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Does the word "Islamic Fascist" (or "Islamo-Fascist") make sense? I'm thinking that it doesn't. Islam is a religion, sometimes having an undiffentiated view of life including politics, ethics, law, and science as subordinate to its religion. Fascism is an economic theory that subordinated all elements of society-- religion, politics, ethics, law, and science-- to the state. The most virulent form was of course Nazi Germany, but milder versions existed in Italy and some Latin American countries. I have great difficulty conjoining even the most radical versions of Islam-- one that wishes the extermination of Western civilization-- with fascism. Fascism was basically an economic and political theory and had nothing to do with religion unless religion was an instrument of the state. By contrast, even the most fundamentalist and radical Muslim, it seems to me, would consider the state an instrument of its religion, not religion an instrument of the state. I think the reason the phrase is used by Bush and others is because they use the propaganda technique of transferance-- the fascism of the holocaust to anti-western Middle Eastern radicals of today. I think it's also prejorative as it marries a benign faith with extremist politics. It has, in my view, no more meaning than if someone used the phrase Christian fascists, Buddhist fascists, Hindu fascists, or Jewish fascists. See this link for more analysis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamofascism |