Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really ThinkMovie ResponseIn 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 throughThe 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 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 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.Living ReligionsMovie Response #2Alex Erickson