To what extent is islamaphobia a problem in british society Essay

To what extent is islamaphobia a problem in british society - Essay Example That concept has seen a significant rise in the UK, and the reasons for it, while somewhat understandably valid, are deluded and overstated. An Inherited Tradition: The Crusades and The New Crusade While islamaphobia might be something new to the United States since 911, it is certainly well entrenched in the thinking of people of the United Kingdom. Beginning with the Crusades, particularly those of Richard the Lionhearted and other British kings who went off to â€Å"fight the good fight† against the Muslims, a natural tendency has developed to mistrust Muslims as treacherous and determined to destroy Christianity, and along with it Western civilization. Feffer (2010) in his defense of Islam writes that the UK culture itself has promoted this notion throughout the ages by reinforcing it in subtle ways, including the teaching and analysis of such epic poems as The Song of Roland, which he contends places untrue emphasis upon the slaughter of Charlemagne’s troops as des cribed in the poem by Muslim warriors. ‘In the real battle of 778, the slayers of the Franks were [really] Christian Basques furious at Charlemagne for pillaging their city of Pamplona’ (Feffer, 2010: par. 3). ... om 1500-1600 the ‘crusade’—verbal, psychological and historical—continued against the Ottoman Empire, passing from one generation to another stories of the atrocities of the Ottoman Empire and their Muslim leaders, defaming, as it went, all of its followers. Ongoing as well was the attitude that Muslims and Islam continually attempted to hide their violent ill-intentioned tendencies under the guise of the peaceful dictates of the Koran. Today that attempt is still being challenged in every respect and from every side, and by his own admission, from a Christian perspective, by Dunkin (2010) in his official condemnation, Ten Myths About Islam. Dunkin writes the following: Jihad is still alive and well today, and is not just the province of a few militant radicals. The forcible advancement of Islam, coupled with a contrived hatred for the Western world, appeals to the hearts and minds of millions of disaffected Muslims worldwide, many of them young and eager t o give their lives in the cause of Allah. Many well-educated Muslims, in the Middle East and in the West, have taken hold of the intellectual cause of Islamism and support this jihad wholeheartedly. (Myth #7) With academics such as Dunkin fanning the flames of anti-religious perception, it is not difficult to reason that such ideas have continued to find their way into modern UK thinking, in a world much more diverse and thus, for many, much more threatening. Islamaphobia and Politics As a prejudice which has developed over centuries, it seems clear that at least one political group in the UK, namely the British National Party and its Campaign Against Islam, presents a clear if not pervasive view of Islam as a violent entity detrimental to the interests of Britain and the British population. With media at