Islamophobia is growing day by day in the West particularly it increased during the 2008 and 2012 US elections among Republicans.
Islamophobia is also a tool being used for public manipulation to manufacture consent for disastrous wars and for votes. The latest 2016 US presidential election is just the next and most extreme iteration of this phenomena.
According to a recent report “Confronting Fear: Islamophobia and Its Impact in the US 2013-2015”, 33 Islamophobic groups had access to at least $205 million in total revenue between 2008-2013.”
Since the majority of Americans say they don’t know a Muslim, their information comes primarily from media, and the media is hilariously biased. According to a recent study carried out by MediaTenor, 90% of news media about Muslims and Islam was negative. Another study, conducted by 416 Labs found that over the past 25 years, the New York Times portrayed Islam and Muslims more negatively than they did cancer and cocaine.
So Islamophobia is manufactured and a tool of manipulation, endangering not only Muslims, but the health of our democracy.
