Islamophobia

Islamofascist is a word whose use characterizes Islamophobes. It's a nonsensical word, because the Islamic fanatics to whom the word is applied are not at all fascist: their political program has little in common with fascism. I suppose that the term is applied in the general sense of "bad". They could just as aptly have used Islamocommie or Islamobutthead. 

These people will regale you with tales of Islamic evil. They love to talk about the ugly history of Islam: massacres, decapitations, and so forth. Of course, they ignore the fact that Christianity has an even uglier history. Once Muslims had conquered a country and wiped out opposition, they were much more tolerant of other religions than Christians ever were. There is nothing in Islamic history to match the periodic pogroms by Christians against Jews. Nor was torture a common feature of Islamic jurisprudence. Islamic law required some pretty ferocious penalties of those convicted of crimes, but there was nothing on the scale of the sadistic torture of suspects that was so common in Christianity. And during the Crusades, the Islamic treatment of Christian noncombatants was much less barbaric than the Christian treatment of Islamic noncombatants. But the Islamophobes won't tell you about that -- they probably don't know.

They also love to provide blood-curdling quotes from the Koran in their attempt to prove that Muslims are out to enslave the world. The historical fact that Muslims have been on the defensive since about 800 AD (with the big exception of the Turks) seems lost on the Islamophobes. Again, compared with the imperialism practiced by Christians since 700 AD, the Islamic world looks almost pacifistic. Christians have mounted a lot more invasions than Muslims have. And certainly if we look at the twentieth century, the story is depressingly clear: Muslims having their lands taken from them, their governments and borders decided by Christians, and being massacred in huge numbers. Despite all the talk about Islamic terrorism, vastly more Muslims have died at Christian or Jewish hands than the other way around. That's a historical fact.

The Islamophobes are on slightly stronger ground criticizing the backwardness of Islamic culture. Yes, they treat women badly. Yes, the very notion of honor killings is repugnant. Yes, their legal and political systems are medieval. So what? That's their business. They find Western morals every bit as repugnant as we find theirs. 

The Islamophobes are also somewhat justified in their fear of terrorism, although their fear is all out of proportion to the danger imposed by these people. The total number of Americans killed by terrorists since 1980 is far less than the numbers killed by cars, guns, ladders, roofs, boats, or airplanes. The images of the Twin Towers have been burned into the brains of the Islamophobes, but the facts of risk in America belie their fears. 

If Islamophobes were merely quaint fools, we could smile indulgently, but these people don't stop at being stupid -- they want to translate their stupidity into policy! They want strong action taken against Islamic countries -- which of course would only reinforce the fear among Muslims that the American War on Terror is really a War on Islam. And such an effort will surely backfire. There are a billion Muslims on this planet. If you wish to make war on a billion people, you better get used to the idea of losing.