Media, Stereotypes, And Xenophobia Of Muslims In France

“Statically Islam is the second religion in France, but socially it is practiced by a group of people that is dominated, unprivileged and reduced to political silence.” Ever since the attacks on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo in January of 2015, France has deemed itself incompatible with immigrants, particularly those who identify as Muslim or come from North Africa or the Middle East. Since the start of 2015 there have been more than 11 large-scale attacks affiliated with ISIS, causing greater cultural rifts and xenophobia in French communities. The millions of Muslim French-born citizens and immigrants though have had to suffer because of these intolerances, making assimilation and integration particular difficult for everyone who is …show more content…
The media has tapped into this fear and escalated problems further. Hamel explains, “the media and their experts essentialized Islam and the ‘Muslim race’ and dehistoricized difference. They confused what is historical, cultural, and political for biological and genetic traits.” By racializing a religion and diverse group of people, the media has cultivated all xenophobic, racist, and sexist views towards Muslims, ignoring all other aspects of this diverse group of people. The rise of identity politics in the global north, particularly the European Union and the United States, has created a backlash of groups clinging more strongly to their identities if there are marginalized. This leads to an ‘us vs. them’ viewpoint and a rise of white nationalism. The common theme seems to be, “these people are in ‘our’ country and could turn into fundamentalists applying the Shari’a in France, therefore injecting fear: an Islamic threat to liberal values.” Media outlets in France treat Islam as a primitive and incomprehensible religion that always seeks to promote a fundamentalist agenda and sabotage the state and their more developed, liberal western