In today’s society people are often swayed one way or another by the media. It is not uncommon to see breaking news about negative events going on such as deaths and violent attacks over in the Middle East. And as we all know whatever we hear from the news we tend to strongly believe. This being the case, the media can often give us negative connotations. We also see a lot of images of the regulations that some groups have, for example the dress, and common everyday tasks. Being an outsider to the religion and someone who does not know a lot about it, makes it difficult to understand the roots of the religion and how it is not negative at all. In my opinion it has been one of the more inclusive religions that we have studied.
After learning about the roots of the religion and that it stemmed from Muhammad and the 5 Pillars of Faith. Already knowing a little bit about Islam, I knew that it was not negative or violent at all but I was interested to learn about its roots. I went into it with an open mind and came out intrigued at how Islam all came about. Also how the media portrays mainly the negative aspects of the Middle East when in fact there are many positive things going on as well. They look over that fact that that the 5 Pillars of Faith include fascinating aspects of the religion like charity and their pilgrimage that are overlooked. I think that if people were more educated on the fundamental aspects of Islam and understand that the religion was built to encompass a wide range of people they would be less likely to judge based on what they hear and see in the media like I have learned to do.
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I think you're right about how easy it is to forget that the media has a bias as well, and often only portrays one aspect of an issue. And when multiple news sources seem to be emphasizing the same thing, it is not hard to fall into the trap of looking at it from just that angle and not searching further for the other side of the issue.
ReplyDeleteEmma, you make a good point that really we only see Islam in the news when something negative has happened. From what the news gives us it's hard to see Islam as a belief and religion. It is seen more just as a group who does bad things that get them on the news a lot.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most important things to learn is how to assess the validity and bias of the media. It's not always that the media has a nefarious, under-handed agenda, it's just that reporters are trying to make news that will bring them good tv ratings or sell more papers. People aren't always interested in reading articles describing the historical roots of Islam, but they are likely to read stories about groups that threaten the US or injure civilians. It is the responsibility of citizens in a democracy to educate themselves on the issues underlying the stories in the news.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that very few news stories come out about positive things concerning Muslims, we usually only hear about Islam when we hear about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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