By Lasantha Pethiyagoda –

Prof (Emeritus) Lasantha Pethiyagoda

In much of Western society, after being conditioned to see things the way the domesticated average TV viewer is consistently fed, when you hear the word “terrorist,” who do you imagine or visualize? It would not be a White person in a business suit, but a robed and bearded man of dark complexion possibly sporting a turban.

Movie blockbusters, television news and even YouTube podcasts feature brown skinned people in the villain roles, who are always presumed to be Muslim for maximum impact and effective depiction.

Critical race theory posits that structures are designed to reinforce a narrative of unconscious cognitive bias in developing stereotypes. Together with promoting a sense of White privilege, where Whites represent “Good” against “Evil” (borrowed from the biblical dichotomy) the political propaganda campaigns rely on certain ideals and myths.

Conjunctively the myth of White innocence and White superiority and exceptionalism are intentionally invoked for perceived advantages. However, with an ever-expanding non-white vote base, eventually these narratives will be debunked, especially among young academics and students who examine many aspects of these concepts independently.

Although a universal definition of terrorism has been deliberately prevented from being used thru obfuscation, leaving much room for interpretation as desired by the White dominated prosecution authorities, the American definition follows.

Imagine how this will play in Gaza. The US Patriot Act defines “terrorism” as violent action that is intended to intimidate or coerce a civil population or influence the government. That is, violence that is meant to inspire fear and is motivated by ideology rather than, say, financial gain.

The notion of “terrorists” being predominantly Muslim is pervasive in much of the West. The Arab Terrorist, much like the Savage (Red) Indian or Yellow Peril before them have been crafted into the public imagination.

Orientalism, by definition an utterly racist concept, now positions Arab or Muslim as uncivilized, dangerous, untrustworthy and “not at all like us” or “they hate our freedoms and our way of life”. Islam itself is characterized as inherently violent, alien and unable to be assimilated (into the decadent way of life that focuses on selfish interest above everything else)

After the reciprocal attacks on US soil in September 2001, the US film industry saw the entrenchment of negative stereotypes, with Arab or Muslim almost exclusively portrayed as evil, terrorists or gangsters in contrast to normal everyday people with loving family and friends or in heroic roles. A close but different parallel was used against the “Krauts” (Germans after WWII)

If these portrayals were about any other ethnic or religious minority such as Jews, their creators will not only be hounded out but mercilessly persecuted in their private lives, much like the UN General Secretary or UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine.

News bulletins about violent events involving murder or arson etc usually highlight the darker suspect, painting them as either Arab or Muslim origin. This is a deliberate ploy not just to mislead but to create a level of indignation and outrage that is reserved only for Muslims. Later, heavily minimized editions make more accurate statements, when public interest has all but evaporated or the event is no longer newsworthy.

In an environment of presumed racial equality, White supremacist ideology is practiced in subtle and innocuous areas where subjectivity can be disguised as discretion. Especially in highly religious Western countries like the USA, racial subordination is perpetuated within the system while ordinary people’s interactions avoid racial animosity. Historically applied to Black Americans and Hispanic migrants as well as American Indians, this is now applied almost universally to Muslim-like persons.

Given the conditioning afforded by continuous depiction on mass media, it is relatively easy to reinforce the notion of White Privilege in the context of unconscious cognitive processes required for racism. So, like the older generation of White racists, new generations are taught to view and judge “other” people more harshly than “us”.

A white person using violence within a Western society to intimidate a civilian population, Israeli fighter jets breaking the sound barrier deliberately flying low over Gaza or southern Beirut are never reported as acts of terrorism. When reported, they are either a deeply troubled “person” or reconnaissance flights as part of defending themselves.

The dehumanization of the Muslim is virtually spontaneous and automatic. White perpetrators of heinous crimes against humanity retain their humanity one way or another.

If the white terrorist was acting alone, mainstream media will describe his childhood, the father abandoning his sick mother and how difficult his school life was. Together with childhood photos designed to evict sympathy due to his circumstances, the narrators say he was a quiet, shy boy who sang in the local choir. No mug shots or “evil” depictions, training in desert dunes.

White magistrates sitting in white western society courtrooms often describe not only the White (Christian?) perpetrator’s victims but the family of the perpetrator as victims deserving of public sympathy. This would never be the case if the perpetrator was a brown Muslim. In addition, attention is paid to the possibility of mental health issues of the perpetrator considering various circumstances and their background. These luxuries are never afforded a Muslim perpetrator, regardless that their crime is a fraction of the White terrorist’s. Quaint rationales such as some personal trauma possibly triggering the violence, are expounded on behalf of the aggressor.

Muslim “terrorists” and their motives are immediately assigned to their religion as if by default. Their families and their childhoods are never examined or made to elicit sympathy. White innocence is presumed from the outset, and mental issues are added to the presumption. Never are Muslim “terrorists” victims of mental health or other trauma. In reality, Muslim countries are mercilessly bombed, starved and economically deprived, thus breeding either armed resistance or acts of terrorism as revenge for losses infinitely worse than for the privileged White terrorist.

Whenever a White terrorist commits an act of terror in the general western population, they are always categorized as “once-off” events, not connected to a racial or religious dogma motivated by ideology, even if the effect on civilians is many times as intense as their Muslim or brown perpetrators. Thus, they are spared the vicious profiling that many innocent Muslims who wear symbols of their faith or appear as such.

The majority of white people whose biases are confirmed by strong myths of superiority and innocence will never understand that their real enemies are among their own. That has been the tragedy always.