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@aral I had never heard this particular flavor of *edit* Muslimophobia until I visited a Turkish friend in Iceland. Not a day went by without some Icelander lecturing me about the dangers of being seen in public with a Muslim. It would immediately become this "fundamental differences" talk that was supposed to make me afraid of discrimination by association. I couldn't help but realize how many places in Europe I'd felt welcome in because I was white and alone or with white-passing friends.
@carrideen I hear you and that’s terrible bigotry. Although, as a Turkish ex-Muslim, I also find the term Islamophobia very problematic.
@aral Thanks for this! My friend is Muslim, and kept being asked by Icelanders to claim not to be Muslim for their comfort, which he wouldn't do. Muslimophobia makes a lot more sense--their fear was of people, not a belief system.
@aral @carrideen well said/written. I also was raised in a secular Muslim household in Turkey and by 14 I was "agnostic" (read shy atheist) and by early 20's straight up atheist. Now almost 50, after seeing what islamists did to the country and the culture there, it drives me up the wall when I hear people say islamophobia here in the (supposedly) very liberal SF bay area. They think they are being open minded. Like you said, it is a stupid shield just like Russophobia.
Can you clarify a little about what's wrong with the word islamophobia? I'm sorry I'm a little thick today.
Is it that it's conflating Erdogan-style authoritarianism with Islam? Or something else?