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10 Essential Points About the Boston Marathon Bombers, Islam, and America

April 24, 2013

10 Essential Points About the Boston Marathon Bombers, Islam, and America

Digging through misinformation circulating online during last week’s coverage of the Boston marathon bombing was a harrowing process, and it was exhausting. Media pieces that denounced Islamic terrorism in the body of the article were often given sensationalized headlines implicating Islam in the Boston bombs.

In the piece, “10 Essential Points About the Boston Marathon Bombers,” blogger Omid Safi of  What Would Mohammed Do? aptly deconstructs the points of mass confusion surrounding American Islamaphobia, Chechnya, the Tsarnaev brothers, and the Boston marathon bombing.  Safi begins,

“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the horrific Boston Marathon explosions has been apprehended. Presumably, we can take a break from round-the-clock coverage of the chase that has consumed the nation. Less than 24 hours ago, no one had heard of the Tsarnaev brothers. That’s almost literally true: even their uncle had not heard from them in years. Now they are macabre celebrities whose every online trace is being analyzed for any clue as to what might have led them to commit such atrocities. The breathless analysis of the 24-hour news media continues to offer theories and half-baked motivations even when the basic facts have not been yet gathered.
The ten essential points (visit What Would Mohammed Do?) cover what those surrounding the suspect personally thought about them, the elder brother’s alienation from Americans, the lack of knowledge of those reporting on Islam or Chechnya in the 24/7 news cycle, the dangers of social media, the privilege issue of white Americans vs. any others, hate crimes against Muslim Americans, the political motivations of Islamaphobic America, the Islamic word on terrorism, and the evidence proving a disconnect between Muslim life and the lifestyle of the Tsarnaev brothers.