Islamophobia

Historically, representatives of the western civilization viewed Muslims as enemies, while Islam was a hostile religion and philosophy. Unfortunately, today, the negative view on Islam has not changed and, what is more, the problem of Islamophobia has emerged. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the book “Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy” by P. Gottschalk and G. Greenberg, where the authors estimate: “In many cartoons, a caricature of “the Muslim” becomes the symbol of terrorism itself” (2008, p.56).

In fact, this idea is a natural conclusion that can be made on analyzing numerous works of western cartoonist. At the same time, this idea suggested by Gottschalk and Greenberg reveals the extent to which the modern western view in Islam is biased. To put it more precisely, it is possible to speak about the historical fear of Islam and Muslims which westerners have proved to be unable to overcome till the present epoch. The historical fear of the military conflict with the Muslim worlds is enhanced and multiplied by the modern problem of international terrorism, which is erroneously associated with Islam.

As the matter of fact, western cartoonists apparently tend to simplify the image of terrorists that is quite natural for this genre because they need to convey simple but ironic or even sarcastic message using comprehensible and recognizable images. In such a situation, western cartoonists prove to be unable to clearly distinguish radical movements in Islam and terrorist organizations, on the one hand, and the true Islam, as one of the global religions, on the other hand.

As a result, cartoonists mirror the traditional view of westerners on Islam as an evil power which aims at the destruction of the Christian world that naturally enhanced Islamophobia.