6 Feb, 2017
How American right-wing extremists fan the flames of Islamophobia
Bangkok – As the Muslim-ban sparks global outrage and opposition, the tide is turning against the U.S. government under the leadership of Donald Trump. The travel & tourism industry, which has been the first to be affected by this ban, now has an opportunity to demonstrate whether it will be a part of the solution or a part of the problem.
 |
In 2012, Nathan Lean, Director of Research at Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative, Editor-In-Chief of Aslan Media and a contributing writer at PolicyMic, published a book on “The Islamophobia Industry”.
The book explicitly warned the world about how a right-wing cadre of intellectual hucksters, bloggers, politicians, pundits, and religious leaders “have labored behind the scenes to convince their compatriots that Muslims are the enemy, exhuming the ghosts of 9/11 and dangling them before the eyes of horrified populations for great fortune and fame.”
Mr Lean warned way back then that the “tide of Islamophobia that is sweeping through Europe and the United States is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. It is their design.”
According to the book review, “This powerful and provocative book explores the dark world of monster making, examining in detail an interconnected, and highly organized cottage industry of fear merchants. Uncovering their scare tactics, revealing their motives, and exposing the financial and ideological interests that drive them, Nathan Lean casts a bright and damning light on this dangerous and influential network.”
As these extremists are now sitting at the controls of the world’s most powerful country, they pose a clear and present danger to not just travel & tourism but the world at large.
This editor has been championing similar arguments as Nathan Lean for just as long. For many years, I wrote a column in the Bangkok Post sounding the same warnings. The Bangkok Post, which claims to be the “Newspaper You Can Trust,” terminated this column in July 2012, with no explanation.
Indeed, this “right-wing cadre of intellectual hucksters, bloggers, politicians, pundits, and religious leaders” are spread across Asia and the world, many of them holding dual-citizenship Israeli passports.
In Bangkok alone, even the most cursory examination of the Letters to the Editor section of the Bangkok Post and The Nation, the two mainstream English-language publications, will reveal who these people are, and the similarity of their language and strategy to their counterparts in the U.S.
I am reproducing excerpts from Nathan Lean’s book below. When clear-thinking people realise they have been lied to, they will turn against the liars. And the facts will set the world free.
Read on, and be enlightened.
The book can be bought through these websites:
https://www.amazon.com/Islamophobia-Industry-Right-Manufactures-Muslims/dp/0745332536
Loading ...
Liked this article? Share it!