Of Anti-Ahmadi bigots and Islamophobes

Anti-Ahmadi Muslim bigots have a lot in common with Islamophobes and anti-Semites. The stock rhetoric of Islamophobes and anti-Semites involves the enemy within, a minority cabal of powerful traitors (often with ties to outside enemies), destroying the nation. The nation is shaped and reshaped by naming and attacking the enemy, both within and without. To be identified as the mainstream is to be normative, and that is to be privileged and free from the steam-rolling reserved for those identified as the enemy. To crackdown on those not toeing the mainstream line is a way to shape, steer, and define the community, be it racial, religious, and/or national. To be able to do that and  to posit oneself as the protector of the community is to feel empowered and powerful, and that in the age of imperialism is a commodity short in stock.

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PS. This sarcasm used to score a point, however necessary it may be to show an absurdity, still plays on the ‘devious Ahmadi’ trope, and is irresponsible writing especially given the history of violence visited on Ahmadis, whether living or dead.

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