Thread by @ABustedBoomer

@RashidaTlaib asserts that @IlhanMN is a victim. She doesn't say that @IlhanMN is a victim of her own thoughtlessness. She doesn't say that she is a victim of her own hateful anti-Semitism.

No.

In @RashidaTlaib's book, @IlhanMN is a victim of #islamophobia.

That's right. You folks and your #Islamophobia have caused Ilhan to become a focal point of public scrutiny.

#Islamophobia.

#Islamophobia.

Is #Islamophobia the cause of @IlhanMN's difficulties? Really?

I don't see how we could know the answer to that question unless we know what the term, #Islamophobia, means.

We're Americans here, right? So, I'm not going to ask the folks at @OxfordWords (the folks that bring you the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language).

Instead, I decided to rely on the sometimes humorous folks at @MerriamWebster for an objective source on the definition of the term, #Islamophobia.

MW tells me that the term means:

"irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against Islam or people who practice Islam"

You can check that definition yourself, by navigating to:

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Isl…

@MerriamWebster's definition of #Islamophobia works well, but still leaves questions. The key question left by the definition is that term, "irrational."

Honestly, before one's fear can be considered a "phobia," the question of whether the fear is "irrational."

The good folks at @MerriamWebster have lent a hand on this question too. They provide this definition for "irrational:"

": not rational: such as
a (1) : not endowed with reason or understanding
(2) : lacking usual or normal mental clarity or coherence
b : not governed by or according to reason"

As with #Islamophobia, don't take my word for it. You can see this definition on MW's website at:

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irr…

So, then, is it true that EVERYONE that has criticized @IlhanMN's anti-Semitic comments "lacks usual or normal mental clarity" respecting #Islam?

The obvious answer is "no." Reasoning people, informed people, individuals who've never watched an Inforwars video, who don't have cable access to Fox News. Every day folks too. Thousands. Likely hundreds of thousands of them.

They all know that there is a version of #Islam that threaten the lives and peace of those that are not of a like mind.

If one is reasonably informed, they know that, for example, in Saudi Arabia, thieves have their offending hand cut off.

Other like horrors -- toppling a stone wall on a woman accused of adultery, tossing of gay men off of tall buildings, denying education to women, demanding the jizyah of those that do not practice Islam, executing those that renounce Islam --

these horrors are sufficiently well-established as facts that denial of them is, itself, evidence of irrationality.

Mind you, not every Muslim views #Jihad as an outward struggle against infidels that justifies beheadings and enslavement.

Not every #Muslim hews the line of #radicalIslamists. In fact, to make that assertion would also evidence a troubling irrationality.

But is it #irrational, is it evidence of lack of clarity of mind, to be aware of undeniable facts, and from such facts to derive the conclusion that some forms of #Islam and some adherents of #Islam

present very real threats of harm to those that do not share the precise version of #Islam as those #radicalIslamists?

I think not. I think most of reasoning mind do not take that view. I think that @RashidaTlaib has grossly misstated the cause of @IlhanMN's troubles.

So then, what might the cause of @IlhanMN's troubles be?

Here's an idea:

Why not grant Ilhan the respect of treating her as an adult of reasoning mind? In that case, @IlhanMN's words, of her crafting, of her volition, are the source of her troubles.

We are long past the time when the average Jane or Joe may be made the scapegoat for the rudeness, spite, hatred, or ignorance of another. @IlhanMN, @SpeakerPelosi tells us, didn't know what she was saying, what she meant.

In @SpeakerPelosi's universe, @IlhanMN is just an #enfantterrible, a bull in the Congressional china shop.

No.

It's not #Islamophobia, and it's not Ilhan's irrationality.

It is #GradeA #100percent religious and racial hate.

@SpeakerPelosi @IlhanMN @threadreaderapp unroll