Islamophobia


This week I read something that stuck with me. It gnawed at me and it took me a long time to figure out exactly why it bothered me. It was a tweet by J.K. Rowling, who has [grown increasingly problematic](https://phaylen.medium.com/j-k-rowling-the-blatant-transphobia-of-a-beloved-social-justice-hero-a26b67b83be5) lately.

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“The ‘Arabs are semitic too’ hot takes have arrived.” This was part of a larger conversation she was having with people about anti-semitism and the Jewish people. My problem with her tweet is that it isn’t a “hot take”. Arabs are semitic. I am semitic. I understand the point she was trying to make; though both Arabs and Jews are semitic, the term “anti-semitism” has evolved to be strictly in reference to Jews. And it made me jealous.

It made me jealous because where is my word for bigotry aimed at me? I don’t have one. I could use “anti-arab,” but that’s not something you really hear anyone say when someone starts spouting some racist nonsense towards Arabs. The only word I get is “islamophobe.” And that doesn’t really work. Not all Arab’s are muslim and most muslims are not Arab. But “islamophobe” gets used interchangeably with the concept of “anti-arab” all the time. Look no further than Trump’s Muslim Ban: it only targeted Arab countries even though most of the world’s muslims come from Indonesia. Because the Arab muslim is the bad muslim.

So an argument could be made that I have my word. And it applies to me fully as an Arab muslim. But let’s break down the word “islamophobe” and “islamophobia.” We have two parts: Islam, that part is easy, and phobia, or fear. It literally means a fear of Islam and muslims. This doesn’t describe the problem. People don’t fear me. No one is afraid of me. No, they hate me. And by us refusing to acknowledge that fact with our language and intentionally mislabelling it as fear we give these racists and bigots the freedom to continue spreading their bile. Because fear is natural. Everyone has their own fears. And we should never begrudge anyone their fear. The term “islamophobia” implies that it’s okay and that it’s natural when that couldn’t be further from the truth.

And this isn’t limited to me. “Homophobia” and “transphobia” suffer from the exact same problem. Linguistically, we’ve decided that we, as a English-speaking nations, are not willing to address the hatred individuals in our community spread. And so, I’m jealous. I wish when some politician says something racist and bigoted towards Arabs and muslims that it was met with the same furor in the media as it when something anti-semitic is said. I wish I had a specific label to mark those who would target me and my family that would denote them as the vile people they are. But I don’t. I get told they’re just scared.

They aren’t afraid of me, they’re assholes.


Phobia and the Mislabeling of Hate


A child screams in the back, a father desperately holds back the police brutality from reaching his family. He is overwhelmed.

But they threw rocks.

A family sits down to celebrate a holiday together when a bomb is dropped on their house. Eid Mubarak.

But they threw rocks.

Hundreds arrested to never be seen again, hundreds more ripped from their homes and tossed into the streets to die.

But they threw rocks.

A city burns for days under a relentless wave of firebombs; no one can flee. Trapped by walls ever closing in; efficiency in cruelty disguised as bureaucracy.

But they threw rocks.

Hospitals and houses of worship destroyed; no where is safe and no where is sacred and no war crime is too extreme.

But they threw rocks.

Children dead. Medics scour the rubble to collect enough pieces of babies so their parents have something to bury.

But they threw rocks.

Why did they have to throw those damn rocks?


Category:
Islamophobia

Phobia and the Mislabeling of Hate

They Threw Rocks

Category:Islamophobia

Category:
Islamophobia