Causes of antiislamism in the West

[Redalgo]

In the American example, I reckon 9/11 was a significant factor but major news providers played an inadvertent part in stoking anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments by allowing profit motive to compel them to air disproportionately negative, sensationalized, unbalanced stories concerning Muslims and countries in which they constitute a majority group. The general public, not familiar with this religious minority residing in their country, nor the values and social norms widespread in far off lands, was vulnerable to consuming biased, pre-digested information on these matters.

The government itself did not help, for many officials are beholden to ethnocentric views and as a consequence often pursued strictly self-interested policies pertinent to countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan with insufficient thought given to how said policies would be perceived abroad. Whenever there was a misstep or mutual misunderstanding resulting in elevated anti-American sentiments the media reported on it without enough understanding and context provided to an audience mostly unaware of what folks in those countries think and believe - much less why. On the home front, meanwhile, reporting on the wars and terrorism eventually managed to paint dark portraits of Muslims and Arabs that do very few of them justice. Stories involving any of the tens of millions of relatively normal Muslims weren't as good for ratings, and while some parts of the media provided fairer depictions of them it did not offer a heavy enough counterbalance, in my opinion.

Also, bigots will be bigots. Many of them are wrapped up in an us-versus-them mindset about perceived out-groups. When 9/11, the two wars, and major news providers' handling of current events are combined they send a signal to such folks that their way of life is in danger. Their suspicions gain legitimacy when leaders they look to for guidance speak of the grave peril posed to American society by Islamic fundamentalists, extremists, and Islamists. American Muslims and Arabs have become easy (i.e. minority group) targets for persecution since they are unlikely to strongly retaliate and, being blinded by ignorance, the aggressors fail to grasp that almost nobody in those groups are really aligned with the Enemy. This is a recurring theme in history, with each era apparently featuring groups widely misunderstood, marginalized, and discriminated against.

I do not know to what extent how many Americans' perceptions of Islam and its adherents have been skewed, and to what extent, but the problem now is that it is so much easier to make people suspicious of and worried about the cultural and security-related impacts of unfamiliar minority groups in their midst than it is to bridge cultural gaps and forge enduring intergroup trust and friendships. For European anti-Islamic sentiments, however, I lack a firm opinion for the time being.

[Redalgo]

Maybe I am missing something here but my impression is that Moskva is a city of all the Russian people - not just those who adhere to the Eastern Orthodox faith.