Longrider

Over at Samizdata, I’ve been getting a bit pedantic with Perry. What? Me? Surely not! It was during the discussion of Inigo Wilson’s Lefty Lexicon that Perry made the following comment:

“I have no intention of being anything less that Islamophobic and proud of it.”

As is usual for me, I got the dictionary out. A phobia, when used as a suffix, i.e. arachnophobia, claustrophobia, agoraphobia and so on is an intense, abnormal, or illogical fear of whatever is in the prefix. Arachnophobia; spiders, claustrophobia; closed or confined spaces, agoraphobia; open spaces.

So, therefore, Islamophobia is an intense, irrational or illogical fear of Islam (and, presumably, its acolytes). The problem I have with the liberal use of the word is this; just how many of the people who criticise Islam are actually suffering from a phobia? An intense dislike on its own is not necessarily irrational.

Consider this; if you come across someone who expresses extreme dislike of others on the basis of their racial origins; to the point of wanting to kill them or at the very least, wipe their country off the map, would you not consider this person racist? Would you feel obliged to smile and tolerate their views or would you roundly condemn them? Islam is rabidly anti-Jew. Islamic politics seeks to wipe Israel off the map. In decrying this are you displaying Islamophobia; or is it a reasonable response to an unreasonable viewpoint?

Do you consider the genders as equal partners in all things, be it the workplace, friendship or marriage? Would you not look upon someone who treats women as inferior; as property to be subjugated and hidden away; as somewhat medieval in their outlook? Would you smile quietly or would you express distaste? Islam treats half its population as second class citizens on the basis of nothing more than their gender. In Islamic theocracies they are denied things we take for granted; the right to choose their spouse, the right to go about unaccompanied, the right even to drive in some countries. Islam discriminates openly against women. Is taking exception to this Islamophobia; or is it a rational reaction to backward and medieval behaviour?

If your workplace discriminated against someone for their sexuality they would find themselves before an industrial tribunal for discrimination. If people openly express anti-gay rhetoric do we not frown and purse our lips with disapproval? Islam goes one step further, it kills homosexuals where it has the authority to do so. Why, then, do we not censure it for this behaviour? Would doing so be Islamophobic?

Frankly, a distaste for Islam – and I’m not talking here about the spiritual aspect, rather the political – is a perfectly rational response for anyone who holds enlightenment values dear. The word “Islamophobia” is nothing more than a mechanism developed to shut down dissenting opinion and avoid reasoned debate. This is much the same as the way that the word “racism” has been hijacked and is used to shut up anyone who dares to raise issues about immigration control.

I’ve yet to come across anyone – or any evidence of anyone – who suffers from a clinical condition that may reasonably be described as Islamophobia. I have, however, come across plenty who find Islam deeply repugnant. If Islam’s apologists find this distaste offensive they need to bear in mind that freedom of speech includes saying that you don’t like things and not having to worry about who may be offended by it. No one has any right to be shielded from offence.

So, is refusing to tolerate the intolerable “Islamophobia”?