Muslims, or Terrorists?

Muslims, or Terrorists?

When you google the word "Muslim." This is one of the first images that comes up on the screen. In this image, are a bunch of seemingly angry men. Many people say that Islam is the religion of peace, yet in every western media outlet that I follow, I constantly see images such as this, and those below. I see people constantly trying to defend the religion, after the Cologne attacks, after the San Bernandino shooting, after the beheadings, saying "Not all Muslims." Well, sure, but it certainly seems like "Most." The imagery here portrays violence and the willingness to hurt people for one's beliefs.

While these images may not represent the whole of the 1.3 billion Muslim men and women worldwide, it does involve a significant number, namely, the nearly 1.3 million refugees flooding into Europe. After the Cologne attacks, the sentiment in all of Europe towards migrants, plummeted, with stories of Rape, and sexual abuse toward minors as well as gang beatings and robberies running rampant through all of Europe, the media became increasingly divided. There have been many incidents of the media fighting back, to prevent Muslim men and women from recieving a bad reputation. The phrase "Not all Muslims..." Has circulated in response, in an attempt to recognize the fact that not all Muslims are terrorists. However, as a response, we see more like this: 

I couldn't confirm whether or not this is true, since there are a multitude of information sources giving out different sets of data. However, the opinion listed here, is that Muslim's seem to account for the majority of attacks worldwide, whether this is due to the media "spin" or reality is meaningless in this context. Listed here, is simply the opinions of a large group of people, many of whom feel threatened in more ways than one, by a large migrant movement heading into their country. If you look at many of the polls, t he opinions on migrants is becoming increasingly negative, and the ad-campaigns formed to sway public opinion, haven't seemed to have done much in the way of changing people's minds on the issue. Sad truth is, as long as Islamic terrorists exist in this world, there are likely to be links between Muslims as a people, and Terrorism. Much in the same way that Blacks and Latinos can often be thought of as Gangsters, and Rednecks as Racist gun-toters.

The main point of all of this, seems to be that negative stereotypes are sticker, and harder to remove than positive ones. And "Not all Muslims." has a long way to go, before it can win the hearts of the people (it likely never will)