Islamophobia in the Blogosphere
The sudden rise of Islamophobia in the United States is alarming while the movement that advances anti-Muslim resentment seems bizarre and filled with eccentric, even dangerous characters. The Islamophobic crusade raging across the country appears perfectly in line with longstanding goals and methods of conservative organizing, and is aimed at much more than demonizing Muslims.
Here we mention the case of one of the Islamophobia websites breitbart.com which has a long tradition of attacking Muslims and appeling to fear to attack Islam. For instance the website recently sponsored a panel of anti-Muslim activists of the likes of Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller.
breitbart.com was set up by the late Andrew Breitbart who was a conservative commentator for The Washington Times, and an author who served as an editor for the Drudge Report website. He owned the news aggregation site, Breitbart.com, and five other websites: Breitbart.tv, Big Hollywood, Big Government, Big Journalism, and Big Peace. He played key roles in the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, the resignation of the Honorable woman Shirley Sherrod by accusing her falsely to be a black racist. And finally he was the cause of shutdown of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, which was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues.
Breitbart was a pivotal figure in transitioning the Right into the contemporary world of new media like Blogging and the Social Media arena, which in itself is not a bad thing, but it is how he used his new media platform that was extremely problematic. He played a part in disseminating hate propaganda, undermining the truth and deflecting justice.
breitbart.com is quite a popular forum for anti-Islam and anti-Muslim screeds. The website often links and reproduces many of the Islamophobesphere’s articles and videos.
Pamela Geller, a staunch islamophobe, who is known primarily for her criticism of Islam and opposition to Muslim activities and causes, such as the proposed construction of an Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Cente, thinks of Breitbart as her “fearless leader”:
"Andrew was our warrior, our leader. Fearless, unapologetic, brilliant. I admire few, but Andrew was in a league of his own. His herculean contribution to the war is incalculable.
Here we mention the case of one of the Islamophobia websites breitbart.com which has a long tradition of attacking Muslims and appeling to fear to attack Islam. For instance the website recently sponsored a panel of anti-Muslim activists of the likes of Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller.
breitbart.com was set up by the late Andrew Breitbart who was a conservative commentator for The Washington Times, and an author who served as an editor for the Drudge Report website. He owned the news aggregation site, Breitbart.com, and five other websites: Breitbart.tv, Big Hollywood, Big Government, Big Journalism, and Big Peace. He played key roles in the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, the resignation of the Honorable woman Shirley Sherrod by accusing her falsely to be a black racist. And finally he was the cause of shutdown of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, which was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues.
Breitbart was a pivotal figure in transitioning the Right into the contemporary world of new media like Blogging and the Social Media arena, which in itself is not a bad thing, but it is how he used his new media platform that was extremely problematic. He played a part in disseminating hate propaganda, undermining the truth and deflecting justice.
breitbart.com is quite a popular forum for anti-Islam and anti-Muslim screeds. The website often links and reproduces many of the Islamophobesphere’s articles and videos.
Pamela Geller, a staunch islamophobe, who is known primarily for her criticism of Islam and opposition to Muslim activities and causes, such as the proposed construction of an Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Cente, thinks of Breitbart as her “fearless leader”:
"Andrew was our warrior, our leader. Fearless, unapologetic, brilliant. I admire few, but Andrew was in a league of his own. His herculean contribution to the war is incalculable.
Another Islamophobe Robert Spencer, who co-founded Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) with Pamela Geller writes in his eulogy:
"The forces of truth have lost a great and courageous warrior. Unlike most on the Right, he was not a cringing dhimmi* eagerly throwing his comrades under the bus in a futile attempt to appease the Left. I hope that his lasting legacy will be legions of freedom fighters confronting Leftists and Islamic supremacists on their hypocrisy, lies and justifications for evil with just as much fearlessness, verve and good humor as he always displayed."
*Dhimmi: is a historical term referring to non-Muslim citizens of an Islamic state. The term is historic and has not been used since the end of the Ottoman empire, except by islamophobes like Mr. Spencer.
"The forces of truth have lost a great and courageous warrior. Unlike most on the Right, he was not a cringing dhimmi* eagerly throwing his comrades under the bus in a futile attempt to appease the Left. I hope that his lasting legacy will be legions of freedom fighters confronting Leftists and Islamic supremacists on their hypocrisy, lies and justifications for evil with just as much fearlessness, verve and good humor as he always displayed."
*Dhimmi: is a historical term referring to non-Muslim citizens of an Islamic state. The term is historic and has not been used since the end of the Ottoman empire, except by islamophobes like Mr. Spencer.