willingness of some states to allow Christian refugees during the ISIS domination in the Middle East demonstrates that Americans have solved the misconception that all Arabs are Muslims but the failure to accommodate Islamic-refugees in America and other Western countries is proving of the dominant assumption of Muslims and terrorism. The media continued depiction of Muslims as terrorists result in these situations and discriminations. The essence that not all Muslims practice or share the radical and extremists ideologies and their failure to acquire aid from countries such as the U.S. that understand the threats of extremists creates despair among these refugees. The essence that the Arab-Muslims refugees are denied entry into the countries such as America for their religion, it propels the hatred between Muslims and Christians in the Middle East and around the world (Selod, 2014). The media airing such discriminatory policies propels the extremists’ arguments about the U.S. and other countries thus gaining a higher number of people joining in the terrorist organizations. The media is vital in relaying information, but its continued stereotyping of terrorists have increased the racialization and racial profiling of American-Muslims and their lookalikes to detention, interrogations, and deportation among other unwarranted violation of their rights.
Conclusion
The study’s objective was to portray the effects of 9/11 event from a sociological standpoint. The study focused on depicting the increased anti-Muslim hate crimes and slurs after the incident and the role of the media. It was evident that the extensive portrayal of terrorists as Muslims or Arabs resulted in Islamophobia that is the cause of the violence targeting the American-Muslims. The media failed to curb the growth of hatred but with the death of Osama, most Millennial are sympathetic of the American-Muslims. However, it is clear that 9/11 changed the lives of Americans and established an irreversible view of Muslims as it is almost two decades since the attack but people are still avenging the 9/11 attacks.
References
Considine, C. (2017). The Racialization of Islam in the United States: Islamophobia, Hate Crimes, and “Flying while Brown”. Religions , 8 (9), 165.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). (2017). The Empowerment of Hate: The Civil Rights Implications of Islamophobic Bias in the U.S. 2014–2016. Retrieved August 29, 2018, from http://www.islamophobia.org/15-reports/188-the-empowerment-of-hate.html
Disha, I., Cavendish, J., & King, R. (2011). Historical Events and Spaces of Hate: Hate Crimes against Arabs and Muslims in Post-9/11 America. Social Problems , 58 (1), 21-46. doi: 10.1525/sp.2011.58.1.21
Hawthorne, S., (2012). How Terrorism Is Wrong: Morality and Political Violence . By VIRGINIA HELD. n/a. Vol. 27. Blackwell Publishing.
Kampf, Z. (2014). News-Media and Terrorism: Changing Relationship, Changing Definitions. Sociology Compass , 8 (1), 1-9.
Khan, M., & Ecklund, K. (2013). Attitudes Toward Muslim Americans Post-9/11. Journal Of Muslim Mental Health , 7 (1).
Moghul, H. (2016, April 20). The unapologetic racial profiling of Muslims has become America’s new normal. Quartz . Retrieved August 29, 2018, from http://qz.com/665317/the-unapologetic-racial-profiling-of-muslims-has-become-americas-new-normal/
Mohamed, B. (2016, January 6). A new estimate of the U.S. Muslim population. Pew Research Center . Retrieved August 29, 2018, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/01/06/a-new-estimate-of-the-u-s-muslim-population/
Nagar, N., (2010). Who is Afraid of the T-word? Labeling Terror in the Media Coverage of Political Violence Before and After 9/11. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 33 .6 533-547.
Seamaan, G., (2014). Arab Americans: Stereotypes, Conflict, History, Cultural Identity and Post 9/11. Intercultural Communication 23 (2), 17-31.
Selod, S., (2014). Citizenship Denied: Racialization of Muslim American Men and Women Post-9/11. Critical Sociology 41: 77–95.
