The Atlantic

Letter: The Trouble With Staying Silent on Ideological Extremism

A commentator argues for a thorough probe of the ideological spectrum of Islamophobia.
Source: Mark Baker / AP

After Christchurch, Commentators Are Imitating Sebastian Gorka

After the tragedy at Christchurch, New Zealand, Graeme Wood wrote recently, a funny thing happened: “Everyone discovered, all at once, that ideology matters.” But just as important as this recognition, Wood argued, is the ability to differentiate on an ideological spectrum. To fail to do so “leads to catastrophic blunders”: In The New York Times, for instance, “Omer Aziz the neuroscientist and atheist Sam Harris, as well as the Canadian psychologist and lobster enthusiast Jordan Peterson, of complicity in mass murder for objecting to what they argued are overbroad applications of Islamophobia

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