I hope Im wrong, but I think weve entered a new phase of intense American islamophobia. I think this latest round might have begun with the slanted mainstream coverage of Israels most recent massacre of Gaza and the seamless transition into the nonstop hyperventilating over ISIS. The rhetoric lately seems especially harsh with Fox News pundits citing Japanese internment and nuclear bombing as constructive models to deal with Muslims, and Bill Maher advancing ever more boldly his tired and racist cultural superiority schtick. They both agree that Islam itself is the problem, and this bigoted perspective seems to be gaining widespread acceptance. Add to this a new series of public ads by Pam Gellers hate group espousing the same message, and the President of the US declaring that Muslim communities must denounce groups like ISIS (or else be presumed to support them), and you have a foundation for a broad campaign to demonize an entire segment of humanity. As we inch closer to another election cycle - in which the rhetoric usually only becomes more extreme - I think we need to think of new ways to push back. Keep in mind that these attempts to demonize huge swaths of people are intended to depoliticize the discourse... the goal is to keep the conversation on the legitimacy of a religion rather than on the consequences/legitimacy of a century of imperialism. Lets not take the bait.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 21:43:40 +0000
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