Week 6 Terrorism and The Hegemonic Force of Jingoism, Ribhu Singh

As an South Asian American this week's reading resonated with me in a very personal way. Although I cannot personally attest to any personal discrimination in the aftermath of September 11th, I can remember it being a very tumultuous period. The discourse in the popular media revolving around terrorists I believe did nothing to enhance to moral cause of the United States, and only helped to facilitate the sensationalism through their jingoism. I find it disconcerting that their was a phenomenon that linked homophobia to patriotism, and I believe that the soldiers that displayed such conduct should have been reprimanded. I find it ridiculous that the field of terrorist study has the tendency to apply archaic psychoanalytic interpretations to terrorists motives. Anyone with a reasonable understanding of the geo-politics of the Middle East could see the connections between US foreign policy in the Middle East and the rise of fundamental Islam as a reactionary force against the imposition of liberal democracy and the hegemonic forces of market capitalism . I wonder if the rise of militant Islam could have been avoided if US policy had been different? I still lament the field of "Terrorist Studies" reliance on archaic perceptions rooted in racism and ineffectual psychoanalytic thought, and hope for the consideration of these efforts outside of the vacuum of outdated 18th century derived modes of condemnation such as racism, religious intolerance, and sexual discrimination.