Popular Culture Review Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2005 | Page 44

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Popular Culture Review
columnist Angela Shanahan who pointed out that the apparent moral lapse of
Australian Christian society would enable Islam to enter.18 Similarly, The
Sydney Morning Herald journalist Paul Sheehan “spoke the obvious and
unpalatable” that Australians are concerned that a large Muslim population has
entered Australia without “consultation or consent.”19 Spectres of “lurking”
Muslims was also raised by columnist Piers Ackerman in his article “Opening
our doors to a wave of hatred,”20 while Herald Sun journalist Andrew Bolt
doubted the place of Islam in a “secular, multi-ethnic nation like Australia.”21
Bolt’s conspiracy theory continued: “Again and again, we’re offered proof that
too many of our Muslim leaders work in ways that threaten us. This must be
exposed, not covered up. The longer this contagion is left to fester, the sicker we
may all become.”22 Responding to a young Australian Muslim’s call for jihad
during the TV program A Current Affair, Adelaide talk-back radio host Bob
Francis proposed “Rule bloody 303 with those bastards. Right in the middle of
the head!”23
Conclusion
The spectre of jihadism provides an insight for exploring alterity in the
form of the “bogeyman.” In the western psyche the “bogeyman” is a powerful
symbol for inciting ambivalence. Employing clandestine tactics which are often
undetectable, jihadists have demolished modernity’s concern with control.
Based on the dictum of “Know thine enemy” jihadists have been able to
obliterate the icons of western market culture. Western societies have begun to
realise post-September 11, 2001, that not since the totalitarian terror of fascism
and communism has there been such an ideological force which mocks the
rudiments of western civilisation.
For Warner, the wanton destructiveness of the bogeyman is procured
by his ability to sometimes consume (as the cannibal) that which he has
dominated (1998:13). Bin Laden’s recipe for terrifying the West resonates with
cannibalistic desire. Terror (its preparation and consumption) is not only about
avenging the Muslim world, but is a way of spreading an apocalyptic
imperialism. Using Warner’s phraseology the spectre of Jihadism spotlights the
horror of ambiguity and its transgression of interpersonal and intercultural
boundaries in which we construe and author our lifeworlds—Chimera
transfigured.
Fear of transgression of intercultural boundaries by jihadists has
inevitably led to ordinary Muslims being fantasized as potential nemesis.
Indeterminacy of jihadists became indeterminacy of Australian Muslims in
general. As a previous colonial power with a long histoiy of “Othering,” it is
perhaps not surprising that some elements of Australian culture have made this
link. The reactionary behaviours of Australian media seem to underline their
penchant for orientalism as a rhetorical device.