This should basically be required listening.
#Israel #hamas #israel_hamas_war #jihad #Islam
"Islamophobia is a word created by fascists, to be used by cowards, to manipulate morons."
- Andrew Cummins
https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/340-the-bright-line-between-good-and-evil
We didn’t have islamaphobia in America after 9/11? I’m pretty sure that was a wide spread phenomenon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely critical of the religion of Islam, particularly its fundamentalism. But at the same time we have a bunch of racists who will jump at the chance to do hate crimes against foreign brown people who come from a completely different cultural context. I think that xenophobia against people from the Eurasia gets lumped in with islamaphobia most of the time unfortunately.
Don't get me wrong, people who are violent against peaceful Muslims are horrible. We need to remember humans are faulty, and in times of stress, are prone to overcorrect, but a phobia is by definition an irrational fear. It's perfectly rational to fear people who want to kill you and can't be reasoned out of the delusions that inspire their desire to kill unbelievers.
Thing is, I’ve never heard the term islamaphobia when describing the attacks on Gaza. Perhaps some people do, but I think that’s a bit silly. I have only heard of it when describing secondary violence globally on Muslims. Are there issues with religious extremism in places like Europe getting a pass historically due to fears of being called islamaphobic? There have been examples, I’m sure. But broadly, I think words like anti semitism and islamaphobia are getting weaponized in many different contexts, even if they are both valid and tangible issues.
https://youtu.be/OdENyo4HvX4?si=3GpuY-Ghv9bDPNYs
I havnt watched this completely yet but this creator is someone I deeply respect for his integrity to create nuanced content. Perhaps it’s valuable for context so I thought I would share.
I'll take a look when I have some time.
Another take that's equally valid and worth listening to:
https://theintercept.com/2023/11/08/intercepted-israel-netanyahu-gaza/
