Reza Aslan, an American writer/scholar of religions would personally back this claim, asserting that “if the media wants to paint over certain groups with a single brush then they are and I use this word seriously, stupid.” (Aslan, CNN, 2014). Aslan cites an implied generalisation of 1.5 billion people by Talk Show Host Bill Maher, which is the media’s portrayal of all Islamic countries as “basically the same”. In a time where the actions of Muslims extremist groups such as ISIS are being internationally condoned; what justification do The U.S. and other Western powers have for ignoring Saudi Arabia, a country and close ally in which the frequency of beheadings has surpassed two per day. Maher, The self-professed ‘American Liberal’, controversially claimed on his show ‘Real Talk’ that “not only does Islam have a lot in common with ISIS, but it has too much in common with ISIS”
It is very obvious that the media has always been shaped by the allegiances countries have etc. as to not upset anyone. In recent years however, the media system has begun to overlook the bad in places in order to focus and pin down the bad in other countries, generalising all their problems to other regions with the same faith, characteristics etc; as seen in the case of Islam on ‘Real Talk with Bill Maher’.
PoliticalLikePike 