Living Religions

Movie Response #2

Alex Erickson

Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think

Movie Response
In the United States, many believe that they know what it means to be
a Muslim, considering Muslims as fundamentalist, radical, violent, and
commonly committing terrorist acts in the name of their god. Inside Islam
creates a very different image of who a Muslim is. Muslims of many countries
share the same values many non-Muslims in the United States do, such as a
desire for democracy and the importance of gender equality. Many Muslims
even looked up to the United States because of their democratic values,
though many have lost such respect because of the United State's foreign
policy and action against largely Islamic populations. Muslims believe in
Islam, which holds the existence of a god, though many people believe Islam
is a godless religion. Furthermore, many find that Islam is a gender
oppressive belief, a perspective which the Gallup poll challenged and
successfully broke through
The most frequent perspective of Muslim women is that they are
subjugated and treated as inferior to men by Islam. The hijab, in this
perspective, is an object of misogyny and a constant display of the
oppression of women. However, many Muslim women take the opposite
stance. Many Muslim women find men and women to be equal, and exercise
their right to challenge legislation that could stand in the way of equality. The

Living Religions

Movie Response #2

Alex Erickson

hijab, to them, is a symbol of female empowerment and religious expression,

and they wear it not because a man told them to, but because that is what
they believe. Gender relations don't seem to be as male dominated and
oppressive as it is portrayed in many cases of media representation.
According to the Gallup poll, the media focuses mainly in the violent
militant sect of Islam, which is actually only 1% of the global population. This
realization that only 1% of Muslims globally are found to be militant or
terrorist sects makes one wonder why these individuals are portrayed 57% of
the time when Muslims are discussed in the media. The word Muslim itself
can be problematic, because l like so many religions, there are many
different forms that Islam can take, yet the media constantly displays
militant sects with the general description of Muslim as if they represent
Islam in its entirety.
I think the negative media portrayal of Islam continues on because of
the ease and profit from promoting negative views of Islam to the majority.
When Dr. Green came to lecture on Islamophobia, he described bloggers and
internet media workers who made a living off promoting negative images of
Islam. However, I find that many newscasts promote the same negative
images. Why? According to the Gallup poll, over 50% of Americans stated
that they had little to no knowledge of what Islam is. These are merely
people who answered the poll, and many people could have easily said they
knew a lot about Islam when what they knew was merely the negative

Living Religions

Movie Response #2

Alex Erickson

perspective. If one was trying to sell their network and make money, which is
the easier method: promoting the what Islam truly means to a majority of
with a negative perspective on Islam, or feeding the flames of a negative
perspective? Broadcasting perspectives that perpetuate negative
stereotypes amongst the majority increases the following by the majority.
Inside Islam was a refreshing film that really helped me understand
Islam in many forms, as a religion, a lifestyle, a philosophy, and how many
are ignorant to what Islam is. Before Luther College, I would have been
inclined to belief all the negative portrayals of Islam, which are strongly held
by some members of my family. This film displayed the similarities and
differences that the United States and countries who are widely Muslim have,
and are not as negative as many are led to believe. It is also powerful in
breaking the nationalism and perfect image of the United States. The
Gallup poll displayed how many Muslims share a negative perspective on the
United States not because of their religious beliefs, but because the
interference of the United States in foreign affairs, US foreign policy, and the
prevention of democracy in largely Islamic countries that the United States
has actively participated in. I plan to show this film to my family members or
people who live in the ignorance of such a negative perspective.