It was done over a 25 year period? I would guess that the negative association skyrocketed after 9/11. Before that, wasn't "Islam" seen by most westerners as just another foreign religion that boxers and musicians would occasionally adopt? So I bet that the truth is even worse than they show in that study if the data was diluted with this earlier period.
format_quote Originally Posted by Article
Several recommendations are offered by the authors of the study to “help represent Islam/Muslims in a more accurate way.” These include educating reporters on the nuances of Islam, engaging local Muslim voices, and greater activism by Muslim organizations among others. Zhou said the most crucial tool for these recommendations to be taken up by people is “through creating spaces for Muslims beyond the mosque and home to talk about and engage with civic life.” - See more at:
http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/study-....hwZuf5h7.dpuf
I agree that the best way to undo islamophobia is to better understand Muslims. That is how I initially came to this forum, and I immediately dispelled for myself a lot of the slanderous things that some in the west were saying, and still say, about Islam and Muslims. I strongly disagree with a lot of the social positions that Islam takes, but I do so with a much better understanding than many of my neighbours of what Islam actually is and is not, and how varied different Muslims are from one another in their opinions and beliefs. I can dismiss a lot of what I hear about "Muslims" (the fictional bogeyman Muslims western media would have me believe in) because of this, and recognize radicals as radicals. I encourage folks in the west to visit friendly mosques and see for themselves that these people are honest hard working decent folks. I praise the Muslims I know who put themselves out there and allow such visits, without pushing conversion etc on the visitors or antagonizing them. I know of one Imam and mosque in my area that is fantastic at this.
Regarding the study.... on a side note... I am curious... was the term atheist a comparison point in the study? I don't see it mentioned in the article. I do know that many other studies have found Muslims and Atheists to be the two least trusted and most hated religious categories in the U.S.A. I am curious how they compare to one another in the minds of the American public.