OPINION: Islamophobia – It’s time to reflect critically on our media

BY GERRY CHIDIAC

Lessons in Learning

In navigating the confusing world we live in, one gains clarity by pursuing truth. In this pursuit, it is essential that we challenge our personal biases and understand where they come from.

Many of us are unaware that we even have biases, and unfortunately, we lack the humility needed to recognize them. If this describes you, I’d recommend that you stop reading right now.

The truth is, Islamophobia is a global epidemic. We see this in at least two current genocides, that of the Uyghurs in China and the Rohingya in Burma. We also hear it from supporters of the State of Israel, and from anti-immigration advocates across Europe and in their former settler-colonial states. This is not to say that there are no bad individuals who are Muslim. Just as no one is purely good, every group has bad characters within its ranks.

A fascinating window into any society is to examine what the general population considers funny. Humour is one of the greatest gifts of being human. We use it to break down social barriers, and to challenge unjust social structures. In Canada and the United Kingdom, for example, we have a rich history of political satire.

Like anything, however, humour can be misused. Whether we intend to or not, we can harm others with our jokes. We can also perpetuate discriminatory ideas. Many comedy routines, for example, have not aged well simply because they reflect cultural biases that are now recognized as unkind and even harmful.

Sacha Baron Cohen is a gifted British satirist, and he made many popular movies in the early 21^st century, including Borat and The Dictator. Rather than taking on the character of those who wield power in Western society, however, Baron Cohen, who is not Muslim, played non-European characters from Muslim-majority countries. Borat is a journalist from Kazakhstan, and Admiral General Aladeen is the ruler of a backward country in The Dictator. In both films, he demonstrates negative stereotypes often associated with Muslims. Aladeen is violent, antisemitic, irrational and sexist. Borat is also antisemitic and sexist, as well as crude and ignorant.

While Baron Cohen is able to get people to expose the racist beliefs that they try to keep quiet, he tends to do so at the expense of Muslims and other vulnerable groups. For example, Americans easily join Borat in singing a horrendous antisemitic song; however, Baron Cohen, who is Jewish, does this while portraying a Muslim from a country with little history of antisemitism.

It is also important to note the harm done to real people by Baron Cohen’s inaccurate and fictional portrayals. A Kazakh woman who traveled to North America at the height of Borat’s popularity noted, “I was asked whether women in Kazakhstan were confined or ‘caged,’ whether I was forced to wear a scarf, or whether I had been made to live under oppressive conditions. Regardless of whether these questions were meant as jokes or sincere curiosity, they … reflected deeply inaccurate assumptions about both my country and my identity.”

It is, of course, difficult to determine whether there is a causal relationship between violence against Muslims and the negative portrayal of people from Muslim-majority countries in Western media.

What each of us can do, however, is reflect on our own biases toward Muslims and ask ourselves where they come from. This allows us to look critically at the films, television shows, and even news reports we have watched over the years. When we hear politicians, pundits, and preachers espousing the “dangers of Islam”, we can then reflect critically before we draw conclusions.

The truth is, in 2026, Islamophobia is considered acceptable in many societies around the world, including our own. That needs to change, and the change begins with each of us.