Inspired to Post on Islamophobia

In response to coming across the blogs of bigoted morons like ‘the Atheist Jew’, I am inspired to do a post on Islamophobia. The rise of Islamophobia, and its relationship with support of or silence regarding Israeli violence against Palestinians in Gaza (not that the Palestinians are completely innocent, but that’s another story) is leading me to postulate that it is White racism that is manifesting in the both Islamophobia and pro-Jewish bias. Here is a suggestion on how this could work:

White supremists/racists will prefer Jews over Arabs since Jews are White (in that they have white skin, and are sometimes blonde) and Arabs are brown, and since Israel resembles the West much more and Jews in the West are more integrated into their societies. What used to be Aryans vs. Everyone Else has become White Westerners vs. Brown Muslims, thus bringing Jewish people into the fold of the valued group in the eyes of such individuals (not in the eyes of the old-fashioned racists, however, who are still antisemitic). This explains the video (now removed from YouTube) where Israeli Jews repeatedly call Obama a nigger and in one instance shout ‘White power!’ It explains a whole lot else in the current political discourse on Islam, immigration and the Israel/Palestine issue.

Which reminds me: for those who use verses from the Quran to justify Islamophobia, recall that antisemites frequently use verses from the Talmud and Torah to justify antisemitism. Eliminating, hating or discriminating against a group of people because to varying degrees (including sometimes to no degree) they value a book that has a verse that if taken out of context sounds problematic, is always wrong. This is as true of Islam as it is of Judaism.

 Anyway, here are some interesting links:

Combating Islamophobia Depends on Unlearning Intolerance

According to Wikipedia, the Runnymede Report identified eight features of Islamophobia:

1. Islam is seen as a monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to change.
2. It is seen as separate and “other.” It does not have values in common with other cultures, is not affected by them and does not influence them.
3. It is seen as inferior to the West. It is seen as barbaric, irrational, primitive, and sexist.
4. It is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism, and engaged in a clash of civilizations.
5. It is seen as a political ideology, used for political or military advantage.
6. Criticisms made of “the West” by Muslims are rejected out of hand.
7. Hostility towards Islam is used to justify discriminatory practices towards Muslims and exclusion of Muslims from mainstream society.
8. Anti-Muslim hostility is seen as natural and normal.

Islamophobia.org

Islamophobia Watch

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