Muslims are the New Jews.
If you're comfortable with Islamophobia in America today, you'd also be comfortable with European antisemitism in the 20th century.
Every society suffers from an acceptable hatred. Modern Americans have made Muslims public enemy number one. News outlets regularly portray Islam, and ethnic groups associated with Islam—like Arabs and Persians, as backwards religious zealots who are impediments to progress.
This isn’t dissimilar from the barrage of antisemitism faced by the Jewish Diaspora during the twentieth century in Europe. And just like the antisemitic prejudices of the past, Islamophobia in the present is culminating in a genocide perpetuated by people who weaponize the concept of self-defense to justify crimes against humanity.
However, the Holocaust, or any genocide like it, didn’t start with the construction of concentration camps. It started with the deliberate dehumanization of Jews through rhetoric and propaganda. The normalization of hate speech is foundational in the destruction of a people. Hate speech leads to the dismissal of legitimate grievances. The dismissal of legitimate grievances creates the conditions necessary for violence carried out by both private citizens and later on, state institutions. This is because once a group has been demonized in the popular culture of a society, a natural increase of violence carried by private citizens compounds, becomes normalized, and groups form based upon the intent to inflict more violence. Like any group, they select a leader, that leader likely has political aspirations, and if the group is large enough, can become a prominent member of, or the leader of the greater society that they live in. This is how leaders like Adolf Hitler come to power, and how things like the Holocaust happen. It’s a gradual process.
This process is happening to Muslims, and by association, Arabs and Persians in the modern United States. The best examples of this are the United States’ continual funding for Israel’s genocide in Palestine; the arrest, deportation and suppression of student activists that advocate for Palestinians on college campuses, and the most recent backlash to the success of New York City Mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani.
Both Democrats and Republicans are trying to thwart Mamdani, and he’s not even the Mayor of NYC. He’s just the Democratic nominee, and the Democratic establishment is in a complete panic. There is a reason for this: if a Muslim man becomes the new face of progressive politics and successfully captures America’s most important city, a large percentage of Americans will lose their fear of Muslims. You might wonder why this a problem for Democrats. They’re self-proclaimed progressives. Progressivism and xenophobia usually don’t go together, but the Democrats aren’t progressive. They’re not as outwardly fascist and authoritarian as the Republicans, but many Democrats, especially those in the federal government still need to pass legislation to continue the expansion of the America Empire and its military industrial complex to keep their donors happy.
While Democrats would never call for the mass deportation of students, they quietly support foreign intervention and continued military aid for Israel, which regularly bombs Muslims.
Here’s Kamala Harris calling Iran America’s greatest adversary:
Iran is not a threat to the United States, and the only reason why she is comfortable saying this is due to years of propaganda.
That same propaganda is why people on the right like Charlie Kirk tied Zohran Mamdani to 9/11.
This type of rhetoric leads to violence against muslims domestically and aboard. Just like Antisemitic rhetoric lead to the death of Jews in Europe. Antisemitism is just not as accepted as it once was. But if it was, the same people engaging in covert Islamophobia like the Democrats and overt Islamophobia like the Republicans, would likely have no problem with throwing Jews or any group of people under the bus if it was politically advantageous to do so.
Institutional oppression is a game of hot potato, and due to the Middle East’s vast resources and strategically valuable location, Muslims are the ones left with burnt hands.
It’s great, thank you, Abe!