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The theory was used by researchers to interpret the events of post-9/11 era. Applying the Orientalism theory, Nayak (2006) argues that the ‘Self’/’Other’ dialectic is due to the fear of ‘Self’ from ‘Others’ and also the desperate need of ‘Self’ US to a coded Islamic fundamentalism of threatening ‘Others’. There is also a correlation between the Orientalism aspect of ‘Self’ or ‘West’ as a nation and the theory of ‘Imagined communities’, proposed by Anderson (1996). According to Anderson, nations are imagined communities, where ‘the members of even the smallest nations will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of
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The concept of moral panic was originally developed by Cohen (1972) as a media-induced exaggeration or distortion of some perceived threat or deviant activity. As he puts it, moral panic happens when a ‘condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests’. According to Brayton (2006), three actors need to exist for a moral panic to take hold. First, individuals who are responsible for deviant or criminal behaviour and are threatening the social order should be constructed as ‘folk devils’. Second, ambiguously defined terms such as ‘rap’, ‘rave’ or ‘enemies’ should be deployed. As the third actor, Brayton mentions the term ‘moral entrepreneur’, originally introduced by (Becker 1966) as those such as politicians, media and rule enforcers who start the panic when they fear a threat. The atrocious nature of 9/11 attack provided an excellent opportunities for mass media coverage and also the speeches of politicians to call it a …show more content…
In the project, the ‘Self’/’Other’ dialectic is numerously applied in different formats to discriminate between ‘West’ or ‘Americans’ and ‘Others’. US presidential speeches played a key role in biasing mindsets of American public in regard to the events of post-9/11 era. The objective of this paper was to analyze three significant US presidential speeches through applying the theoretical frameworks of imagined communities, Orientalism and moral panic. I argued how the application of some key words such as ‘civilized nation’ or ‘America’ by Bush in his speeches represented the imagined community of American population, united on ‘war on terror’. In the framework of Orientalism, I pointed out how his statements about his war policy could fit into the Orientalism theory framework, where superior ‘west’ is facing inferior ‘orient’. Eventually, I investigated the literature used by Bush to intensify and induce the public fear of terror in terms of a moral panic. Although I focused on only three speeches of G.W. Bush, providing more concrete proofs on the underlying facts of his speeches and better understanding them need more research on his other speeches and statements. Moreover, in order to investigate the reapplication of such theoretical frameworks on social and political events other than
The concept of moral panic was originally developed by Cohen (1972) as a media-induced exaggeration or distortion of some perceived threat or deviant activity. As he puts it, moral panic happens when a ‘condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests’. According to Brayton (2006), three actors need to exist for a moral panic to take hold. First, individuals who are responsible for deviant or criminal behaviour and are threatening the social order should be constructed as ‘folk devils’. Second, ambiguously defined terms such as ‘rap’, ‘rave’ or ‘enemies’ should be deployed. As the third actor, Brayton mentions the term ‘moral entrepreneur’, originally introduced by (Becker 1966) as those such as politicians, media and rule enforcers who start the panic when they fear a threat. The atrocious nature of 9/11 attack provided an excellent opportunities for mass media coverage and also the speeches of politicians to call it a …show more content…
In the project, the ‘Self’/’Other’ dialectic is numerously applied in different formats to discriminate between ‘West’ or ‘Americans’ and ‘Others’. US presidential speeches played a key role in biasing mindsets of American public in regard to the events of post-9/11 era. The objective of this paper was to analyze three significant US presidential speeches through applying the theoretical frameworks of imagined communities, Orientalism and moral panic. I argued how the application of some key words such as ‘civilized nation’ or ‘America’ by Bush in his speeches represented the imagined community of American population, united on ‘war on terror’. In the framework of Orientalism, I pointed out how his statements about his war policy could fit into the Orientalism theory framework, where superior ‘west’ is facing inferior ‘orient’. Eventually, I investigated the literature used by Bush to intensify and induce the public fear of terror in terms of a moral panic. Although I focused on only three speeches of G.W. Bush, providing more concrete proofs on the underlying facts of his speeches and better understanding them need more research on his other speeches and statements. Moreover, in order to investigate the reapplication of such theoretical frameworks on social and political events other than