"I'm a victim."
As advertised, Hatem Bazian, professor of something or other at UC Berkeley, has put on his annual Islamophobia conference at UCB. Here is the coverage from the Daily Californian.
http://www.dailycal.org/2014/04/17/conference-illuminates-problem-islamophobia-todays-society/
My comment to the online edition is attached.
"Islamophobia" is a tricky term to define. Is the phobia a hate or a fear? If it is a fear, is it irrational as Bazian describes it? What it should not be is a hatred of Muslims as people because most are decent people who are not violent. However, ask the Syrian Christians who are being hunted down as we speak if their fear is irrational. Ask the Coptic Christians in Egypt, whose churches are being burned and their children abducted and forced to convert. Ask the Baha'i in Iran who are being persecuted, arrested, raped, and murdered if their fear is irrational. Ask the Christians of Pakistan, who are being attacked and hit with bogus charges of blasphemy under penalty of death. In fact, ask religious minorities from one end of the Islamic world to the other if their fear is irrational. In addition, ask the Jews of Europe who are leaving in droves because they dare not walk the streets in Jewish grab lest they be attacked by young male Muslim immigrants.
To the credit of the American people, American Muslims are not subjected to this kind of treatment. This conference is nothing more than an exercise in grievance-mongering.
Gary Fouse
Adj teacher
UCI Ext
Adj teacher
UCI Ext
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Hatem Bazian's world, if you dare speak out about these outrages, you are an Islamophobe.
8 comments:
Interesting that there are no statistics to support her contention. The only numbers in it are the times for the event..
It is yet another play of the victim card. If anyone has the right to claim victim hood, it is the civilized world. As you pointed out in your comments there are many people around the world, including many in the US, who have legitimate grievances against Muslims for their atrocities. The argument that it only deranged fringe that does these acts would be plausible if only Muslim Imams or the vast majority of the other Muslims denounced the violent acts. That really doesn't happen so the problem must be religion and the culture based on it.
Only soft headed liberarals would buy this self serving theory that people hate Muslims for no reasons or irrational reasons, especially without any supporting, besides anecdotal claims, for evidence.
Indeed,
Where are the Buddhophobes or the Hinduphobes?
@ Miggie
The psychological term you are seeking is "Sociopath" or in the case of Islamist murder of Jews, Chsistians and other non-Muslim believers, it is "Psychopath".
Squid
@Squid
Thanks, it is not my field and I don't know the precise terms and the differences between them. Overall, my response is visceral and frankly would like to know the term for those men who learn about these events and are unaffected.
Islamophobia is a silly term, not unlike homophobia, from which it was probably copied.
But its interesting that Gary shows an elephant grandstanding and saying "I'm a victim." Typical of Republican campaign propaganda, but I hadn't expected that Gary would admit it.
If we speak out against the (hopefully) relatively few radical, extremist, murdering Muslims, we are accused of being bigoted "Islamaphobes".
Seems to me this is essentially exactly the same process as being dubbed "racist" for disagreeing with Obama policies, no??
Siarlys,
Victimology is a Dem trait not Republican. You should know that.
Gary, I have seen no end of claims to victimhood emanating from the Republican Party, and the so-called Tea Party for that matter. I will agree that Dems engage in it also. If they spent one tenth the time putting forth a program that they spend moaning about how much the Koch brothers are spending to buy the election, they could thumb their noses at the Koch brothers' money.
elwood, I can't speak for anyone else, but I have long agreed that attacks on the Obama administration are not about his race, they are motivated by a sense of wounded entitlement. Same thing with Clinton. The GOP figured in 1980 they were embarking on a fifty year period, if not a century, as the dominant party, and they get highly upset with anyone not a Republican who wakes them up from their wet dream by winning an election. Also, Miggie is not a racist, he's a misanthrope.
Post a Comment