http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2008/03/26/racism-and-islamophobia/ Sat, 07 May 2011 16:36:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2008/03/26/racism-and-islamophobia/comment-page-1/#comment-28747 Richard Katona Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:54:50 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2008/03/26/racism-and-islamophobia/#comment-28747 I find the the very term 'Islamophobia' difficult and, quite possibly, a category error. It certainly seems to me to be a quasi-clinical pejorative devised to pathologise people who criticize Islam. As a Daoist I find all the monotheisms quite disturbing, but Islam cannot claim from me an opt-out merely by suggesting that I suffer a personality disorder. I am new to the website and generally sympathetic, but I think Dark Matter has a very special responsibility to avoid playing the same squalid wordgames as the culture it critiques. I find the the very term ‘Islamophobia’ difficult and, quite possibly, a category error. It certainly seems to me to be a quasi-clinical pejorative devised to pathologise people who criticize Islam. As a Daoist I find all the monotheisms quite disturbing, but Islam cannot claim from me an opt-out merely by suggesting that I suffer a personality disorder. I am new to the website and generally sympathetic, but I think Dark Matter has a very special responsibility to avoid playing the same squalid wordgames as the culture it critiques.

]]> http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2008/03/26/racism-and-islamophobia/comment-page-1/#comment-6931 Sean Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:27:56 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2008/03/26/racism-and-islamophobia/#comment-6931 An important topic, one that's been difficult to suss out. The statement in itself, "Islamophobia is racism" seems counter-intuitive and is always rejected by Islamophobes for the reasons stated in your article, the primary excuse being "Muslim is not a racial designation." Related to this phenomenon is the claim that anti-racism itself is a form of racism, as when Rev. Wright's preachments were disseminated to the world as a cudgel with which to brain Obama. Though I've yet to finish the book, Balibar and Wallerstein's Race,Nation, Class offers some insight if only for the observation that race and culture have always overlapped as criteria for distinction. The Other doesn't simply exhibit unlike phenotypical characteristics, but eats different food, walks in a strange way, listens to cacophanous 'music.' More research and theorization is needed on this subject as attempts to define the relationship between Islamophobia and racism such as that offered by the Runnymede Trust are not generally persuasive to those who don't specialize in these matters. An important topic, one that’s been difficult to suss out. The statement in itself, “Islamophobia is racism” seems counter-intuitive and is always rejected by Islamophobes for the reasons stated in your article, the primary excuse being “Muslim is not a racial designation.” Related to this phenomenon is the claim that anti-racism itself is a form of racism, as when Rev. Wright’s preachments were disseminated to the world as a cudgel with which to brain Obama. Though I’ve yet to finish the book, Balibar and Wallerstein’s Race,Nation, Class offers some insight if only for the observation that race and culture have always overlapped as criteria for distinction. The Other doesn’t simply exhibit unlike phenotypical characteristics, but eats different food, walks in a strange way, listens to cacophanous ‘music.’ More research and theorization is needed on this subject as attempts to define the relationship between Islamophobia and racism such as that offered by the Runnymede Trust are not generally persuasive to those who don’t specialize in these matters.

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