OK. It’s time to write about racism and bigotry again. I picked up the newspaper today and there it was...”Islamofascism” on the cartoon page. The popular syndicated cartoon, Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley ran in the paper today. The cartoon shows Tinsley’s famous cartoon duck saying, “I find myself agreeing with people who say the President (Bush) should stop using the term ‘Islamofascists’ to refer to Islamic terrorists.” In the next panel the duck continues, “...though I’m having trouble deciding whether he should replace it with ‘Islamobombers’, ‘Islamomurders’ or ‘Islamobeheaders’ “.
Tinsley’s cartoon runs in many newspapers throughout the US. It is often on the editorial page of the newspaper and frequently the conservative perspective of Tinsley’s cartoon is used by newspapers to balance the more liberal views of cartoonists like Gary Trudeau and his classic character, “Doonesbury.” However, whether it is a conservative perspective or a liberal perspective, the common denominator is that it is all right to bash Arabs and Muslims.
Last night, I attended a lecture at the local Jewish community center that featured an author who was defending President Franklin Delano Roosevelt against the onslaught of revisionist writers who have condemned Roosevelt for not doing enough to save European Jews from Hitler’s wrath against them. He pointed out that many of these writers go as far as calling president Roosevelt an anti-Semite.
He presented some very convincing arguments to disprove his detractors’ assertions that Roosevelt didn’t do enough for the European Jews. His logic and arguments were sound and made a great deal of sense. And then he was asked a question about the Irgun, which he referred to as a terrorist organization which killed Arabs and the British in Palestine during and immediately after World War II. As he was explaining the dastardly deeds of the Irgun, he said, “With the actions of the Arabs and Muslims today, I probably would have done the same thing that the Irgun did then.”
I was impressed with the author up to that point. But when he made that statement about Arabs and Muslims, I lost respect for his opinions. What is the difference between his attitude about Arabs and Muslims and the attitude of Hitler and the Nazis regarding Jews? And no one in the audience questioned his racist bigoted attitude toward Arabs and Muslims. It has become easy and commonplace to bash Arabs and Muslims in America and the West.
Yes, it is true that individuals calling themselves Muslims or Jews or Christians can be guilty of horrible crimes and deserve to be condemned. But to chastise the whole of Islam or Christianity or Judaism for the acts of certain individuals is just plain wrong.
Let’s go back to Mallard Filmore and Islamofascism. Is there such a thing as Judeofascism? Does Christofascism exist? One does not see those terms in common use. If these terms were used by mainstream media, they would be rightly condemned. Yet cartoonists and editorialists and media pundits freely use the term Islamofascist in their media outlets. For some time, I have also been concerned about the use of the term “Islamist” in public discourse. Islamist is usually defined as political Islam.
If one goes back to the derivation and the initial uses of this term, you can trace it to groups that almost always put Muslims in a negative light. Again, do you ever see terms like “Christianist” or “Judaismist” to refer to political Christianity or political Judaism whatever those terms might mean? No, because one who used those terms regularly would be called a bigot. However not only do enemies of Islam use the term Islamist regularly but also neutral observers and even Muslims themselves now use this term frequently.
So when cartoonists have adopted “Islamofascist” and its derivatives in their vernacular, the racists and bigots have accomplished their goal. They have inserted their bigoted attitudes into popular culture. And in the process, they have hardened the attitude of the average person toward Muslims and Islam. The battle of words and images can be as important, if not more important, as the battle of guns and missiles. Let us stand up to this battle and not let the bigots win. “Islamofascist” is a racist term and it should be treated as such. Let’s demand that it be removed from decent discourse.
