This Is What Passes for Islamophobophobia?
Amazingly, John Derbyshire, who believes
Would it be wise of Western countries, in the present state of affairs, to “fence off” Islam — that is, to deny entry to foreign Muslims, to expel — regretfully, politely, and humanely, but firmly — resident foreign Muslims, and to restrict the activities of Muslim citizens (preventing them, for example, from proselytizing in our jails, or working in defense establishments)?
is not Islamophobic enough= for some.
Now, I can see why we’d want to limit the activities of religious extremists in the prisons, but the idea that Muslim friends and acquaintances of mine who’ve served in government should be “prevented” from serving in government strikes me as embarrassingly stupid, particularly since these are often individuals with spectacularly rare language skills, not to mention considerable brainpower. And of course many of these foreign Muslims we’d be denying entry to are entrepreneurs who contribute mightily to America’s economic edge.
But Derbyshire’s core point about the phenomenon is nevertheless well-taken.
A part of it is my dislike of narrow-minded ideological boosterism, of which there is a lot in the Islamophobe business. Many of the noisiest Islamophobes are committed Christians of one kind or another, usually of the angry kind — the same people, I suspect, who e-mail in to tell me that I am a “nihilist” with no morals.
Islamophobia is rooted in a cultural panic that reflects a strange contempt for the strongest, most vital, most prosperous civilization ever known, namely our own. The idea that the United States and the West writ large can’t decisively defeat lunatic Islamists is, in my view, flatly absurd. Yes, much of the Islamic world is culturally arid, and intellectually arid too. Consider the number of books published in Hebrew versus Arabic every year. The difference represents a stunning indictment of the modern Arab world, to make a grossly overbroad statement.
So why are so many literate people (I use the term loosely) so susceptible to this kind of thinking? A lot of it is confirmation bias, and a lot of this is the same kind of end-times alarmism that’s long been a feature of US culture.
A lot of it seems to be the urge for grandeur. Lots of people are looking, perhaps honestly, for something which will make them and their political views more important than they really are. It was very convenient that the WTC attacks happened just after the 2000 election, which was judged to be entirely trivial while it was happening. It strikes me that if you look at someone like Paul Berman, you see this exact dynamic—he even called for our side to the conflict to speak of deep philosophical ideas, and to make them a part of the war we were fighting. I don’t think Berman was an Islamophobe, but I think the same sort of hoping for something terribly important to justify oneself affects the Islamophobes.
— Justin · Oct 18, 09:09 PM · #
Numbers are of the essence.
The U.S. has not yet taken in enough Muslims yet to cause serious problems. But, if you look at places like France, Holland, and Britain, the problems of taking in too many Muslims are real. And not many of Muslims in those places are entrepeneurs, I’m afraid. The Derb is an Englishman and knows whereof he speaks.
As for all the supposed brainpower in the Muslim world, there isn’t much. Turkey, at the top, has an average IQ of only 90. Most other Muslim countries are in the low 80s. There are a lot of people in the world and we can more easily find potential entrepeneurs among populations with more brain power and who are a lot less likely to be involved in mischief.
— Thursday · Oct 19, 06:56 AM · #
Impossible. There is no such thing as Islamophobia in America. A renowned pundit, possibly one of the greatest pogo-stick artistes in the country, and a personal hero to my dog, once wrote:
<i>But Americans have demonstrated that they can separate a small, violent minority from the vast majority of peace-loving Arabs and Muslims</i>
— Ikram · Oct 19, 08:15 PM · #