February 19, 2005
THE PHOBES AREN'T PHOBIC:
Islamophobia myth: If there is a backlash against British Muslims, where is the evidence for it? Scaremongering about Islamophobia promotes a Muslim victim culture and allows some community leaders to inflame a sense of injury while suppressing internal debate. The new religious hatred law will make matters worse (Kenan Malik, February 2005, Prospect)
Ten years ago, no one had heard of Islamophobia. Now everyone from Muslim leaders to anti-racist activists to government ministers wants to convince us that Britain is in the grip of a major backlash against Islam.But does Islamophobia exist? The trouble with the idea is that it confuses hatred of, and discrimination against, Muslims on the one hand with criticism of Islam on the other. The charge of "Islamophobia" is all too often used not to highlight racism but to silence critics of Islam, or even Muslims fighting for reform of their communities.
The notion of Islamophobia, like that of homophobia, is empowering--it lets folks think that they are criticized because they are fearsome, rather than because they are wrong. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 19, 2005 3:35 PM
I suffer from behead-o-phobia.
Posted by: Oswald Booth Czolgosz at February 19, 2005 4:29 PMThe Muslims have learned well from their Leftist allies in the use of the charge of "-phobia" as a way to silence criticism and end all debate. Ten years ago, who'da thunk that the homosexuals and Wahabis would find such useful common ground, considering that the latter are about as "homophobic" as is possible, under any definition of the term.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at February 19, 2005 6:18 PM