40 Pages Posted: 11 Aug 2014

Date Written: August 29, 2014

Abstract

The internet has made it possible for more people than ever before to publicize their political views. As a result, unfiltered voices have proliferated. This paper assesses the impact of the surge in opinion-making on the political discourse regarding European Muslims. I highlight the predominance of Islamophobic views mainly from non-Muslims and ex-Muslims as well as Europhobic voices of extremist Muslims. The rivals aggressively disseminate dualistic and essentializing portraits of Islamic civilization and of European (Western) civilization. Islamophobes deftly manipulate images of Islam as anti-democratic, misogynistic and militaristic and Europe as democratic, egalitarian and peace-loving to support their xenophobic political agenda. With equally shrewd appreciation of the power of symbolic politics, Europhobes essentially invert this stereotype common in mainstream European media. They portray Europe as hedonistic, hypocritical and sadistic and Islam as pious, genuine and just. I contend that, despite their expressed antipathy, Islamophobes and Europhobes actually depend on and feed off one another. Their mutual recriminations mutate into a largely hermetically sealed discourse and counter-discourse in which the outlandish distortions of the foe become the supporting evidence for the opposing adversary’s equally outlandish distortions and vice versa. Sadly, these purveyors of fear-mongering and scapegoating receive so much attention from the sensationalizing media that soberer voices go largely unheard.