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“Islamophobia”
Here’s what “Islamophobia” amounts to: Interest in Islam mounts after hijacking atrocity . Islam may not be the best religion in the world, but it’s something that evidently has to be taken seriously, and in a nothing world something attracts attention simply by being something. I remember after the September 11 atrocities reading an account of an interview with Usama bin Laden in which he boasted of a wave of conversions in the West following the recent demonstration of the power of Islam. People thought he was crude, brutal and out of touch, but he was more right than they thought. Posted by Jim Kalb at September 03, 2002 09:21 AM | Send Comments
Look, the West is loaded with cultures that stand for nothing. In English society, few take Christianity seriously. I need not remind this forum about the state of the established church. So when someone shows up who will fight for something — even a wicked thing — it attracts followers. Rootlessness is its own worst enemy. What amazes me about news coverage is that Islam in Europe is seen as the harbinger of death and terror. Here in the US, it treated as an exotic sister of mainline Christianity, full of teachings about peace and harmony. Posted by: Jim Carver on September 3, 2002 11:43 AMEurope, especially Eastern Europe, has a much longer “acquaintance,” shall we say, with Islam than does America. It’s easy for Americans to sit back and declare Islam an “interesting religion,” but for our kith and kin in Europe the everyday reality of Islam is something altogether different. Posted by: William on September 3, 2002 12:40 PM |