What exactly is “Islamofascism”?
Pixelisation examines the etymology and misuse of the term “islamofascism”.
Put simply there are just better terms to describe al-Qa’ida (a ‘label’ itself now taken to mean all Muslim violence), Hizbollah, Muslim Brotherhood etc. But, of course, people who used ‘Islamofascism’ are not interested in analysing these groups or critiquing their ideologies. They merely want to attack anyone they hate and anyone who is critical of the War on Terror or the Bush regime can then be labelled an ‘appeaser’.
I’ll add my own analysis, citing George Orwell in his famous essay, “Politics and the English Language“.
The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies “something not desirable.” The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it:
Written in 1946, the essay perfectly describes the political language we here so often today. It seems as if factual accuracy is simply an afterthought nowadays; the real objective is to sell ideas, no matter how many lies and inaccuracies one utters in the process.
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