"Since 9/11, U.S. policy enforces Islamophobia" by Nathan Lean, CNN

Since 9/11, U.S. policy enforces Islamophobia is an opinion article written by Nathan Lean on CNN's religion blog that centers on the government enforced Islamophobia in the United States after the 9/11 attacks and its negative effects on Muslim-American relations. Lean is very straightforward about his opinions and gives little background information about the issue before inserting his view on it. After four short paragraphs about the 9/11 attacks and its effect on the US, he makes his assertion by claiming that after these incidents the US authorities have enforced unjust treatment of "law abiding citizens". By reading this sentence only, the reader can already assume the author's viewpoint on the issue. The author also supports his claim about the negative effects of these prejudices by showing operations with Islamophobic intentions done by government agencies and law enforcers. For instance, an incident involving the FBI where  the agency paid an informant to initiate young Muslims in Southern California into talking about terrorism was personally the most shocking and persuading evidence provided by the author. I simply could not believe that such unlawful and unjust activities can be acted on by government officials. The worst part of the story was that the young Muslims who were being targeted were the ones that actually reported the informant to the authorities. This broke my heart showed how wrong it is for someone to turn their backs on loyal and patriotic citizens when blinded with prejudice.

The key reason why this piece is so convincing is because there's just so much bias flowing out of Lean's writing that it can, in my opinion, persuade someone who has the beliefs exact the opposite of Lean's. Not only does he bombard the reader with so many examples of Islamophobic actions taken by US officials, such as the FBI incident or the NYPD's "Operation Flex" involving observations of Muslim prayer-goers for signs of terrorist tendencies, he also ends his piece with a simple yet powerful message: "[abandoning national values] doesn't make us stronger; it makes us weaker, and more vulnerable." This is a powerful tactic used by persuasive writers to lead the reader into the direction they want to implicate.

My opinion on the growth of Islamophobic tendencies of US officials after the events of 9/11 was the same as Lean's even before reading this powerful article, but now it has given me a clearer picture of the rather messy situation that is not too hard for me to understand nor the opposite. Now that I'm informed about the specific cases in which the US officials are showing Islamophobic tendencies I could relate to the sensitivity and the stigma surrounding the issue. Reading this piece has also brought forward some new questions I have about this problem. How are these unjust "operations" legal? If supposedly trusted government authorities like the FBI and the NYPD act on unreliable, biased opinions and prejudices, are they to be trusted? I guess I'll find out by doing some more research on the topic.