While the media has very little incentive to challenge religious explanations of events like 9/11, the state has a definite interest in perpetuating them because this association provides a rationale for the expansion of the state’s authority and control with the majority of its citizens’ consent who seek protection against another violent attack. Consequently, both the media and the state reinforce through their actions, if not always by words, the association of Islam with violence that has ostracized a segment of the American population on the basis of religion.

XREF: Relates to critical media studies and state power analysis (Chomsky/Herman's propaganda model, manufacturing consent). SEED: Potential essay angle on how supposedly neutral institutions (media, state) share reinforcing incentives that shape public perception of minority groups.

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 266