This is the line that the Left has pushed in the media, as well as in intelligence and law enforcement circles, ever since 9/11 (and before that as well): to take much notice of Islamic jihad activity will only fuel “Islamophobic” attacks against innocent Muslims. Therefore, we must not talk about jihad activity.
There is absolutely no basis for thinking this. FBI hate crime statistics year after year show that Jews and others are targeted in hate crimes far more often than Muslims are. No attack on any innocent person is ever justifed. The idea, however, that Muslims are particular victims of harassment and persecution in the U.S. or the West in general is unfounded. The calls for silence about jihad activity in order to avoid placing innocent Muslims at risk is a sly and clever tactic to bring about submission and acquiescence to Sharia blasphemy restrictions and acceptance of that jihad activity.
“Salman Rushdie’s attack was an assault on free speech – but not a clash of civilisations,” by Daniel O’Gorman, The Conversation, August 15, 2022:
…At present, it is not possible to comment on the specific motives of Rushdie’s alleged attacker, Hadi Matar, which are the subject of a legal investigation. However, we can begin critically considering how best to respond to this disturbing incident, which has been so long in the making….
It’s hard to think of another novel over which so much blood has been spilt. News coverage of Rushdie’s novel has tended to emphasise its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as the primary cause of offence. However, outside of the headlines, measured scholarly debate about the text’s perceived blasphemy has continued for over 30 years….
As literary critic Anshuman Mondal has argued, the framing of the Rushdie affair and its aftermath in the media has sometimes been troublesome. Representations of the novel as a battleground between free speech and Muslim fundamentalism belie a refusal to engage seriously with a reality that is more complex. What is lost in this characterisation is the fact that many Muslim readers hold conflicting, multi-faceted views about Rushdie and his text….
The attack was undoubtedly an assault on free speech. However, recent scholarship on Islamophobia warns us that a collective eagerness to focus on Islamic extremism can lend itself to a perception of the world in which western-style liberalism is pitched simplistically against religious – and especially Muslim – “barbarism”. This sort of worldview, academics further warn, can lead to an increase in discrimination towards Muslims….
