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August 19, 2007

Speaking of phobias (updated)

Thomas Lifson
The charge of Islamophobia rings out at home and from our sworn enemies abroad, too, almost constantly. Yet who is truly irrationally afraid of whom? Pat Santy, of Dr. Sanity, posts an insightful examination of the psychological projection behind the irrational and exaggerated fear of the West underlying the radical Islam project in today's world.
... their own phobia about the West, America, and Israel, which has gone far beyond anything a civilized person could say was reasonable, is completely paranoid and psychotic. [....]

A phobia is defined as... "an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation."
She links to John R. Thompson in the Examiner, who reminds us:
Throughout most of the Muslim world, in madrassas and mosques, in the press and on television, with hardly a voice countering the calumnies, the United States is charged, tried and convicted as the world's modern leader in genocide aimed at Muslims. President Bush, supported by his accomplice Israel, supposedly leads this Muslim massacre.

America is berated for heinous crimes, minimizing whatever may have been done by the regimes of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein and, currently, Sudanese President and Field Marshal Omar al-Bashir.
Dr. Sanity's name for the phenomenon is "Westophobia." Patrick Poole, writing on AT, called it "Kafir-phobia," referring to CAIR's  portrayal of America as a cauldron of simmering hatred for Muslims.

Whatevery ou call it, on any rational basis there is no comparison between the hatred and violence directed at Muslims in the United States, and the hatred and violence directed at non-Muslims, the US, and Israel in Muslim quarters. It is important to that cries of Islamaphobia be answered by a sane comparison of the two.

Let's agree on a name for it, and then use it whenever "Islamophobia" is bandied about.

Hat tip: Larwyn

Update: D.M. Giangreco writes:

I'm afraid that "Kafir-phobia" would go right over peoples' heads.   "Westophobia" is the better of the two, but I maintain that the term I use is best--- "Ameriphobia."  I've used that off and on since the Nuclear Freeze movement, but it obviously never caught on beyond the confines of the Staff College [Fort Leavenworth]. 

I've just Googled "Ameriphobia" and, indeed, some 634 uses come up.   A tiny number, but the word has been used -- just not popularized.   Now might be the time!

Update:

Jugeshinder Singh suggest the term "freedom-phobia".

Alice Zents suggests “republiphobia”, though she concedes “democraphobia” would work, too.

Cindy Lee suggests "Hesperophobia" -- a term that was originated or recently popularized by John Derbyshire to describe fear and loathing of the Western world.

James Hammett notes that the Wikipedia entry for "Ameriphobia" has been deleted.

Posted at 02:07 PM | Email |

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