The “xenophobia” of “Islamophobia”
Like “Islamophobia,” the word “xenophobia” is a way to pathologize a logical reaction to a phenomenon and give it a label that makes it appear to be irrational and emotion-based.
This whole really loooong article manages to do it in a condescending, distant tone that never once tries to deal with the question of whether the phenomenon it tries to label xenophobia is based on anything that would make it a valid response, or anything other than the vague term “phobia.”
Phobias are by definition irrational and overblown:
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational.
Xenophobia indicates a general fear of what is foreign or strange, but it’s really being used here to describe a specific kind of fear of a particular kind of stranger—the kind who has vowed to either kill us or convert us and take over our culture and replace it with theirs. The culture the same people are trying, in a sort of reverse colonialism, to impose on us is not only opposed to many of our deeply-held beliefs and values, but it is intolerant of tolerance itself—except for the tolerance that is extended by the west towards it.
This “xenophobia” is not a turning away from all the practitioners of the religion as a whole. It’s merely a recognition of several things at once: (a) a significant proportion of Muslims are intolerant of the West and its values, its religions, and its tolerance (b) that group is not necessarily the majority, but it is nevertheless a very large group (3) that group is especially activist and willing to use violence as well as to lie (4) much of that group has vowed to infiltrate us through the process of immigration in order to ultimately dominate and convert us, and (5) our leaders don’t seem to be able to either see this or stop it.
That’s no phobia. That’s the reality Europe and America in the Obama years (and even before) has been facing. Calling it a phobia purposely denies that reality.
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That’s an old trick; take something you personally dislike and insist it’s part of something everybody’s supposed to dislike. Racism, genocide, and a score of others are part of the program. Eventually, anything you don’t like can be labeled something on that list.
On one blog, a writer compared being proselytized by Christians to “oppression”. To my knowledge, he has not suggested that Muslim rape gangs in Europe are…anything.
That’s nuts, but the expectation is that the true believers will insist it’s true and the argument will be about why it’s true and not that it’s absolutely nuts. My suggestion is to avoid arguing as if they’re making their case in good faith. Point and laugh. Saves time.
“In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful…”
When Islam is not a big joke, it is death. And Cruelty. And Hatred, and misogyny, also homophobia. Its adherents are reprobates, its teachings deviant; as also is its founder. It is the invention of Satan. It is arid, without water, deracinated, without root. When it is not a big joke it is entirely a lie.
By all that remains modest within me, I could make up a better “religion” than Islam during a fortnight’s lunches and breaks.
Quite so.
Islamophobia is wholly inadequate as a descriptor. It assumes away the real phenomenon which is fury at the arrogance of Muslims, especially given their inhuman, ignorant, aggressive, worthless, parasitic political system masquerading as a religion.
Fear isn’t remotely involved.
Xenophobe, islamophobe, homophobe, xyzphobe, are all used for their connotation to bigotry.
The problem is that they are used to discredit well considered and honest concerns, by conflating the arguments with those (many) who come by those concerns only as a front or rationale for their very real bigotry.
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Sadly, it comes back to power. Those who can shut down debate don’t have to have their own positions examined / challenged, while allowing themselves greater power to use to their own benefit.
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Many on the Right are just as guilty of this, unfortunately.
Rhetorical dishonesty is a form of cheating. Those who cheat are spiritually and thus morally bankrupt. Blind to the truth that, that which is ‘won’ through cheating is a ‘victory’ in name only, as hollow as an empty drum and as meaningless as gold paint over lead. They have embraced illusion and rejected reality and, in doing so have lost their way, soulless automatons obediant to the dictates of the current political correctness.
even worse… its no longer de-rationalizing a word, but formulaic and pavlovian. i we put this ending on a term, phobia or gate, we now are trained to know what to attribute and feel even if not always valid descriptors. we treat new terms as if they were old terms validated through use by decades, and so do not question their validity.
its interesting to look at the humoungous number of terms that have been created or use expanded since the 1960s. more than other categories. you have islamophobia, and transphobia, good old xenophobia, and its just started. but gate? now that one is so over used i am waiting for gategate to appear… or was that the obama cant get through a gate with an umbrella moment? watergate, travelgate, emailgate, etc.
Jurrasic,
Your comment hit the bullseye.
I prefer the term Islamaversion because the reaction of being averse to the cesspools that Islam creates in the world is natural, not irrational.
We really need to counter the continual message that only a tiny minority of Isam is the problem. The polls that struck me showed 80% of adherents (I forget where taken) supporting execution for converting to Christianity and a result in Britain with 20-25 percent of young Muslims agreeing with Euro terror attacks.
Add up those who passively agree with violent Islamists, want to institute Sharia in the west and will not inform plus those who actively donate time and/or funds plus actual militants. We are looking at a minimum several hundred million enemies of western culture who refuse to assimilate. And we won’t even shut the door.
Neo, your observations are all well taken, especially your noting that many Muslims are willing (if not bound) to use violence and lie to advance their “creed.” We are seeing evidence of this violence all over the world, but there is an aspect of it that we do not often see, an aspect that is partially hidden yet terrible in its effectiveness. That is the willingness of many Muslims to use violence — really the threat of death — against “apostates” or, really, any declared Muslim who dares step too far out of line. It is often remarked, “Where are all the decent Muslims who should be out marching and protesting against the terrorists?” The fact is that many of them are “practicing” but indifferent Muslims (so be it). But the bigger fact is that many of them live in an invisible regime of utter fear of what might happen to them or their families if they show the faintest signs of “modernity” or “Western ways” or whatever one might choose to call it. There are many good-thinking folks, including Muslims, who persist in the delusion that Islam is a religion “of peace,” but I think there are many nominal Muslims who, deep in their fearful hearts, would agree that Martin Luther was correct when he called Islam a religion “of blood and revenge.” Twice in my lifetime (once, long ago, as a college student) I soldiered through the entire “Holy Koran” in an effort to try and understand “one of the world’s great religions.” Which translation is best? Dawood? Arberry? Pickthall? I know, I know; I must learn Arabic to get the “pure word.” Well, whatever. I find it all wanting. Wanting in the extreme. And as far as its effect on the world, I guess you would have to call me an Islamophobe. As a Christian I try to all my fellow humans as God’s loved creatures. But I do fear Islam, and I suppose I must hate it as well. I find it at times incomprehensible but always ultimately hateful and destructive. At the same time, however, I have thrown the term “islamophobia” onto the slag heap of other hollow and contemptible terms — like “racism.”
I realize I’m saying the same thing as Neo but here goes.
What makes the term Islamophobia so effective in confusing people is that it is effectively an oxymoron. Islam itself means submission and that submission is forced through violence. Therefore, irrational fear of Islam is impossible – a contradiction of terms.
Islam, as codified in Islamic teaching, is dangerous as stated by the President if Egypt,
“Is it possible that 1.6 billion people [Muslims] should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants–that is 7 billion–so that they themselves may live? Impossible!”
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2015/01/01/egypts-sisi-islamic-thinking-is-antagonizing-the-entire-world/
Anyone who isn’t Islamophobic is a fool.
If one is neither Christian nor Muslim, especially if one thinks all organized religion is folly; which faith would you feel more comfortable having your neighbors believe:
A faith where practitioners are supposed to follow the example of their faith’s founder and leader, who lived a life of selflessness in service to the poor, sick and least among us, ultimately sacrificing his own life for humanity?
Or,
A faith where practitioners are supposed to follow the example of their faith’s founder and leader, who lived a life of conquest and war, living in splendor and on his deathbed encouraged his followers to kill rid the planet of all followers of other faiths?
Is this really that hard to understand?
You are correct, Paul in Boston. A fool and his head are soon parted.
Ralph Kinney Bennett, yes, some of the non-extremist Muslims are adherents to their faith in name only, and fearful of speaking up, but the vast majority who are not waging war against the West would be very happy if such a war were successful and all nations on Earth ascribed to sh’ria.
Jesus: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. Render unto God what is God’s.”
Muhammed: Pay your taxes to me or be beheaded.
Lots of our extremely useful and necessary social attitudes are irrational and emotion based, but this does not make them either pathological or invalid. This is true even for bigotry itself in its classical form.
Rulph, this observation is also true for people in the grip of every totalitarian ideology or living in state of fear in every pre-modern society, not only Muslim ones. Most of the world corresponds to this description. Only free societies are different in this respect, and they are rather exception than the rule. We should not be astonished by the fact that there are so few dissidents in those parts of the word where totalitarian ideologies prevail.
(a) a significant proportion of Muslims are intolerant of the West and its values, its religions, and its tolerance
(b) that group is not necessarily the majority, but it is nevertheless a very large group
(3) that group is especially activist and willing to use violence as well as to lie
(4) much of that group has vowed to infiltrate us through the process of immigration in order to ultimately dominate and convert us, and
(5) our leaders don’t seem to be able to either see this or stop it.
All the above That’s no phobia?
and I can add:
“We should never punish the innocent for the acts of the guilty.”
“Facts are better than dreams.”
Winston Churchill
Japan:
Those are facts that I listed. Perhaps you need to brush up on the meaning of the word “phobia.”
I wounder if this a fact?
IS kidnapping migrants at gunpoint to fight in Libya
See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/forging-migrant-army-libya-912479375#sthash.RfecYFZw.7S2bkxBk.dpuf
If you study Islam you will discover that it is irrational and illogical. The Koran contains over a hundred verses calling for violence against unbelievers. Wanting to keep Muslims out of the country is not a phobia.
Wanting to keep Muslims out of the country is not a phobia.?
Ray, in WWI & WWII after that went to Muslim countries and killed hundred of thousand and still going on in Iraq, Syria, Libya……
Wounder if this happen on your place and neighborhood what to do other than leave the place and seek save haven? isn’t?
Btw, ISIS or ISIL have nothing to do with Islam.
You can not take a gang thugs killers terrorists because they say so.
Ray before asking others to read & study Islam you need to listen and see your please.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEnWw_lH4tQ
Japan Says at 3:03 pm
“Btw, ISIS or ISIL have nothing to do with Islam.”
What! Is this some type of riddle like “Who is buried in Grant’s tomb? After all, ISIS is for Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The word Islamic is the adjective form of Islam.
Dennis, don’t be so harsh on Japan. On his (or her) home planet, terrorists don’t shout “Allahu Akbar!” as they detonate their suicide vests. Murderers don’t slice off their victims’ heads, “In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate . . .”, and Imams don’t call for the assassination of anyone writing in the tiniest bit critical or even realistic manner about Mohammad.
The only thing we can hope for is that he (or she) goes back to his (or her) home planet — and takes all of our Muslims with him (or her).
Please let take one step back and let be open minded.
My comment not in any shape or form defending those as neo-neocon Says foreign or strange,……the kind who has vowed to either kill us or convert us and take over our culture and replace it with theirs………… in fact I am in support and would agree with your though.
What am standing of is you should never punish the innocent for the acts of the guilty. This remind us to the treatment of J Europe’s Jews late 1800 that case most of them to seek and immigrated to another places for save haven and start new life.
Does that made you to think same about the problem with Christianity, was it a phobia?
What I think the west need to be very firm and harsh judgement to that “foreign or strange” kind group and its very fair to those who “want to institute Sharia in the west” to apply on them firstly when they caught red-handed with terrorists acts. As Sharia institute chop their head.
For example some “bad apples” they should been brought to Sharia law and they want to institute Sharia in the west:
1- Abu Qatada
http://www.theguardian.com/world/abu-qatada
2- Abu Hamza Almasri
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2634198/Hamza-We-mistake-treating-jailed-hate-cleric-ranter-real-threat-admits-former-chief-prosecutor.html
3- Anjem Choudary: the British extremist who backs the caliphate
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/07/anjem-choudary-islamic-state-isis
Richard Saunders,
When OBL recruited in Afghanistan, he was doing exactly detonate their suicide vests. Murderers don’t slice off their victims’ heads, “In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate . . .” against the “Christen believers” Afghanistan invaders, the Russians.
I still on my words ““Facts are better than dreams.” .
Japan, I wish I really understood what you are saying. I realize English is not your first language and I applaud you for trying to communicate with us through that barrier. However, if I do understand you, your point is that since not all Muslims are jihadists, anyone suspicious of Islam in general must be suffering from an irrational fear of Islam.
The facts are, that during the 350-year hiatus in Islam’s war against the rest of the world, beginning in 1638, nobody gave a damn about Muslims unless they were attacking us — see, e.g., the Barbary Pirates. No one gave a damn about Muslims until they again started attacking the West in the 1960s. And no one in the West would give a damn about Muslims if they simply went about their lives and stopped murdering people.
There’s no irrational fear of Islam, there is a perfectly rational understanding that 25-35% or more of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims — that’s between 400 and 560 million people! — actively want to impose Islam on the rest of the world, and 10% of them — that’s between 40 million and 56 million people! — are willing to kill to achieve that goal, which is urged upon them by hundreds of thousands of their religious leaders, and which is fully justified in their religious texts. Furthermore, not only do we have no way of knowing which among the world’s Muslims those 25-35% are, but we do know that any one, two, or dozen is perfectly capable of self-radicalization, and suddenly arriving to machine gun his co-workers.
You want to call worrying about those facts an “irrational fear of Islam,” go right ahead — we call it self-preservation.
Japan Says at 4:08 am
“Please let take one step back and let be open minded.”
The irony in that statement is palpable. For someone who is arguing in favor of a religion which beheads people for leaving the group to lecture us about being open minded is obscene. Next “Japan” will probably tell us to keep our heads on straight.
Incidentally “Japan” didn’t refute the fact that ISIS is Islamic in every way. Let me help “Japan” out here. ISIS could be considered a modern kharijite group. Most Muslims object to the kharijites because they chop off the heads of other Muslims whom they consider apostates instead of limiting the head chopping to Christians, Jews, Yazidis, and Hindus like proper Muslims. The problem with that argument is that kharijites have been an integral part of Islam from the beginning of the Islamic empire. From the perspective of non-Muslims whether the Muslim who chops off his head is a kharijite or not is irrelevant.
I have a feather phobia, ie, an irrational fear of feathered creatures whether flying or dead.
I do not have an irrational fear of Islam. I do find it a disgustiong religion because its adherents seek to induce fear in others. It also doesn’t allow people to think for themselves. I suspect that many Muslims are held in check by fear of their tribal strongmen. If not for this a great many would be happy to get on with their lives like the rest of humanity.
I don’t want to fear the jihadis. I want to stand up to them and defend our own beliefs. After we win, we can bury them in pigsh*t.
As Brigitte Gabriel has said, wrt the peaceful Muslims, better than 90% of Germans were not in the Nazi party, but the Nazis set the program. The peaceful majority was irrelevant. Ditto the Japanese expansion in Asia. The Soviet massacres and forced famines. Pol Pot’s massacres.
The peaceful majority is irrelevant.
The Muslims have a long history of murder and terrorism. Look up the cult of the assassins.
Japan – I have a bag of M&M’s for yor kid.. Some of them (but not a majority) are laced with deadly poison.
Unless she has a phobia about M&M’s ?