Friday, June 01, 2012

A Lesson in Language and Politics

I realize that the English language is a bit foreign to people who speak Arabic. However, the ADL is an English speaking organization and would surely know that there is no need to defend Islamophobia*, because it is not a word that connotes hostile acts against members of the Islamic faith. Foxman's equating anti-Semitism and Islamophobia is another important battle in the PR war, where words are weapons. A review of Jewish history makes it clear that anti-Semitism is not merely prejudice, bigotry, or discrimination ... it is genocidal racism and nothing less. As to Islamophobia, Foxman should know that a phobia is merely an irrational fear and, when not hijacked for political purposes, has nothing to do with hostile acts. Arachnophobia is the irrational fear of spiders; claustrophobia is the irrational fear of enclosed space; and hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is an irrational fear of long words (really!). Then, by analog, Islamophobia must be an irrational fear of Islam. And what's threatening about that? If billions of people have an irrational fear of Islam, it's just a little PR problem. It's not at all in the same league with declaring that Jews are responsible for the world's problems including asteroids, hemorrhoids ,and Androids.

It seems like the person who coined the word Islamophobia intended it to connote that an irrational fear of Islam is an attack against Islam; but where is the analog for that? Is there Evangelicaphobia, or Buddaphobia, or Hinduophobia? Islamophobia, is a made-up word and defined as an irrational fear or prejudice towards Islam and Muslims. Clearly a misuse of the suffix. CAIR goes further to “an unfounded fear of and hostility towards Islam. Such fear and hostility leads to discriminations against Muslims, exclusion of Muslims from .” Notice the substitution of "unfounded fear" for " irrational fear" and combining it with "hostility". One who had irrational fear, by Cair's definition, is also hostile. What's up with that? Cair's use of Boolean mathematics has outfoxed Foxman, but not me.


* ...as the ADL’s chief, Abe Foxman, told the Boston Jewish Advocate, is that “[y]ou can’t fight the fight against anti-Semitism without fighting against bigotry. … You cannot ask people to stand with you unless you are ready to stand with them.”