The myth of "Islamophobia"(or at the very least it is grossly exaggerated)

Has anybody noticed that after every incident of jihadist violence(9/11, 7/7 the Madrid train bombing, the Boston Marathon attack, the hacking to death of Drummer Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers) we hear unctuous warnings by mullahs and imams and other self anointed Muslim"community leaders"( usually old men with beards and nothing going on upstairs as one wag dubbed them) about the risk of "Islamophobic backlash" against innocent Muslims.

To my mind, much like Mark Twain's report on his purported death, thse claims of "Islamophobic backlashes" if not exactly non existent are at the very least grossly exaggerated(possibly for political reasons).

Yes it is TRUE that after all the above incidents there HAVE been incidents of anti-Muslim violence, deplorable though they may have been (as they are),but when all is said and done, I have noticed far more express backlash against the Irish community in Britain( esp after the Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA in Nov 1974) then there ever was against the Muslim community. And bear in mind the Irish are both Caucasian and Christian(unlike predominantly brown or black skinned Muslims)

To my mind the phrase "Islamophobia" has the same semantic overtones as "anti-Sovietism" "reactionary Red baiting" or "McCarthyism" to describe critics of the Soviet Union(esp during the Stalinist era) and Communism as a political philosophy(whether the given critic is politically conservative or liberal is besides the point- "bourgeois liberals" were as much the enemy to Stalin and his successors as were avowed reactionaries such as the late William F.Buckley (1925-2008), Pat Buchanan, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly) -a "boo word" used to silence critics of jihadism .

I personally think that the phrase "Islamophobia" should be discreetly retired as it implies a sentiment- "morbid fear or suspicion of Muslims or Islam"- that is no more unfair than distaste for militant Irish Republicanism or Italo-American organized crime amounts to generic fear or loathing of Irish or Italian American people!(the FBI estimates that the total number of "made men"- fully fledged mafia members- amounts to no more than a fraction of 1% of the total Italian or Sicilian American population)

Anybody think as I do?

Terry

Equivalent of the "Red Scare".

I agree with you for the most part. I hate when people try to apply something to entire group of people. Especially when its not true. Unfortunately this happens almost everywhere. I'm tired of seeing comments like, "I'm scared of black people because of a movie I saw." There are many other examples like this, but lets get more on topic. Like I said, I definitely agree with you for the most part. While I don't deny the existence Islamophobia I also don't think its as prevalent as people make it out to be. I always here about but I never here the stories. I wonder why. Excellent analysis.

very thought out post, good job

Islamophobia, or a very mild form of it is real in the sense when it's used to generalized anyone brown/Middle-Eastern looking as a Muslim, but it's overblown when used to shield Islam from any form of criticism.

http://youtu.be/aEir8ORIks0

Just watch the vid. You will see a large gathering of Muslims that do not identify as extremists agree that there bronze age laws of stoning and so on are best for all people.

Stoning

Beheading

Cutting off limbs

Honor killing

That is what scares me.

Let's see- opposed to (a) so-called "honor killings"(personally I have NEVER understood as to what is so "honorable" about them) (b) female genital mutilation (FGM aka Pharoanic infibulation) (c) forced marriages? Then you MUST be an "Islamophobe"!

What i find intriguing (if not disturbing) is the so-called Red-Green alliance( the so-called "Trots n' burkas") between violent jihadists and the far Left, possibly united by a common loathing of bourgeious/infidel concepts of democracy with not the UK but ulitmately the US and Israel in its sights!

Terry

Wow...I'm not used to agreeing with you Para...this is uncomfortable.

Yeah, I think Islamophobia is mostly a myth. There are certainly some Muslims who get treated badly because of their faith; they can stand as martyrs with every other group which has ever existed. There are people who act violently against Muslims. There are people who act violently against Christians. There are people of every group who have acted violently towards every other group. It should not be ignored, but it shouldn't be stated as this big crisis when it's not.

I think the United States handled itself wonderfully in regards to the treatment of Muslims in the United States after 9/11. There were a few death threats, verbal attacks and broken windows in a country full of 300 million people. That's nothing. You think reactions to a similar situation would be so calm in Africa or the Middle East or Russia? I seriously doubt it.

The U.S. gets blamed as this horrible place on race and culture afraid of everyone who is different. What a load of crap! Take a look at the U.S. at the Olympics and compare them to every other nation. You know what you will notice? Color! Whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics. The U.S. has every color of the rainbow because we don't, as a rule, care about race. Most other nations are monochrome.

Obviously, we have problems, but the West is hardly this evil place that blasts every minority.

I would not agree. Sure, it's not as bad as people make out or really that bad in comparison to the Middle-East. But:

According to the FBI, anti-Islamic incidents were the second least reported hate crimes prior to 9/11, but following 9/11, they became the second highest reported among religion-bias incidents. From pre-9/11 to post-9/11, a growth of 1600% took place.

This is not indicative of wonderful handling.

http://www.mpac.org/programs/hate-crime-prevention/statistics.php

I would just say that America is ignorant when it comes to distinguishing Sikhs from Muslims; or steryotyping anyone as a Muslim if they look Middle-Eastern looking. Aside from that it's just OK.

I'm not denying that oppression of Muslims went up after 911; unquestionably, it did. What I am saying is that any group of people would react negatively in that situation, (not every individual in any group, but certain individuals in any group) and I think in most if not all non-Western countries, murder of the group associated with the problem would be common. The hate crimes that went way up in the United States were mostly threats and destruction of property. That's still bad, but considering the massive blow to the U.S., it's a relatively small backlash. Compare this to many nations even in Europe who have not had such a single devastating attack, yet they are having Neo-Nazi groups springing up out of the woodwork due to much smaller incidents.

Fear and hatred of "the other" is definitely a thing in all cultures and societies, but the United States has done a great job treating Muslims with respect considering the circumstances and relative to other nations.

Many Muslims have experienced undeserved discrimination, and they were treated unfairly. I also expect that level of discrimination will increase in France after this latest incident, and if you have Muslim friends and neighbors make sure they feel welcomed and not ostracized from the society.

But the truth is that radical Muslims are not some minor fringe group, they are a large part of Muslim population, and this can hardly be denied. I am afraid of what Islam could potentially do to our civilization, and I think it would be beneficial for everyone if we could find a proper way to reduce it, to reform it, or at least to contain it.

Ideas which we believe in effect our behavior, and Islam is a collection of ideas, many of which can be very dangerous. These dangerous ideas need to be criticized for their hazardousness and ridiculed for their absurdity, if we care about the wellbeing of the world that we live in.

I have to disagree with the OP, where I am we've had a large amount of Muslim-hate. After the first ISIS internet beheading, we had several Mosques graffitied, one firebombing and I think grave desecrations too.

From there it kept escalating, people driving in front of Muslim schools screaming death threats at primary school children, women in burqhas threatened, general asshattery.

We've had loud mouthed ignorant politicians crying to every camera they can find about sending believers in Islam back to Islam (without realizing that's not a place).

This has been happening, and I can't see it stopping until people are educated enough to overcome their blind fears of something different.

@cave_duck:

You're right that these things happen but "something different" is a bit of an understatement, there are some major incompatible differences.

Since When?

Until the Muslims claiming not to be hard line nut jobs stand up and do something this justified fear will continue.

3rd world hell holes cant get along unless they have something to blame, burn, behead or rape. Will the true peaceful Muslims take action? Oh sure they speak out and later join in on fire bombings. Funny how this extreme set has a strong hold on poor dumb "nations and countries ". I guess small minds are easily filled with faith.

This is no longer a few bad apples, it is the whole tree.

You get that with any multicultural society, go to the nearest Chinatown or little korea or any of a dozen variants in your nearest big city. You go there and instantly you feel like an intruder in your own country.

Now I don't agree with that in the slightest.

My point is, that Muslims are just another aspect of the blending of societies. Imagine how the natives felt in any part of the world where Christian missionaries rammed the bible down their throats.

Of course the other side of the coin is they have to want to blend in as well. This is where it all falls apart unfortunately. We have a surprising number of locals going over to fight for their 'jihad' because they hate western society. This is the part I don't get, if you don't like it where you are...leave, don't stay and constantly complain about how the freedom of speech you are using to complain doesn't exist.

The way I see it is: I'm more than willing to let anyone join my country/ state/ town/ neighbourhood, as long as they're willing to actually be a part of it as well.

But just to hate someone because they are different is wrong.

Just like what happened in WWII with the Japanese camps. Everyone thought a Japanese citizen was a terrorist or "enemy informant".

I don't agree with some Islamic teachings but a large amount of Muslims I know don't seem to take much notice of the whole stoning thing so it does make me a bit upset to see things like this on Facebook:

For a realign of peace it shure has derailed Sweden and without a doubt pushed its way in to western countries.

I would argue that the justified fear can lead to ignorance. I know of many people who are not even Middle-Eastern yet taunted with Muslim slurs because they look Middle-Eastern. It blurs the line with racism.

Islam is akin to the mob; so in that respect, fear is justified.

@mandarinestro: Lol he 4got to roll out the welcome matt.

@hayden86: lol

That's the most ghetto-azzzzzz massage table I have ever seen.

Yes that happens but those aren't the major differences I'm talking about.

Open hostile hatred of other religions, open endorsement of killings for things that are legal in the west, women as second class citizens.

To put it roughly other cultures may have open racist, sexist and homophic views that are similar to western from 40-50 years ago but Islam is more like 100-200 years ago.

to be fair, in most of the USA, most American, including those whom self-identify as Christian, have a real hard time with the beliefs and practices of Mormon splinter-groups (I stress the words "splinter-group"; I am not speaking of Mormons proper), which have some alarming similarities to the "Burka groups" that people have a problem with.

@cave_duck:

Wait, you actually had politicians telling Muslims to go back to the Islam? Or the Middle East for that matter? If this is right, I'm surprised I didn't hear of it.

If someone said this to a Middle-Eastern person, the best response from the Middle-Eastern person would be to tell America to leave his/her country in return.

@frozen:

Ha!

There seems to be a lot of talk about the fear of Islamophobia becoming a thing, notsomuch actually being in existence in most western countries.

@dextersinister:

The point I'm trying to make, and you just made is that people are blanketing others under views that are skewed.

Not all Muslims follow the hard line extremism of the old ways of Islam. Yes a disturbingly large and/ or visible group of them have women covered up and other antiquated practices. But to bundle all Muslims into the same group as the extremists is the same as saying all Christians are the same as those Westboro imbeciles. Or that Christians all burn people at the stake for witchcraft...

I'm Australian, so I don't think it made the International news. But yes at least 2 media-hog politicians have told all Muslims to go back to Islam.

@citizensentry: i wish countries would deport idiots like that.

I highly doubt that family contributes and like large parts of them suck down the social aid fast.

They do not like western culture and refuse to give a inch of respect but indeed demand respect. We dont respect you, we do not like you, but give us aid ! Yeah sure.

Sweden is a wreck now. Thanks Islam.

Again, there are many versions of the practice of the Muslim faith, as there are with Christians, so the actual term in the title of the thread is conceptually sloppy. The two main factions of the faith have been killing EACH OTHER for decades.

As have "Protties and Papists", as the Irish and Bostonians and Southerners would say.

It's like when people on comic sites b1tch about religion, when they mean "Christian", and they are so lazy they lump in Unitarians with people holding rattlesnakes and speaking in tongues.

NOT THE SAME.

@jugjugbanks: those Baptist snake handlers are fun to watch. My dad and i went to a church 7 hours away just to watch that freak show. He and i had high hopes that someone would be bitten. Needless to say rattle snakes do not disappoint.

I think there is only one safe place on earth right now. China.

@citizensentry: Muslims in China have to watch out. One wrong move and your butt is back in the desert or the firing grounds.

True that. HIGH FIVE!

@citizensentry: yeah !!!

I have SO MANY inappropriate jokes to make there. Things that would imply that so FEWER terrorist attacks would happen if sack-jobs claiming to be of the Crescent Moon Creeds had a snake or scorpion-handling clause in their interpretation of their Holy Book.

@jugjugbanks: lmao

Middle eastern male 1: whats wrong with him ?

Middle eastern male 2: oh him, dumb ass ate a scorpion.

Middle eastern male 1: god is good ! Bless this martyr!

Allah U'qb---- *gugkh - choke*

@jugjugbanks: tehehehe

@citizensentry: PRC has actually been cracking down a lot lately on the Uighur Chinese in Northern China, the ethnically Muslim Chinese.

@mandarinestro: good.

Those who argue that "Charlie Hebdo" 's staff brought their murders on their own heads by their "provocative"("provocative" to whom I might ask?) cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and generic irreverence to religion( denomination irrelevant) ignore the fact the satire( and cartooning in general) genre by definition ridicules pomposity, cant of all- not just religion. Good manners and taste are BY DEFINITION incompatible with satire( remembner Anglo Irish philosopher Jonathan Swift - of "Gulliver's Travels" fame- tongue in cheek suggestion that the best way to curb the overpopulation of Ireland was for its natives to eat their own children?) -check out British magazines such as "Punch" or TV shows like "Spitting Image" which relentlessly skewered Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan during their time in office or cartoonists such as Herblock.

As we saw with "The Interview", religious sensibilities did NOT have to be the ostensible cassus belli-merely an unwilling to treat the pompous jacks in office(be they Kim Jong Un or Vladimir Putin- or "Lilli-putin" as wags call him an allusion to his comparatively diminutive size) with the sort of fawning that their own state controlled media bestow upon them). As my fellow countryman Winston Churchill once prophetically observed in the run up to WWII- "the best way to appease a tiger is to allow one's self to be devoured!"

Terry

I'm not ethnically Muslim though. I'll move to china in a heartbeat.

@citizensentry: Those Commies though...

Feel the need to make Team America reference so hard...

We, as a nation, have stood up!

@paracelsus:

I'm not condoning what happened in any way. But there are some topics that just aren't appropriate for satire.

How many Rolf Harris jokes were made in major publications in the UK during his trial & sentencing?