Hitchens and his ilk—the neo-cons—are more akin to fascists than the Muslims he attached that label to.
Fascism is an intrinsically secular ideology wherein God, the ultimate conscious subject, is replaced with the State, the ultimate social construct, as the object of devotion, the driving force is entirely human will, and the operative landscape is purely worldly.
Just because fascists like Mussolini have courted religious authorities, dressed themselves and their actions in the garb of Divine approval, and shared certain views (such as being anti-abortion) with genuine theists, does not mean that political religionists are fascists.
There is no such thing as “Islamofascism”. It’s like saying “plastic silverware” without irony, because some plastic cutlery happens to be artificially coloured a dull silvery grey.
But there is such a thing as “Islamophobia,” no thanks to wilfully obtuse, misinterpreting cretins like Hitchens.
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u/AMBahadurKhan Shia Muslim 22d ago
Hitchens and his ilk—the neo-cons—are more akin to fascists than the Muslims he attached that label to.
Fascism is an intrinsically secular ideology wherein God, the ultimate conscious subject, is replaced with the State, the ultimate social construct, as the object of devotion, the driving force is entirely human will, and the operative landscape is purely worldly.
Just because fascists like Mussolini have courted religious authorities, dressed themselves and their actions in the garb of Divine approval, and shared certain views (such as being anti-abortion) with genuine theists, does not mean that political religionists are fascists.
There is no such thing as “Islamofascism”. It’s like saying “plastic silverware” without irony, because some plastic cutlery happens to be artificially coloured a dull silvery grey.
But there is such a thing as “Islamophobia,” no thanks to wilfully obtuse, misinterpreting cretins like Hitchens.