Six random people were fatally shot by an Uber driver in Kalamazoo, MI on Sunday, and in the middle of killing people he was still picking up and dropping off passengers! Another deranged white male hunts people down with his gun, but it doesn’t have the same media coverage compared to if the individual was originally from Pakistan or named Ahmed. This tragic incident did get media coverage, but it shared the news on the 24/7 news network with coverage on MLBs spring training, Donald Trump’s ‘cameo’ in ‘Game of Thrones’, Taylor Swift donates $250K to Kesha, and other mediocre news that have zero-impact on the political stage.
When the shooter is brown and potentially Muslim the 24/7 news networks attempts to document everything they can fill in between commercial spots from the suspect’s favorite kabob restaurant, the type of clothing he wore during Friday prayers, the mundane junk that the can help create the public hysteria of the what a terror threat looks like in America.
The media works to create the perception of what a terrorist looks like by documenting normal things that Muslims do in the west. If the individual prays at a masjid, eats humus and kabobs, does not drink alcohol with colleagues, mysteriously disappears for 10 minute and comes back with a rug, have become signs of a radical individual.
Will the media start to document Jason Dalton’s (the mass shooter suspect) life and create the same hysteria they use against Muslims to create the social profile of a mass shooter? How ridiculous would it sound if CNN documented Jason’s favorite burger spot, his favorite Faygo pop, his favorite NCAA football team, and brought in counter terrorism “experts” to talk about how his love for Grape Faygo should of been a indicator for radicalization. As crazy as it sounds this is the ridiculous style the media uses when the suspect’s name is Ahmed.
Muslims in America has witnessed over and over again of the hypocritical stance of media and the government when the suspect is a white male compared to a Muslim. Government statistics of mass shooting and terrorism in America have shown the bulk of these tragic incidents are perpetrated by white males, but the public perception of terrorism is that of a brown guy.
We don’t expect the media to change their tone any time soon, but we do encourage people to think about what the impact is. Would the American public have the same reaction to have government backdoors on smart phones if the mass shooter was a white male? Would the American public be ok with more government surveillance program if the case were to stop white terrorist? It is much easier for the government to use the Islamic label to fulfill their police state agendas compared to any other group in America.
“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”
― Malcolm X
