i don’t want to cut those terrorists any slack. They’re murderers and we ought to bring them to justice, every one of them. Swift justice. But here’s the thing. There’s this word, “Islamofascism,” and every time I hear it I wonder if there isn’t some kind of Godwin’s law being broken.
Islamofascism, fairly rolls off the tongue, and we know fascism is the worst thing ever so it makes good sense to tie Islam to it so we can think that Islam is, well – you know….
Here’s some of what the Wikipedia says about the term, and it pretty much speaks my mind…
Islamofascism is a neologism and political epithet used to compare the ideological or operational characteristics of certain modern Islamist movements with European fascist movements of the early 20th century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism. Organizations that have been labeled Islamofascist include Al-Qaeda, the current Iranian government,[1] the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah. None label themselves fascist, however, and critics of the term argue that associating the religion of Islam with fascism is both offensive and historically inaccurate…. [emphasis mine]
The more widely used term for politicized strains of Islam that seek to place governments in Muslim countries under the guidance of Sharia law is Islamist.
Islamists do not advocate corporatism, an important component of “classic” fascist governments in Italy and Germany….
Whenever I read or hear the term Islamofascism I think someone is trying to influence me big time. It’s a large, lazy word that reeks of guilt by association. It polarizes people in order to justify continuing the Bush crusade. Let’s only use it when it’s meaningful (like never, since the corporatist state, oddly enough, is far more emergent in the crusaders’ countries than the Islamists’ and the whole thing reeks of Orwellian double-speak).
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