2 ms·

Perhaps the phobia suffix in this case is being used as a political tool? Do you really think that ex-Muslims are irrationally fearful of Muslims? Or, perhaps

Perhaps the phobia suffix in this case is being used as a political tool? Do you really think that ex-Muslims are irrationally fearful of Muslims? Or, perhaps is handwaving away as "phobia" a cop out to any criticism at all? EDIT: Seems like it still works, just call someone a phobe or an ist and instantly shut down any criticism. There are no ex-Muslims with valid issues against Islam because they're just bigoted, obviously. Use whatever word games you need in order to shut down conversation. Pretty interesting coming from the same people that say they care about women, gay, and minority rights.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> Perhaps the phobia suffix in this case is being used as a political tool? The use of “-phobe” as a suffix with the meaning “bigot against” (rooted originally in the belief that bigotry is tied to fear, but now operating largely independent of any assumption of the basis of the particular bigotry) is pretty well-established in English; the main case where its not used are for gender-based bigotry where the “mis—ist” circumfix is used around an existing Greek root.