Over the last couple of days, mainstream news organisations have focused their gaze
on Boston and the police manhunt for the perpetrators of the marathon bombings.
Immediately following the events, Twitter and the news were (somewhat predictably)
awash with racists, right-wingers and bigots quick to point the blame at Muslims and
another tedious introspective debate erupted about Islam’s compatibility with Western
society and values. It seems that every time terrorism features in the news, a rabid bunch
of demented right-wingers start foaming at the mouth and begin vociferously delivering
Cassandra-esque prophecies of Western society’s fall. Erik Rush, a commentator from Fox
News, that venerable purveyor of balanced news reporting and comment, tweeted the
following shortly after news broke of the bombing: ‘Muslims are evil. Let’s kill them all’.
Idiotic xenophobia such as this is not only inherently pernicious, it is also unhelpful and
contributes to creating a sense of ‘us and them’ division which helps to further perpetuate
terrorism and anger against America and the west. It is so obvious it is almost platitudinous,
but many Muslims in America have integrated successfully into America and other western
nations (just like any other ethnic minorities) and have merged Islamic values with western
ones (though that’s not to say that the two are necessarily at odds with one another).
The Boston marathon bombings resulted in 3 deaths and around 170 people injured (all
information at the time of going to press). From 2004 to 2013, US drone strikes have killed
at least 2,537 people, at least 411 of whom were civilians and at least 168 were children. 1
Why is this not classed as terrorism? Under President Obama, the number of civilian
deaths due to drone strikes has increased significantly since the Bush administration. So
much for the former’s sweeping rhetoric about hope and change (!) Without denigrating
the innocent victims of the Boston bombings, why do the media behave in such a myopic
manner towards these almost daily atrocities? We know these things are happening yet
we don’t hear about it. Conspiracy theorists love to believe that the US government keeps
mainstream media organisations in check and prevents more of their excesses being
reported but of course conspiracy theories should always be treated with caution.
It is becoming apparent, if it was not so already, that America is becoming a country
pervaded by paranoia and insecurity. Although the aforementioned knee-jerk right wingers
are a lunatic fringe, it is difficult to not notice a growing sense of Islamophobia in the US
and if actions speak louder than words, the drone strikes reflect a patent insecurity and
xenophobia in the American mindset. If a terrorist were to be white, they would not have
to fear the possibility of the US government bombing their village to stamp out potential
radicals or their cultural values subjected to ruthless scrutiny.
America must be careful to prevent Islam being unfairly demonised in their culture and not
let Muslims feel alienated from society and suggestible to radicalisation, as well as seriously
taking another look at their drone strike policy. The onus lies with President Obama who,
so far, is not doing enough to atone for the catastrophic sins of the Bush administration.
Failure to carry these things out will result in further blood, fire and anguish.
By Indranil Chaudhury