fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

Oh, It’s Islamoracism!

I think the left is in a deep crisis in Europe because of their lack of willingness to confront the racist ideology of Islamism [bold mine-DL]. ~Flemming Rose This is every bit as absurd describing someone’s criticisms of Islam as an expression of “racism.”  Race is not the main issue for either side.  Race isn’t the subject at all.  This is an […]

I think the left is in a deep crisis in Europe because of their lack of willingness to confront the racist ideology of Islamism [bold mine-DL]. ~Flemming Rose

This is every bit as absurd describing someone’s criticisms of Islam as an expression of “racism.”  Race is not the main issue for either side.  Race isn’t the subject at all.  This is an example of invoking “racist” as others invoke “fascist”–it is a descriptor that has long ceased to have any content besides meaning “really bad.”  “Islamism” might be less worrisome if it were explicitly racist and insisted that only people from a certain ethnicity or nationality were “real” Muslims, since this would limit its potential reach quite a lot, but, of course, such an idea is pretty much entirely at odds with Islamic tradition. 

As it happens, I sympathise with many of Rose’s views on removing limits on free speech, and I, like so many others last year, argued that his paper was perfectly within its rights to print the cartoons that it printed.  It was gratifying that my Danish cousins resisted attempts to intimidate them into silence.  But this blather about racism suggests that even now Rose is unclear on what the question really is, which is a bit shocking given his personal, central role in such a prominent controversy.

Advertisement

Comments

The American Conservative Memberships
Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement.
Join here!
Join here