No such thing as Islamophobia
There has been a lot of talk about Islamophobia. But of course we all know it doesn’t exist so let’s end this debate once and for all.
1. No one thinks Western civilization is superior to Islam or that it is vulnerable at the same time because of the essence of Islam
For Islamophobia to exist there needs to be the idea that there is a hierarchy between two monolithic systems: The West vs. Islam. But no one ever thinks like that or says anything like that, and certainly not democratic politicians who support a national governnment let alone the leaders of that government and if someone does so anyway he is just part of the lunatic fringe with no support at all.
2. No one reduces Muslims to Islam based upon the idea of threat and inferiority
For something to be Islamophobic the argument of the inferiority of Islam has to be extended to Muslims. Because otherwise it just criticism of Islam, isn’t it? And no one creates an artificial separation between Islam and Muslims and then state that everything Muslims do is a consequence of that threatening and at the same time inferior Islam. There is no talk about Islamization at all, by no one and no one would be stupid enough to act upon such superstition. And because it is clear that it is about Islam and not people, no one is suggesting banning Muslims from migrating into Europe either and unfavourable views about Muslims do not exist at all, at all.
3. No one has ever made individual Muslims responsible for actions by others who claim to act on behalf of Muslims
For Islamophobia to be Islamophobia the extended argument of the inferiority and threat of Islam necessarily means that random individuals Muslims’ loyalty and integrity can be questioned because of the actions of other random individual Muslims. Seriously, who comes up with that? Really, you would have to be out of your mind. Imagine that some guy who claims to be Muslim does something in Zaio Morocco, no one will blame another guy in Stoke on Trent for that same act or ask the latter to publicly denounce the action. Because that would be completely ridiculous! So there is no major Christian institution calling Muslim leaders to denounce ISIS, no opinion leaders asking why other (Muslim) opinion leaders are silent, and certainly there is no one who wants to put a bullet in the head of all Muslims because of ISIS and the likes. I mean, come on, that would be outrageous, people don’t make such statements. But if it happens it is because those Muslims are silent about violence in the name of their religion. No one is condemning ISIS, no one is condemning violence, no Muslim leader condemns the violence against Christians (we don’t have to ask about violence against Muslims, of course), no one has ever condemned the 9/11 or 7/7 attacks or terrorism in general.
4. No one makes and executes policies producing, reproducing and informing a separation from and a different treatment by others based only the fact that they appear to adhere to Islam.
As Islamophobia is not just about stereotypes and representational clichés of Islam and Muslims but also about power we would have to find something like institutionalized Islamophobia as well. But in our post-racial societies we do not do that anymore. So no one comes up with a policy to spy on Muslims because they are Muslims only when we do and we turn things around so it is legal. Or not, but then the damage is done. It is not like the police is on a terrorist man hunt when the guy is just a Muslim student with a beard being nervous for his exam. And if we suspect a Muslim student we treat him like a citizen with rights so we do not hold him without charges and make up evidence. And we have freedom of religion; it is the constitution and no one can change that. Really no one. Really. Really!
5. It is not like there have ever been serious attacks on Muslims right?
Now of course Islamopobia does not have to lead to violent attacks against Muslims, but if it occurred it would show we have problem. But it simply doesn’t. Never in history there was a Muslim attacked because he was a Muslim. And certainly no Muslim has been killed because someone else thinks the white race is superior, since that would be stupid right? We certainly do not go about and attack people we suspect to be Muslim while they are not. And I mean we do not racially profile Muslims, since every one knows Muslim/Islam is not a race so it is quite safe for flying while Muslim. And groups advocating political violence against Muslims because they are Muslim, we don’t have them. Not in Italy, not in Germany and not in Belgium. And if maybe, just maybe there are such groups they are completely isolated and their ideology is completely separated from mainstream ideology or just random individuals with no political ties whatsoever. And massacre of Muslims, that is ridiculous. We hear that often but everyone knows massacre of Muslims is no entertainment at all and really genocide and ethnic cleansing of Muslims? That has not taken place. Nowhere, never and certainly not in these times when we go out of our ways to protect those people.
So come on, it is not like we have ideas or beliefs, based upon generalizations, hierarchies and reductionist clichés about Islam, that then transform into prejudice about Muslims which lead to people being denied rights, being discriminated against or even violently attacked because they are people who adhere to Islam. It just does not happen.
Dream on!
Wanneer ga je dood van Theo van Gogh weer vieren? Nederlandfobie als kaaskop?
Ik ben van mening dat (bijna) iedere cultuur superieur is aan die van de islam. Moslims noemen het verkrachten van kinderen huwelijk. Prostitutie noemen moslims tijdelijke huwelijken. Seks met dieren, menen moslims dat die dat dieren daar zwanger van kunnen raken en hebben ze fatwa’s van wie de baby dan zou zijn of hoe het vlees verkocht moeten worden. Om fatwa’s omtrent necrofilie niet te vergeten. Niet-moslims worden verketterd onder sharia. Compleet van rechten gestript en mogen blij zijn wanneer ze hun dhimmi maffia tax op tijd kunnen betalen. Immers, de maffia vraagt ook geld in ruil voor bescherming. Bescherming tegen wie? Moslims noemen islam en een dergelijk samenleving vredig. Niet-moslims worden vijanden van Allah genoemd. Niet-moslims worden de smerigste van alle dieren genoemd. Waarom zouden we zoiets binnenlaten? Dat de islam nergens werkt, moslims elkaar en anderen het leven zuur maken, (met al die maagden in hun hoofden) iedere keer anderen de schuld geven én elders willen leven, dat begrijp ik. Alsof een pyromaan zijn eigen huis in de fik heeft gestoken en onderdak zoekt bij de buren.
Onze democratie en demografie gaan hand in hand.
martijn, je pretendeert toch een wetenschappelijk onderzoeker te zijn? dit is van een kinderachtigheid die je nog niet eens op een ROC tegen komt. Je komt over als een klein verongelijkt kind dat op een trieste zielige manier zijn zin probeert te krijgen en met drogreden na drogreden iets onderuit probeert te halen wat als woord niet eens zou mogen bestaan. Islamofobie…. Kritiek op een Idee wegzetten als een psychische stoornis. Is that all you got?