The “Islam isn’t a race” red herring / straw man
Islam isn’t a race. So what?
You’d think with the amount of times we’ve all probably heard this that the statement would at least be meaningful. Of course it isn’t. It’s just stating the obvious and stating it in retort to an assertion nobody ever made (i.e. that Islam is a race).
It’s been a part of the cut and thrust of the pettier end of the culture wars ever since 9/11, you probably heard it from some bigot after Cronulla and I’ve myself had a few discussions on the topic recently over the whole Camden incident which has brought Australia international shame.
The word “racist” comes up when discussing the xenophobic hysteria that is the product of weaker minds, each time they get their stimulus. Said stimulus being if a Muslim does something wrong, then it’s all about keeping them out or making them all like us, but if a white westerner does something wrong somehow it’s an individual case.
Outgroup homogeneity bias is for a good part the culprit. “Sure, in western culture (queue march of 300 Spartans with rousing incidental music) we have the occasional bad egg, but that’s because we are a diverse lot. Those Mussies! They’re all the same! So if one does something wrong, it’s because they are all bad.”
There are a few terms one can associate with the common xenophobic line. “Middle eastern”, “Grubs”, “Lebos”, “Indos” and so on. Boiling just under the surface of the anti-Muslim xenophobia is a recourse to ethnicity, although just stating “Muslim” saves the racist a breath or two.
The popular Islamophobia as a cultural artifice is innately racist, with Muslim or Islamist being both a reference to religion (usually in overly generalised terms) and a byword for (but not limited to) whatever ethnicity is being demonized. In and around the Cronulla riots, it was the Lebanese copping it before, during and after the riots with religion and race conflated by the xenophobes themselves.
Callers to talkback radio, especially to Alan Jones made this abundantly clear. These are of course the same members of the peanut gallery that make up the target audience of the Ackerman, Bolt, Blair, et. al. diatribes and the once rather more uncensored blog of Tim Blair paid testimony to this.
Whenever any of the crooks involved in planning and implementing the Bali Bombings so much as looks like getting out early, in spite of the matter of avoiding retrospective legislation (which is overlooked as a mere technicality rather than a protective measure against tyranny), the bile rises and you get the same clowns complaining about no gratitude for the aid Indonesia has received. Naturally, religion and ethnicity get conflated as well.
So when some progressive comes along and mentions the mass Islamophobia phenomena and calls it racist, they aren’t saying that Islam is a race. They are talking about the implicitly (or sometimes explicitly) racist nature of the phenomena. Pointing out that Islam isn’t a race does nothing to rebut this because there is no contradiction.
So why do the xenophobic right keep on repeating “Islam is not a race!” Two reasons really, and they are related.
Firstly, straw men make up a mainstay of right-wing argument. For the better part of the last decade at least, sophistry and deception have been an integral part of Australian right wing philosophy. Kids overboard, Weapons of Mass Destruction, false accusations of social Darwinism leveled against scientists, manufactured immigration statistics (see Pauline Hanson vs Maxine McKew in the 90s), Australian Wheat Board memos, the coverage of the toppling of the statue of Saddam, “The Great Global Warming Swindle” fraud, non-core promises and so on.
The right’s political sphere has been dominated by fabrications and massively contorted interpretations of fact so much that memes like the “Islam isn’t a race” rebuttal are able to easily propagate.
Secondly, while a deceptive meme in its deployment, “Islam isn’t a race” is clearly a fact. Consider this in light of the law of supply and demand. Truths in the Australian right intelligentsia (and I coin the term loosely) are in short supply, meaning that when an honest, clear fact comes along it attacks premium value.
Of course, only an a fact barren political culture could a banal factoid like “Islam isn’t a race” be seen as anything worth harping on about. It’s beside the point, which is one about bigotry.
Finding a two dollar coin down the back of the couch may seem like a small miracle to someone on a pension, with a lot of bills and an empty fridge on the day before payday (some baked beans and marked-down stale bread to get by on). To someone with their mortgage paid off an above average income, it’s not such a big deal.
Similarly, although to a more pathetic degree, watching the right repeat the mantra “Islam is not a race!” is like watching Gollum put on a ring and dance around singing “my precious”, except the prize is a stale Burger Ring and Gollum is still happy about it.
The prevalence of this meme, and incidences of its use by the right can tell you a few things. Firstly, that they aren’t interested in engaging with other people’s arguments but prefer to wrestle with men of straw. Secondly, that they are in a state of deep intellectual poverty.
~ Bruce
Well said Bruce.
It is a pitiful reflection on the right.
Given that philosophy in it’s original meaning (love of wisdom) is foreign to most, our community is almost commited to regression in regard understanding and acceptance of the wider truth(s) and nature of our multicultural community.
If philosophy was part of our schooling, we might be able to make some inroads into the narrow minded and bigoted side of our community. But then again, probably not as the administrative regimes (Left and Right) do not encourage freedom of thought and speach, they all promote the “standardised” do as I say mantras
People have to say Islam is not a race simply because Muslims keep using the racit card, you cant be racist to muslims because they are not a race, simple as that.
you cant be racist to muslims because they are not a race, simple as that.
Wrong. You don’t need Muslims to be a race to be racist against Muslims if “Muslim” is used as a byword for a single or plural ethnic groups.
As simple as you assert that it is, things often aren’t as simple as would convenience your prejudice.
Islam is NOT a race! Unlike skin color or ethnic background, religion is not a physical characteristic, but an indoctrinated mindset that a thinking person can reject if he or she so chooses. Islamic customs and laws, in their more extreme forms, violate fundamental human rights and are a grave threat to Western values. The U.S. will never allow itself to be sufficiently infiltrated by Islam to compromise our core freedoms and values, but several European countries (particularly France) are dangerously close to having a large enough Muslim population for these people to begin eroding the rights and freedoms of Europeans. Remember what happened in Sudan last year when a British teacher was jailed for letting her class name a teddy bear Mohammed. Now imagine that happening in Europe. Isn’t it a terrifying thought? Jordan is now demanding the extradition of Danish cartoonists and newspaper editors who published the Mohammed cartoons a couple of years ago. Denmark and the EU must fiercely resist this hostile intrusion on their sovereignty and values, and tell Jordan to f— off. Unfortunately, given its obsession with political correctness and willingness to sacrifice freedom of speech (witness the repeated prosecutions of Brigitte Bardot in France for ‘inciting racial hatred’ because she has the courage to say essentially the same things I’m saying here), the EU seems more interested in protecting Muslims from being insulted than in protecting Europeans from being tortured in Islamic states.
One last thing: Muslims reacted to the Mohammed cartoons by rioting, attacking embassies, burning flags and calling for the cartoonists to be executed. In Sudan, huge mobs of armed thugs took to the streets screaming for the British ‘teddy bear’ teacher to be killed. The fact that Muslims have a proclivity for violence when they feel offended is THEIR problem, not the West’s. It’s outrageous for Muslim leaders to demand that the West curtail freedom of speech because Muslims cannot control their rage when they feel insulted. We’re in the 21st century and Islam has a LOT of catching up to do!
Well, you apparently believe that some things are simple;
“The prevalence of this meme, and incidences of its use by the right can tell you a few things. Firstly, that they aren’t interested in engaging with other people’s arguments but prefer to wrestle with men of straw. Secondly, that they are in a state of deep intellectual poverty.” That’s pretty simple isn’t it? So that makes you prejudiced, right? Oh, I forgot, you are a left-winger, so you can’t be prejudiced, due to your innate superiority.
To the point -do you think that Islam must be held as a equal form of philosophy to Western tradtion? And that anybody who thinks otherwise is a racist? Do you believe it is impossible that some social or religious systems might be superior to others, in that they result in better behaviour by their adherents? Why is it inconceivable that one social system might not be better or worse than another? Yes, I know terms like “better” are relative. But what do you think? You have no hesitation in asserting that Left is better than Right. Why shouldn’t someone just as well assert that, say, Christianity is better than Islam? Would you be OK with me saying that Arab Christians are OK, but Arab Muslims are not? Or do you equate religious affiliation with ethnicity, and therefore deem it to be unmentionable – unless of course it’s to criticise “fundamentalist” Chrisitanity, which, as we all know, it is perfectly acceptable to denigrate.
That’s pretty simple isn’t it? So that makes you prejudiced, right? Oh, I forgot, you are a left-winger, so you can’t be prejudiced, due to your innate superiority.
I prefaced my conclusion with evidence, ergo am not demonstrating a prejudice (i.e. when the judgement precedes the evidence). Perceived simplicity is irrelevant.
I haven’t said anything about criticism of Islam being inherently wrong or even actually touched on the subject.
As for your long winded string of disingenuous and loaded questions, don’t expect any answers. I value honesty. Where have I ever mentioned any notion of relativism in any way that I should have to defend a relativistic position? Why are you even bringing up relativism?
Address the topic, don’t put words in other people’s mouths (i.e. engage with the topic and stop wrestling with straw men), and then maybe we’ll have a discussion. Not before hand.
Bruce, the public has a right to know whether you have stopped beating your wife yet.
Lol.
Apologies Eric, but Akismet ate your comment as spam.
Islam is NOT a race!
I didn’t say it was.
I said that it is being used as a by-word for ethnic groups and that people constantly howling “Islam is NOT a race!”, when no-one is seriously suggesting that it is, is an indication of intellectual bankruptcy. That rebutting the point that few if any make is a sure sign of desperation.
I’m hoping that you just innocently read me wrong.
…the EU seems more interested in protecting Muslims from being insulted than in protecting Europeans from being tortured in Islamic states.
There seems a general penchant for modern, previously secular leaning states, to protect the religious from being insulted. See recent posts on the net regarding the new powers granted to the NSW police to protect World Youth Day participants from being “annoyed” (yes – the legislation actually says “annoyed”). Also consider the recent Blasphemy Laws seriously considered in the UK. I wouldn’t reduce things to mere axe-grinding with the EU.
One last thing: Muslims reacted to the Mohammed cartoons by rioting, attacking embassies, burning flags and calling for the cartoonists to be executed.
One last thing: You are talking about Muslims like they are an undifferentiated group (see outgroup homogeneity bias). Ninglun quotes a good post by Irfan Yusuf that deals with this mistaken take on “The Muslim World”. Irfan, a Muslim, was a constant critic of the outrages you refer to.
My statement about the Muslim reaction to the cartoons wasn’t meant to imply that ALL Muslims reacted that way. I am aware that some Muslims were calling for restraint. However, violent responses tend to be more noticeable than restrained ones. I must also ask: do Jews riot when anti-Semitic comments are made on the world stage? Do Christians riot when Jesus is demeaned or insulted in some way? They may be angry and upset, but not to the point of committing mass mayhem. Many Muslims need to gain the perspective that their religion is not the be-all and end-all in life, especially when they are trying to win the respect and cooperation of non-Muslims.
Australia and most European countries are moving insidiously backwards on freedom of expression and cyber-freedom, as evidenced by the passage of ever more restrictive domestic laws on hate speech. An even bigger threat to freedom of expression are the multinational treaties and conventions on “racism and xenophobia” which have already enveloped Europe. Under these treaties, a person residing in one EU country could be extradited and tried in another EU country for his speech even if that speech were considered legal in his own country! The few remaining European countries that have strong free speech protections (e.g. Denmark) are having those freedoms threatened by EU-wide treaties. That is already bad enough, but the extension of these kinds of treaties beyond Europe, and especially if signatories would include nations that do not respect freedom of speech (China, any Muslim country, including Turkey) would result in a scenario that would be Orwellian, to put it mildly. Americans can be reassured that the US would never ratify an international treaty against blasphemy, but people in other Western countries, unfortunately, have no such assurance.
“Wrong. You don’t need Muslims to be a race to be racist against Muslims if “Muslim” is used as a byword for a single or plural ethnic groups.”
Wrong – that is bigotry, not racism!
Wrong – that is bigotry, not racism!
Wrong, it’s both when “Muslim” becomes a by-word for race, which in many cases it is – e.g. the Cronulla riots. Which I’ve already explained.
If you have an objection to this argument, why don’t you actually address it instead of simplistic, contrarian sniping?