Week 10 Blog Post
Dec. 2, 2025
Being raised by an immigrant Afghan father together with my Islamic cultural heritage from childhood taught me how media presents Muslims to non-Muslims. News programs and entertainment shows presented Muslims through limited negative stereotypes, which I observed since my early years. I was bullied incessantly for my bumped nose, my thick eyebrows and body shape. Young Muslims experience frustration according to Lind because our news constantly shows Muslims only through the lens of terroristic images instead of displaying their full religious faith. A lot of the times, people combine ISIS and Muslim as the same belief- it’s not.
The shows I watched as a child did not accurately represent the people who actually lived in my family and community. Media distortions about Muslims create Islamophobia because they spread disinformation AND misinformation instead of showing real Muslim experiences. Media serves as the primary source of information about Muslims because most Americans lack personal connections with that community.
The media continues to present women who wear hijab as oppressed despite the fact that many people (including my family members) view the hijab as a religious expression of dignity and personal freedom. They view wearing the hijab as a form of keeping themselves covered and respectful. The bloggers in “Fashioning the Ummah” show how Muslim women use social media to build their own identities instead of following media-based stereotypes.
The UNT community together with Texas residents consist of three main Asian American groups which include South Asians, East Asians and Southeast Asians. Media outlets fail to show the diverse range of people who make up this community. The news coverage of Asians during COVID-19 according to Lind's “Critical Discourse Analysis on Asian-American Sentiment and the Pandemic”. This explains how our media created negative stereotypes that led to public harassment and fear against Asian people. This was seen as President Trump labeling it as “The China Virus”.
The readings delivered new knowledge about Muslim representation in America because my personal knowledge was because of my individual experiences. Throughout my life, I’ve experienced prejudice and stereotypes because of my heritage. Media organizations need to explain these situations through the use of real representations from the communities they are in.