ISIS: Bad Actions Leading to Positive Changes in Stereotypes

How do we get our identity? Some people argue it is created by us as individuals. What we want people to think or know about us, we control and decide based on how we look and act. On the other hand, a second camp believes social identity comes from the characteristics of the “groups” (religious, cultural, gender or even geographical) that you belong too. ISIS, as Oli pointed out, is trying to create its own identity using social media. They are playing on the fact that social identity is created somewhere in between personal and group identity using both Orientalist views as well as their own self-given identifiers in order to carve out a well known identity for themselves. This identity is extreme, something that is reflected with their actions over the past few months. However, and this may sound absurd at first, but their extreme actions are having positive consequences when it comes to negative Muslim and Middle Eastern stereotypes held across the world.

Edward Said

Edward Said talked extensively about Orientalism and how the West characterized the “Orient”, particularly the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims, in order to better define themselves (Klassen, 134). They viewed all people in the Orient as inferior to themselves even characterizing them all as the same, giving individuals a group identity without getting to know the individuals themselves. The characteristics of this group identity included that all people in the Orient and their culture were “…primitive and have been all throughout time.” However, at the end of the day, this was stereotyping by world elites. The Frankfurt School would argue that this stereotyping was just about maintaining power in the West (Klassen 34–35). The West wanted to influence not just how people in the West viewed these groups, but how individuals in the Middle East or parts of these cultures understood themselves (Harris). Unfortunately stereotypes begin to shape people because they are engrained in the messages of society and they have lasting impacts across the world (Harris).

Stereotyping in the Media

Media outlets picked up and ran with these stereotypes throughout much of the 20th century. They also added to it characterizing entire groups in the Orient as “terrorists” following various attacks, including the World Trade Centre bombing in 1993. Sana Amanat makes reference to this in her TedTalk where she said that after the bombing she did not know who she was anymore because the people around her were defining who she was for her. They were labeling her with identifiers that she knew she did not truly represent, after all though her skin was not white, she was American.

Yet, this only worsened. Following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centres, United States President George Bush famously declared “You are wish us or you’re with the terrorists,” suggesting there was no in between or room to negotiate. The West was challenged to view all individuals in the “Orient” the way American media defined them or else clearly, you were a terrorist too. George Bush single handedly created a deep divide between the West and the “rest” with his words that contained the feelings that if you are with us, you hate them. However, this was all a fabrication. Bush’s words were simply one man’s perspective on the topic in a moment of extreme fear and sadness but its lasting impact has created a discourse of Islamphobia and in return, hatred for the West (Harris; Klassen, 136).

Embracing the Identity

ISIS has embraced the identity Western media have given their culture rather than challenge it. They have embraced the violent, terrorist, need to fear them label through their actions. They have taken this dominant identity and made it their own by making taking all these characteristics to the extreme. They have used it to tell people who they are through creative ways on social media. George Mead talked about “Social Identity Theory” in which he argued that a stereotype can convey an enormous amount of information” (Harris).

Embracing the Identity is Changing the Stereotype

However, it may be backfiring on them. The extremeness in their actions is showing many people in the West that the majority of people in the “Orient” are not like this. Most people do not walk around wanting to behead people or take over cities and despite the calls from the terrorist group for people to rise up against Western countries there have been very few incidents of that occuring. The few incidents because of “radicalized” individuals have brought countries, like Canada following the Parliament Hill shootings, closer together. #CanadaStrong was trending on social media for weeks after the incident and it took on a meaning that all Canadians, regardless of background or culture, stand together. Furthermore, #Notinmyname was trending on Twitter and other social media sites which ISIS uses to spread their messages. #Notinmyname represents represents Muslims who condemn the actions of ISIS and want to show that ISIS do not represent the actions, culture or faith of Muslims. Thus, the actions of ISIS have made people go out of their way to point out the actions of these extremists are only the actions of a very few people in the Middle East, and in no way representative of the entire population (Aabida Dhanji; Sheila Musaji).

Hope for the Future

Perhaps, and my hope, is that ISIS has actually broken down that stereotype by embracing and exemplifying it for everyone, not just in the West but around the world, to see. The goal is for a characterization for Muslims and individuals living or from the Middle East that is more positive and reflective of individual characteristics and personalities rather than communal ones. ISIS has opened up many people’s eyes across the world to how this old stereotype no longer applies and with that it gives people a starting point to get to know the people once characterized only as the “Orient”.

References

Amanat, Sana. “Myths, misfits & masks: Sana Amanat at TEDxTeen 2014". TedTalks. Web. March 17 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9lev9739zQ&feature=youtu.be

boredjowo. “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists”. Youtube.com. Web. February 10 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpPABLW6F_A

Conflict Studies. “Not in my Name”. Youtube.com. Web. September 21 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAxIOC8Zisc

Dhanji, Aabida. “Ottawa shootings: Fears of backlash on Muslim community”. Humber News. Web. October 2014. http://humbernews.ca/shooting-at-parliament-affects-muslim-community/

Harris, Jennifer. “Representations of Muslims and Islam in Popular Culture”. Lecture. University of Toronto. Toronto, Canada. September 29 2014.

Klassen, Chris. “Religion and Popular Culture.” In Religion and Popular Culture: A Cultural Studies Appproach, 7–28. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Musaji, Sheila. “American Muslim Organizations Condemn ISIS & Murder of Journalist James Foley”. New York U Stan. Web. September 21 2014. http://newyorkustan.com/2014/09/21/american-muslim-organizations-condemn-isis-murder-of-journalist-james-foley-2/