The White Guy Isn't a "Deranged Loner".. He's a Terrorist

We’ve come a long way with equality regarding race in the media, and rightly so, it’s 2019! We, as a society, are more inclusive, with some participating in cultural celebrations nationally such as Ramadan. So how is race portrayed in Australian media, and how does this influence our society?

Around one in five Australians have been verbally abused due to their race, experiencing racial slurs and name calling. More than one in 20 Australians have been physically attacked because of their race. But its not just race that’s targeted in the media, and in society. Its religion as well. Muslim’s often experience a lot of backlash due to their portrayal in the media, factual or otherwise. 

I grew up without a religious background. I never really swayed one way or the other, and whenever I was questioned on my beliefs I would say “I believe in something, I just don’t know what”. However, Australia’s major religion is Christianity, accounting for 52% of the population according to a 2016 census. About 39% of the population stated no religion, or did not state their religion. Islam was the next most popular religion, accounting for 2.58% of Australians. 

Australia does not have an official or state religion. Therefore, we have Freedom of Religion, allowing all of us to follow any religion we want, or to follow none at all.  I’ll be focusing on the representation of Islam and Muslims in Australian media for this post. 

Historically, Muslims and the Islamic religion have been demonised in Western media. From 9/11 to the Cronulla Riots and “Ban the Burqa” petitions, the Muslim and Islamic community have been indirectly, and sometimes directly, attacked in the media. In recent events of the Christchurch Mosque massacre in New Zealand, where Caucasian Australian man, Brenton Tarrant, killed 51 people (and injuring 49), Grand Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, told media he partly blamed the killings on the hate that media reflect in regards to Muslims. There was also discussion as to why it was not being referred to as a terrorist attack. 

the conversation.com

With public figures and people of power such as Senator Fraser Anning and Pauline Hanson publicly deprecating Muslims, it puts great emphasis and influence on media portrayal, as well as face to face interactions people of Islamic religion face. More close to home, Gosford Anglican Church was interrupted during sermon by an Anti-Islamic group and followers of Pauline Hanson. The groups social media also sported quotes such as “Make Australia Great Again” – a play on Donald Trump’s slogan. 

I could go on about Muslim and Islamic portrayal in the media, but I think you get the point. It’s often biased. It’s outdated and it’s unfair. 

huffpost.com

Comments

  1. S AustinSeptember 18, 2019 at 11:01 PM

    Very interesting take... It's clearly a play on white privilege even within the scheme of criminal activity.. white boys who commit mass shooting murders even have massive cult followings. It's also interesting to look at the discourse of the media and specifically how they use words that are terror related. We claim to be a forward thinking country... seems we still have a long way to go.

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