The YouTube jihad

Last week I read an op-ed in The Washington Times about the removal of "anti-Islamist" material on sites like YouTube. Apparently, a number of users found videos that framed all Muslims as terrorists to be offensive, and they flagged the videos. Eventually, as per YouTube's blanket policy on flaggings, they were removed. The author of the op-ed believes that the removal of "anti-Islamist" materials is being spearheaded by Islamist terrorists. In the authors words, Americans need to "combat the terrorists' cyber-jihad," and regain control of sites like YouTube, who bend their will to terrorists.

This op-ed only reinforces, in my opinion, the belief that many Americans hold: All Muslims are terrorists and Islam is bad. The concept is obviously mirrored in the media, especially entertainment media, wherein the "bad guy" is almost always played by a foreigner. Before the Wall came down, movie terrorists were German and Russian. Today they're Middle Eastern and Muslim. While stereotypes will never disappear in society, I find the remediality of this particular one to be alarming.

The portrayal of Muslims as terrorists also perpetuates a general fear of the group by Americans. To go so far as to claim that terrorists like al Queda are actually using their multitude of resources to flag videos on YouTube? The idea is ridiculous, and tantamount to bigoted fear-mongering on the part of the author. It's this kind of thinking that gets Muslim travelers frisked unnecessarily, removed from planes, and feared by their fellow passengers.

~Christy