Quote:
I think you miss my point - people are pointing to this as a "big scary Muslim" moment. Western parents beat and kill their kids in small numbers too, but we're not freaking out over that nor do we feel that such acts are representative of western society.
But mention the word "hijab" and everyone goes barking mad.
|
this seems to me the central problem in this thread--as it is in any thread here that involves islam.
in the main, folk aren't talking about a huge self-evidently diverse population of people who have in common a committment to a particular way of life--they are talking about the officially sanctioned Big Other of the moment--a phantasm, a construction that says more about what the american far right sanctions as "that which you are afraid of" than anything else.
so it seems acceptable that people say whatever.
so it seems acceptable that people invert reality, make stuff up ("the muslim community in france is responsible for destroying the country"--this is neo-fascist stupidity, nothing more, nothing less) and indulge arbitrary types of argument (from the highest level of absurdity--"the trade center was attacked therefore islam is a monolith" to more peculiar local variants--"wearing hijab makes you an extremist.")
it's depressing to see this repeat every time islam comes up as a category.