“We Should Stop Using the Word ‘Islamophobia’”

by | December 1, 2015

Hemant Mehta’s website, Friendly Atheist, attracts thousands of readers and hundreds of commenters. Everyday, Mehta creates numerous posts of interest to atheists  including Canadian atheists. 

Mehta’s video “We Should Stop Using the Word ‘Islamophobia'” on The Atheist Voice  is one of his best:

4 thoughts on ““We Should Stop Using the Word ‘Islamophobia’”

  1. Joe

    I agree that X-phobia words, including homophobia, get thrown around too easily, and when it comes to people like Hemant, I would say any use of islamaphobia, when he criticizes religion is ridiculous. Harris on the other hand has not just criticized muslim culture/beliefs, but has openly advocated racial profiling, something the experts will tell you doesn’t work…. At all. So it’s not just about rational criticism we are talking about. Both Harris and Maher have muddied the waters with actual bigoted remarks. I agree labelling them with pseudo-psychology terms is not productive, but they are not innocent victims here either.

    Reply
  2. Tim Underwood

    I was under the impression that Islamophobia meant ‘fear of Muslims’. I thought it originated with some Canadian named Taylor, an academic, who won a million dollar prize for this somewhat peculiar defence of god.

    If it means ‘hatred of Muslims’ this may because of the fear-hate conjunction.

    I imagine anyone who was living in an area that was under Islamic siege would be experience Islamophobia of both varieties.

    If we hate Catholicism, we are usually not referred to as experiencing Catholophobia.

    I suppose they (the people trying to impose this particular mind control scheme) also want to say that these people are expressing Islamophobia as opposed to experiencing Islamophobia.

    It is sad to realize that our elected officials don’t defend the Canadian public from this media abuse. Oh yeah, weren’t the media expected to raise the alarm? It looks like private Canadians are expected to stand in where our government and our media have totally wimped out.

    It makes you wonder why in Hell these people, in the current political and social leadership positions, want to remain in service. They really don’t seem to be up to the task at all.

    Reply
  3. Jason Clark

    If you take the Islam out of the Muslim, there is no Muslim. Any irrational fear/dislike of Muslims is an irrational fear/dislike of Islam. Islamophobia is a perfectly fine word.

    Reply

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