ABSTRACT
Saddam Hussein is a dangerous maniac. Saddam Hussein is a Muslim, therefore all Muslims are dangerous maniacs. The Islamic
Council believes the media is responsible for creating this kind of
impression in the minds of the non-Muslim world. They charge that
unfair, simplistic reporting of the Gulf crisis and local reaction to it
has spawned a new wave of resentment against Australia’s 200,000
Muslims. As proof they cite the verbal and physical abuse of
women wearing traditional Muslim dress in the streets and bomb
threats against local Islamic organisations….Muslim leaders
grabbing the headlines over the past decade have been extremists
like Ayatollah Khomeni and Libya’s Colonel Gadaffi. The Salman
Rushdie affair was another example of the hysteria often associated
with the Islamic world. Has Islam’s reputation been hijacked by a handful of radicals or is their religion, along with its hundreds of
millions of followers the victim of a media conspiracy?
