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Rhetoric, Discourse, and the Future of Hope

Columbia University

Misperceptions, farfetched stories about Islam, and invented connections between Muslims and terrorism have been the guiding factors in shaping the attitudes of the American establishment toward the Muslim world. This article sheds light on the post-1993 bombing of the World Trade Center when journalists and evangelicals looked for sensational and inflammatory statements about the so-called Islamic militancy toward the United States. In this process, the preachers of hatred against Islam attempted to portray the Muslim faith as monolithic, unchanging, and viciously directed against Americans. What they did not choose to highlight was the enormous diversity among Muslim cultures or the focus within many Muslim groups on building community. The article anticipates that such enduring myths about Islam could lead to the rise of a new anti-Semitism in the United States: not against Jews, but against Muslims.

Key Words: fundamentalism • stereotypes • media hype • coded language • rhetoric • Orientalism • the future of Islam

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 588, No. 1, 10-17 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0002716203588001002


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