What Is 'Islamofascism'? A history of the word from the first Westerner to use it.

weeklystandard ^ | Stephen Schwartz

[humint]

Stephen Schwartz is a frequent contributor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

[george76]

[Borges]

Isn't Islam inherently fascistic?

[bnelson44]

I don't think the President is using the term anymore.

[gcruse]

"Fascism is distinguished from the broader category of extreme right-wing politics by its willingness to defy public civility and openly violate the law."

Heh. This will stir up the Freeper faction who believe that, simply because it had the word socialism in its name, the Nazi party was somehow a party of the left, not the extreme right. Similar logic would have the various people's democratic republics being democracies by the simple act of calling themselves so.

[308MBR]

YES!

It's just a new term for muslim behavior over the last 1400 years, at least when they weren't beaten into the ground as they were after WW1.

[ichabod1]

Naw. I think Michael Savage must have said it first.

[bnelson44]

Fascism is something that happened in Italy

[Ozone34]

I believe he is also a convert to Islam, which makes his take on things a bit more interesting than that of the average random Western pundit...

[Congressman Billybob]

The concept is correct. The language needs to be simpler -- to be better understood, and for use in headlines, on posters, and in bumper stickers. I suggest MAZIS, which means Muslims who act like Nazis.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article: "The Democrat Party, 1828 - 2006, R.I.P."

Please see my most recent new statement on running for Congress, here.

[Blue State Insurgent]

New tag line. Thanks, Steve.

Socialism seems also to be a common thread.

[FormerLib]

Stephen Schwartz, AKA Suleyman Ahman, is a Jihadist scum who should be deported forthwith!

[FreeRep]

IslamoNazi are groups such as Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Hizbollah who's essence is Socialism. They want to controls the many by the few with ethnic cleansing and genocide as common goals.

[sittnick]

While the term gets the point across (like "feminazi"), not all of the elements of fascism are present. In fascism, you typically have technically non-governmental but effectively government subsidiaries in all major industries (e.g. Volkswagen under Hitler). Moreover, fascism as a political system can simply be authoritarian (Peron, Franco) as opposed to totalitarian. Fascism is also intensely nationalistic. These types are not too interested in borders, as they figure it all belongs to their flavor of Islam. They might have an interest in being Arab or Persian, and that might be close enough to satisfy the definition.

It's not the tightest term, but at least it is closer to the truth than the manufactured term "homophobe" (which would technically mean an irrational fear of sameness, often used to refer to those with a rational disgust at perversion). The term has been so misused by leftists over the years (I was called a fascist after helping create an anti-communist student newspaper), it's just as well that the leftists get a taste of their own terminology.

[orionblamblam]

> I admit to a lack of modesty or neutrality about this discussion, since I was, as I will explain, the first Westerner to use the neologism in this context.

Meh. Wiki:

The origins of the term are unclear, but appear to date back to an article, "Construing Islam as a language", by Malise Ruthven that appeared on September 8, 1990 in The Independent, where he wrote:

Nevertheless there is what might be called a political problem affecting the Muslim world. In contrast to the heirs of some other non-Western traditions, including Hinduism, Shintoism and Buddhism, Islamic societies seem to have found it particularly hard to institutionalise divergences politically: authoritarian government, not to say Islamo-fascism, is the rule rather than the exception from Morocco to Pakistan.

[Ditto]

Heh. This will stir up the Freeper faction who believe that, simply because it had the word socialism in its name, the Nazi party was somehow a party of the left, not the extreme right.

OK. I'll take the bate. I contend that a regime can be both fascist and socialist at the same time as in fact the German Nazis were. Fascism is a description of the regime's social policies while socialism is a description of it's economic order. Pakistan is a fascist state that does allow fair degree of free enterprise and economic self-determination within the approved social order, while Syria and Saddam's Iraq are examples of states that are both fascist AND socialist with tightly controlled, centrally directed economies.

If "Left vs Right" is a measure of economic tendencies, the extremes of either can be the home of fascists.

I also contend that capitalism does not require a free society to survive, but a free society does indeed require capitalism to survive.

[WildBill2275]

Once again, we are wasting time on justifying a term that the Muslims will never accept. Their religion has been a religion of intolerance to non-believers since Mohammed first wrote his thoughts down. We need to stop wasting time trying to sooth their ruffled feathers and give it to them straight.
If you are not actively and vocally against the vile loathsome Muslim terrorists who want to kill or enslave me, don’t complain that my opinion of you and your religion is unfair or the words I use to describe it and the scum causing the trouble are unfair or incorrect.

[Chili Girl]

Michael Savage coined the word first!

[humint]

Once again, we are wasting time on justifying a term that the Muslims will never accept.

Not true... Notice this author claims to be the first Westerner to use the term. The absolute first to equate fascism to radical Islamists were Muslims. The West couldn't have cared less about the term or the problem until a few passenger jets collapsed a few buildings one sunny day almost five years ago. Mass murder is always a wakeup call. Honestly, I couldn’t care less who’s at the head of the class [first to come up with a colloquial]. School's in session now! Let's hope the West doesn't fail the final exam.

[WildBill2275]

To make myself clear: Every time someone uses that term a Muslim group complains that we don’t understand Islam. This redirects the conversation from the real issue to one relating to our choice of words. I find it difficult to worry about the sensibilities of a Muslim whose fellow Muslims in the Middle East want to kill me at the same time that the complainer, by silence, condones the actions of the killers.
Your assertion that the West not caring about the syntax used to describe scum was a principal factor in 9/11 is ludicrous. BinLaden was more than happy to take money from the West to kill Russians in Afghanistan. When the Russians pulled out he decided that the U.S. should not be in Saudi Arabia and decided, in the name of Allah, to kill Americans wherever he could. Unfortunately, the American President was too concerned about the distraction in his knee well to pay attention and deal appropriately with bin Laden’s repeated provocations.
Since Muslims owe their first allegiance to Islam, rather than a nation, perhaps the West should target an appropriately sensitive target in the Middle East.