Is it possible, in this climate, for a privileged white ex-Christian to critique Islam without sounding like a racist arsehole?
It's obvious that a lot of the "new atheists" (Harris and Hitchens are the worst), as well as Christian and Jewish bigots, use "criticism of Islam" as a smokescreen for their bloodlust and anti-arab bigotry. Some people use "Draw Mohammed Day" as an excuse to draw racist caricatures of Muslims in the name of freedom of expression. This is not legitimate criticism and further marginalises a group that is already highly mmarginalised in our society.
Then there are the progressive types who will dismiss any critique of Islamic doctrine or practises as racism and imperialism. I have some sympathy with this view, as we're so often hearing Islam and Muslim attacked by bigots that it can be hard to tell whether someone is arguing in good faith.
Take the burqua. It is a disgusting expression of rape culture that many liberals are loath to condemn for fear of being taken for bigots. Should the burqua be banned? Many feminists think so, but so do many bigots who just want to shit on Muslims. Is a ban the best way to deal with the problem? How else can people not directly involved in these communities tackle this problem?
We have the issue of gender segregation, where some universities have pandered to Islamic speakers and groups by allowing segregated seating (men up front of course). This is totally unacceptable but again is being exploited by terrible people as another excuse to attack Muslims.
We have Respect throwing women and queer people under the bus so as not to offend reactionary Muslims.
These are problems that need to be dealt with but it seems like every effort will get hijacked by racists, so that progressives will feel uncomfortable and drop out and the problems persist. We can't rely on Muslims to "police their own" any more than we can rely on Christians to do the same, but criticism from outsiders will understandably be seen by many Muslims as just more of the same bullshit. It's difficult to see how any progress can be made.
any thoughts, ideas, disagreements?
