Hegemony by Fox News
After the Muslim terrorists killed twelve people in the Carlie Hebdo crisis, Fox News published “Charlie Hebdo has history of angering Muslims with cartoons” to examine the cause of the disaster. This article looked into the background of the incident. Although it is covering a news story and is somewhat accurate, the discourse of Arabs was hegemonic.
The article explains that the magazine has published satirical cartoons of Muhammad. Early in the article, Fox News says “the satirical weekly has a history of drawing outrage across the Muslim world with crude cartoons of Islam’s holiest figure” (Fox News, 2015). Looking closely at this sentence, which appears harmless, is pointing towards a monolithic representation of Muslims. Saying “Muslims” throughout the article instead of “radicalized Muslims” or “some Muslims” is indirectly stereotyping all Muslims. Not one time were the terrorists mentioned or examined- they examined the religion as a whole.
The article goes on to quote a Muslim cartoonist: “A pencil is not a weapon. It’s just a means of expression” (Fox News, 2015). Although this statement is true, it is important to note that this statement contains cultural imperialism. Through other cultures, a pencil may be viewed to be the greatest weapon of all. The article, by quoting this cartoonist is pointing towards the fact that all cultures may agree with this. This can also be viewed, as some Muslims are more inclined toward violence because they killed people after actions of the pencil. This may show traces of the trope savage war as thinking that the enemy is very prone to violence over a small gesture.
Charbonnier, an editor of the French Magazine is quoted next by saying “Muhammad isn’t sacred to me… I don’t blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings. I live under French law. I don’t live under Quranic law” (Fox News, 2015). By quoting this line from the editor, a strong binary opposition is played. This is leading readers to think “we don’t live under Quranic law, which leads towards violence, Muslims do.” This can create people to think of Muslims as “the other”- these different and barbaric traits of Muslims may be responsible for the terrible act. The article elaborates on Muslims portrayal of being “the other” by showing examples of other cultures being mocked in these magazines. This leads the reader to think that no other cultures had members that reacted in such a way
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Later in the article, Fox News quoted Charlie Hebdo saying “I’d rather die standing than live on my knees” (Fox News, 2015). This represents the trope new world order as Hebdo is fighting for his freedom of speech. It shows that the new law will continue to defeat the old, suppressing laws of the Muslims. Hebdo will fight the good fight, a morally just war, and win because he will not back down and continue his freedom of speech. Although this is true, the discourse used makes it sound like Muslims want to suppress the rights of the French.
The article ends with expression of world’s support for Charlie Hebdo. It makes There is no question that the world should support Charlie Hebdo. It is important to be careful of otherizing Muslims due to increasing islamophobia. This article could have been written in a more counter-hegemonic way.
Counter Hegemony by The Real News
The Real News wrote coverage after the killings over Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons. This article is called “Charlie Hebdo, Islamophobia and the Freedom of Expression.” This article was a counter- hegemonic interview of writer Richard Seymour.
The interview explains that many news sources oversimplify the complex relationships over extremists actions: “…one of the things that we’re discovering is that one of the attackers, at least, a bunch of Jihadis, were radicalized (if you want to use that term) by the deployment of torture and by the war on terror” (Seymour 2015). The Iraq war, Syria war and war on ISIS were also mentioned in the equation. Seymour examines this as a complex story and says that the discourse in the west/Islamophobia is part of the full story to help examine these actions. He also is sure to not stereotype Muslims or show them in a monolithic manner by using the term “extremists” instead of “all Muslims.”
In the interview, Seymour goes on to talk about the reactions of the West: “…the enemies of civilization are among us, they hate us, they hate our values, they have our passports, and we have to do something about this” (Seymour, 2015). This interview points out that this reaction is overtly racist by showing Muslims as “the other” through binary opposition. They do this by showing them as savages that are different from Americans and therefore hate Americans due to a clash of civilizations. This reaction described by Seymour is also an example of the terrorist threat trope because the Western media is representing Muslims as presenting a threat to the lives of innocent people. He says the other reaction is “we’ll put up with you as long as you’re moderate, as long as you assimilate” (Seymour, 2015). This reaction shows cultural relativism. People believe that Muslims have the same set of values and can easily assimilate to western culture, when in reality, it is much more complex than that.
Seymour continues by challenging the claim that the cartoonists are fighting for the freedom of speech. He mentions that in France they ban protests and ban the hijab. Other places in the west have thrown people in jail for comments against their army. He says that the cartoonists have shown the trope imaginary of the Harem by showing Muslim women sex slaves. Seymour suggests that the cartoonists are, in fact, racist by assigning values to Muslims at the accusers benefit (laughter). This questions if the cartoonists really are fighting the good fight and fighting for freedom of speech. While doing this, it decreases binary opposition and challenges orientalism. The Real News covers the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo episode in a counter-hegemonic way due to challenging overarching ideology.
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