Mehdi Hasan is back on Twitter. (He was busy interviewing BHL in the meantime.) He’s fighting dirtier than ever.
“Poor diddums” – my god he’s vulgar. I told him he has a squalid mind and mouth.
That Mohamed guy is cool; I followed him.
Butterflies and Wheels
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Yes, the charge of Islamophobia and racism is nothing more than a silencing tactic.
The $cientologists use it a lot. Muslims have apparently learned a thing or two from them.
But here’s the thing. It’s not a “phobia” to be have fear when that fear is properly deserved and placed.
How many people died over a cartoon? That’s properly placed fear.
How many people rioted because a stuffed animal was named “Mohammed”? That’s properly placed fear.
How many people have suffered at the hands of regressive, primitive minds blinded to progress by the assertion that there is nothing worth learning outside a single book of myths? That’s properly placed fear.
Oh no. We’re not bigots. Bigotry is unreasoned.
We’ve evaluated the evidence and found Islam is lacking in basic human decency. It’s immoral. Unwanted in a society based on reason and concern for human rights.
Evaluation is different from discrimination. Learn the difference.
Wrong. It is more than that; it is sometime a silencing tactic and sometimes a valid observation.
Nuances! Reality has them.
This guy is a respected journalist?
I realise Twitter imposes some awkward constraints on expressing oneself but seriously?
From a UK perspective, diddums carries no scatological connotations whatsoever. I ( as a Brit) had never heard of any such meaning until about 2 minutes ago when I searched for something to clue me in on the vulgarity referred to. So, yet again 2 countries divided by a common language. I would imagine M H is in a similar position: worth bearing in mind in the interests of improving communication!
Niall, Ophelia’s using the term ‘vulgar’ in the older and broader sense. Coarse, common, loutish. The word does not necessarily have scatological connotations; that’s only the most current and common way it’s used.
Scatological? I didn’t know the word “vulgar” had any scatological connotations anywhere.
“Diddums” is much more a UK word than a US one. I don’t think I’ve heard or read anyone use it in the US.
Anyway it’s what Josh said – I was telling Mehdi Hasan that he has a low, nasty mind. The root of the word is “vulgus” which means crowd, so it’s a nasty class-based elitist word…but sometimes it’s the one you need.
Horace – or was it Juvenal – “Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.” I hate and avoid the [profanum] crowd. I forget exactly what profane meant in Latin, but you get the idea.
Ugh, how childish and base. Getting harder to understand why he is a New Statesman journalist given how he interacts with people who challenge him.
I agree with Sally that ‘Islamophobia’ is not always invoked to shut down legitimate criticism. Although, clearly, sometimes it is! Here’s another of his tweets to me – which was too much even for my phlegmatic accommodationist ok-let’s-draw-a-line-under-the-cattle-incident approach.
https://twitter.com/SarahAB_UK/status/328198988228608001
Though I understand why he resented being called an Islamist.
Scatological? I didn’t know the word “vulgar” had any scatological connotations anywhere.
I’ve just wasted 7 minutes of my digitised life looking up “diddums” and “scatological” on the interent. I thought it would be one of those British v American English things.
These exchanges remind me of why I don’t use Twitter.
@ Sarah AB
Mehdi H is definitely short-fused and gets irate when cornered, which means he should keep away from Twitter. It does his blood pressure no good at all. His lumping you in with the unsubtle and unnuanced Muslim bashers is as unfair and false as PressTV propaganda.
He’s pissed off that he’s called an “Islamist”. He’s not that, so I can see why he gets cross. But if you get cross, you should keep off Twitter.
Well, also, the fact that he’s called an Islamist doesn’t mean I call him an Islamist. I don’t call him an Islamist; I haven’t called him an Islamist; but he said I do…in almost the same breath in which he said I tell lies. In sum, he dislikes being called things so he calls people things. He doesn’t just get cross, he gets nasty and mendacious.
Fair enough, Ophelia. If you’re going to target accusations on Twitter you should use a sighting rifle, not a machine gun.
His political principles seem to be informed by his religion and he is advancing them through his journalism.
He seems to be working his way up the ladder of disingenuousness.
“Islamophobia” is one of those words that is designed to do a lot of work. Anti-Muslim hatred or bigotry are more accurate and useful terms.