The Religion of Peace and Islam-Watch
People seem to have a natural propensity to communicate with one another. While our range of communication was initially limited, the world’s continuing commitment to the digital world allows people to communicate with those of similar beliefs. Free speech through the digital medium has allowed everyone’s voice to be heard. While free speech is an amazing thing, it also allows misinformation to be spread without any restriction, the websites www.thereligionofpeace.com and www.islam-watch.org are primary example of how the internet has created a medium in which misinformation about Islam can be spread. Furthermore, these two websites portray themselves as the objective truth about Islam, and distorts the truth in order to further their agenda.
The Religion of Peace
Photo Courtesy of
www.thereligionofpeace.com
The Religion of peace website is created in order to show that Islam is the antithesis of the websites handle. The website claims to hold “the politically incorrect truth about Islam”. The editor, Glen Roberts, claims that the website as a non-partisan website that does not promote any religion, but they put forth the idea that Islam is a religion that is “dreadfully unique”. They assert that this uniqueness comes about with the use of Islamic violence and that Muslims and their religion are intolerant individuals who seek the domination of the world. The website also acts as an archive of Islam related violence, but they only include news that support their thesis that Islam is purely a violent religion.
The problem with this website is not only that it supports a distorted view of website, but also that it creates a community around this misinformation. As posing the website as non-partisan, they try to create the image of the Muslim terrorist as a threat to all ideologies, not just conservative Christian, but secular liberals. They also posit the fact that their website is not racism, because Islam is not a race but an ideology. By constructing their notion of race this way, they attempt to avoid the association with racism. They attempt to legitimize their hatred by removing the discussion of race from the discussion.
The problem with this website is not only that it supports a distorted view of website, but also that it creates a community around this misinformation. As posing the website as non-partisan, they try to create the image of the Muslim terrorist as a threat to all ideologies, not just conservative Christian, but secular liberals. They also posit the fact that their website is not racism, because Islam is not a race but an ideology. By constructing their notion of race this way, they attempt to avoid the association with racism. They attempt to legitimize their hatred by removing the discussion of race from the discussion.
The Religion of Peace juxtaposes the Islamic terrorist and a Israeli scientist. Their caption for this image is :
"In 2007 Islam and Judaism's holiest holidays overlapped for 10 days.
Muslims racked up 397 dead bodies in 94 terror attacks across 10
countries during this time... while Jews worked on their 159th Nobel Prize"
They associate entire groups of people with the actions of few. Not all Muslims participate in terrorism, furthermore not all Jews were working towards a Nobel Prize.
"In 2007 Islam and Judaism's holiest holidays overlapped for 10 days.
Muslims racked up 397 dead bodies in 94 terror attacks across 10
countries during this time... while Jews worked on their 159th Nobel Prize"
They associate entire groups of people with the actions of few. Not all Muslims participate in terrorism, furthermore not all Jews were working towards a Nobel Prize.
Islam-Watch
Islam-Watch is an interesting website because the authors claim to be former Muslims who have left Islam. In their, “About Us” section of their website they describe Islam is not a religion at all, but a system that is predicated on hatred for individuals who are not Muslim. The members of Islam-Watch believe that Islam must “be emasculated, or marginalized, or eliminated altogether, if the Muslim world wants to come out of its current backwardness and quagmire, characterized by poverty, corruption, illiteracy, violence, misrule and tyranny, in which they have been thrown in due to Islamic indoctrination.” The mission statement of Islam-Watch argues that Islam is a religion of violence and hatred, and has always been based on these principles, as a consequence, Islam-Watch believes that it is impossible to reconcile the religion with the modern world.
Islam-Watch aims to give the truth about Islam as represented from people who have left the religion. While there is little doubt that there are certain abuses that can be attributed to the Islamic faith, to state that the very root of Islam is violence is fallacious.
The significance of both The Religion of Peace and Islam-Watch is not just the information (or misinformation) they pass as truth about the religion of Islam, but the fact that they posit themselves as experts. The Religion of Peace claims itself to be an objective view of Islam, and Islam-Watch aims to tell the truth about Islam from people who have been there. These narratives, are fueled by sensationalism, and Edward Said would argue in the introduction of Covering Islam “sensationalism, crude xenophobia, and insensitive belligerence are the order of the day, with results on both sides of the imaginary line between ‘us’ and ‘them’” [1]
[1] Said, Edward Covering Islam Revised Editon New York: Vintage Books, 1997.
Islam-Watch aims to give the truth about Islam as represented from people who have left the religion. While there is little doubt that there are certain abuses that can be attributed to the Islamic faith, to state that the very root of Islam is violence is fallacious.
The significance of both The Religion of Peace and Islam-Watch is not just the information (or misinformation) they pass as truth about the religion of Islam, but the fact that they posit themselves as experts. The Religion of Peace claims itself to be an objective view of Islam, and Islam-Watch aims to tell the truth about Islam from people who have been there. These narratives, are fueled by sensationalism, and Edward Said would argue in the introduction of Covering Islam “sensationalism, crude xenophobia, and insensitive belligerence are the order of the day, with results on both sides of the imaginary line between ‘us’ and ‘them’” [1]
[1] Said, Edward Covering Islam Revised Editon New York: Vintage Books, 1997.