Islam and Racism

Submitted by Jason Pappas (United States), Nov 22, 2005 at 15:15

You are right, Mr. Pipes, to vehemently oppose the corruption of the word, racism. There are those who want to extend the well-deserved condemnation of racism to alleged over-generalizations concerning demographic groups and belief systems. By this ploy they wish to exploit a pre-canned condemnation to suppress any discussion and debate.

This, of course, is nominalism: the fluid use of words stretched arbitrarily to mean whatever satisfies some expedient purpose. However, I remember in your debate with Lawrence Auster that you took the nominalist position with respect to Islam. At that point you said Muslims could redefine Islam in any arbitrary manner instead of referring to a well-defined doctrinal system centered on the teachings and example of Mohammad.

If Muslims can say, "Islam is nothing more than what we say it is," can you object to, self-described anti-racists, who seek such a fluid usage of words?

Sincerely,
Jason Pappas
http://libertyandculture.blogspot.com/

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