Evidently, the open attack on Islam represents a reactionary response by powerful groups in the West against an Islamic resurgence that has been deemed threatening to the global order. The attack on Islam and its symbols runs on two fronts:
In foreign policy, western leaders have already concluded that Islamic forces in the Muslim world must be curtailed at any cost. Therefore, in countries were Islamic groups have succeeded in gaining political influence in state policy, western powers have adopted the strategy of encirclement, which aims at isolating regimes with a strong Islamic orientation. However, when Islamic groups have gained significant popular support but no actual political power, the West has condoned, even encouraged, secular regimes to adopt repressive measures to prevent further growth in popularity and influence.
On the mass media front, the attack assumes even more vicious form, as western media seem bent to equate the highly tolerant and humane worldview of Islam with religious fanaticism, and to reduce the widely diverse approaches and concerns of Islamic groups into religious violence. What is more disturbing, however, is that while western media strongly condemn what is wrongly portrayed as Islamic imposition and aggression, they take all pains to justify secular imposition and aggression, ruthlessly practice by security forces of military dictatorships throughout the Muslim world.
But before we turn to examine some of the tactics underlining the above strategy of western media, it is important to point out the reciprocal relationship between media reporting and foreign policy making. The significance of the actions undertaken by media reporters and foreign policy actors lies in the fact that they feed into each other, leading to constant and continuous escalation in the confrontation between Islam and the West. That is, by supporting military dictators in the Muslim world, western policy makers create conditions conducive to political radicalism, as the suppressive measures of the state push certain Islamist groups to violence. On the other hand, by concentrating on radical groups and presenting them as the representatives par excellence of contemporary Islamic resurgence, media reporters reinforce the fears of policy makers and encourage them to stick to their hard line.
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