Exact analogies are very rare in History, so it is wise to take with a pinch of salt the oft-repeated mantra that the “rising tide of Islamophobia” in Europe is just like the anti-Semitism of the 1930’s.
It is a version of the modern logical fallacy Argumentum ad Hitlerum.
So let’s take a look at anti-Semitism in 1930’s Germany.
Adolf Hitler had been spewing anti-Semitic rhetoric since he joined the German Workers’ Party in 1919. Despite the fact there was a long history of anti-Semitism in Germany this did nothing to garner support for the Nazi’s who remained an insignificant force in German politics until the Great Depression of the ’30’s.
Anti-Semitism was not a major selling-point for the German electorate. Rather it was a desire to restore Germany to its pre-WWI status as a Great Power, combined with the desperation of the unemployment and poverty that saw anything like a significant percentage of Germans vote for the Nazis.
This is not to say that anti-Semitism did not exist in 1920’s Germany, or that it was not a factor in the rise of the Nazi Party, but pre-1929 the Nazi Party was a very loud, but ultimately, electorally unsuccessful party.
Nazi anti-Semitism was based on the belief that “the Jews” controlled the international banking system, the mass media, big businesses etc, and that they intended to use this control to destroy Germany. The Nazi’s combined this with a visceral line of racism that portrayed “the Jews” as being defilers of pure Aryan blood.
It differed from the classical anti-Semitism of medieval Europe which was religiously fuelled. A Jewish person in medieval Europe could convert to Christianity and be regarded as a Jew no longer.
Nazi anti-Semitism on the other hand was based on race. A Jew (to the Nazis) was a Jew no matter his/her faith. Conversion to Christianity did not get Jews in Nazi Germany off the hook.
While there was latent anti-Semitism in 1920’s Germany, large-scale violence against Jewish people only began after the Nazis came to power in 1933 and was mainly orchestrated by the Nazi Party.
This went hand-in-hand with a legislative programme which by 1935 had deprived Jews of German citizenship.
1930’s anti-Semitism then was a mixture of boycotts of Jewish businesses, legal discrimination and widespread intimidation and violence culminating in Kristallnacht in 1938 with attacks on Jewish businesses and synagogues, arrests and murders.
Let’s compare that to “Islamophobia” in the West today.
Are there large-scale boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses?
Are there widespread acts of vandalism and destruction of Muslim-owned businesses and mosques?
Are Muslim people routinely abused and attacked in broad daylight?
Have any Western governments implemented anti-Muslim legislation legalising unjust discrimination against Muslims to the extent of stripping them of citizenship?
Of course it would be easy to find isolated incidents of “Islamophobia” in the West. Strips of bacon being hung on the handles of mosque doors, or Muslim passengers having to endure “funny looks” on public transport. But these often turn out to have been completely made up, or amount to no more than offensive postings (however that is defined) for example here, here and here.
Leftist commentators exploit incidents like these to portray a “rising tide of Islamophobia” across the West. They seek to portray Muslims as a poor, innocent, persecuted minority in the West, who are just like the Jews of the 1930’s.
The analogy falls down on a few levels.
First of all, there is no evidence of anti-Muslim pogroms or widespread anti-Muslim prejudice in the West today.
If regular, deadly terrorist attacks carried out by Muslims in the name of Islam over an almost 20 year period since 2001 cannot be considered evidence that a significant number of Muslims hate the West, then by the same token neither can sporadic, isolated incidents of strips of bacon hung on mosque door handles, or women having hijabs pulled off them in the street, be considered as evidence of “a rising tide of Islamophobia.”
After every Islamic terrorist attack we are told that only a tiny minority of Muslims are “extremists.” It must also be the case therefore, that the even tinier percentage of the non-Muslim population who carry out, “Islamophobic” acts, are in no way representative of the non-Muslim populations of the West.
Secondly, there are no Western governments implementing legislative policies aimed at discriminating against Muslims.
In fact, it is quite the opposite. Most Western countries have laws making it illegal to discriminate against anyone on the basis of their religious faith or ethnicity. The full force of the law comes down on anyone displaying “Islamophobic” tendencies.
Last week, celebrity Muslim and Great British Bake-Off winner (how did she manage to even get on it in the first place, never mind win in the face of this raging torrent of Islamophobia?) Nadiya Hussain tweeted that a man refused to sit beside her on the train, saying, “I ain’t sitting near a Muslim.”
She received a reply from British Transport Police telling her this was unacceptable and that she should contact them with more details. Notice how the rabidly right-wing(!) Daily Mail refers to this as, “racist abuse.” Like the vast majority of “Islamophobic” incidents, this is hardly The Final Solution.
How “Islamophobic” a country can Britain be, when the Police take an interest in someone who doesn’t want to sit beside a Muslim on the train????? The law in Britain and most of the West goes out of its way to protect Muslim feelings and sensitivities.
Also notice how hundreds of people sent replies to Nadiya (she needs no surname, such is her popularity and fame) assuring here they would love to sit next to her. Who is more representative of non-Muslims in the West today – the man on the train who said he didn’t want to sit next to her, or the hundreds of virtue-signallers rushing to assure Nadiya of their undying love for her?
If it is not the law rushing to the defence of Muslims against any kind of offence, it is our civil institutions, like British Gymnastics, who suspended Olympic silver medal winner Louis Smith for mocking Islamic prayer.
So just how “Islamophobic” a society can we be, when institutions like British Gymnastics enforce Islamic blasphemy laws on their members?
Lastly, the analogy falls down because in 1930’s Germany, there were no Jewish terrorist groups carrying out mass murders of German people in the name of Yahweh. There were no Jewish lobby groups demanding kosher food in supermarkets, or that restaurants stopped selling pork products. There were no synagogues or rabbis preaching jihad aginst German society.
1930’s anti-Semitism was pure, unadulterated prejudice against a people who were blameless.
Since 2001, the West has had to learn to live with regular terrorist attacks inspired by the teachings of Islam. The Twin Towers, transport systems in Madrid and London, crowds ccelebrating Bastille Day in France etc. These were all acts carried out by Muslims in the name of Islam.
It’s no wonder that many people have a suspicion of Muslims and Islam! The wonder is that more people do not. The West today is the most tolerant society in history and the suggestion that we are seeing a rising tide of “Islamophobia” is utterly ridiculous.
If there is any analogy at all between 1930’s Germany and the West today, it is the non-Muslims who are the Jews of the 21st Century and Muslims who are the Nazis.
It is Muslims killing non-Muslims in the West today while governments, media and assorted useful idiots on social media rush to Islam’s defence. After every Islamic terrorist atrocity, the first concern of the Left is the avoidance of the “Islamophobic” backlash that never, ever happens.
To them, “Islamophobia” is far, far worse than anything ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Quaeda, Al-Nusra etc do.
While Muslims in the West today complain about a rising tide of “Islamophobia,” over funny looks on the bus, strips of bacon hung on the door handles of mosques and the occasional instance of verbal abuse and hijab-pulling, spare a thought for the besieged Christian minorities of the Muslim world, timidly celebrating Christmas this year while living in the very real fear of their churches being firebombed and members murdered while Muslim governments look the other way.
