Deepa Kumar - "Muslim Enemy" 9/26 NCC Lecture

Deepa Kumar presented unique and informative critique of the way in which the image of Muslims, history of the Muslim culture, and the relationship between the East and the West are communicated throughout mainstream media.   Much of the information and facts supporting this critiques were never mentioned to the majority, if not all of the audience.  The reasons behind this are precisely what her speech and book reveal. Her argument is that the elites and mainstream media have constructed their own image of Muslims, an image of uncivilized, violent and terroristic and use this constructed negative image as a way to advance political agenda and justify their political actions. This is especially appearant after the events that took place on 9/11.  Additionally Kumar provides detailed analysis and facts that discount the West's historical timeline describing the history of East and West as a "clash of civilizations."  Her critique of this reconstructed historical timeline provides support and examples of history that included mutual development the East and the West worked together for mutual development where both civilizations respected and learned from one another.

So why are so many Americans unaware of this historical account of the East & West and only see Muslims predominately as this negative image of terrorists?  Kumar argues that the elites and American politicians have recreated the history of the East and West and portrayed Muslims as "evil" to make it easier to justify their political actions being taken to what Kumar refers to as "advance their political agenda".  Also because these elites and politicians have the most access and control over mainstream media, counter arguments like ones Kumar present are rarely, if ever, made available throughout the Space of Opinion in the US. Instead mainstream media has created this image of Muslims as one of a violent and terroristic group that America should fear.  An interesting statistic she shared was that according to recent analysis done by PEW Research, less than 1% of US population is Muslim yet there is this overlying understanding among US citizens that we should fear Muslims and that they pose a huge threat to our nation. It was very interesting to learn about this information that is not easily attainable (by design) to average citizens today and this has definitely made me interested in exploring this option further and I look forward to finishing her book.