A wide range of people and groups have participated in constructing a diabolical “Islamic threat.” What we have seen in this chapter is that the new McCarthyites aren’t aberrations in an otherwise fair and neutral system, despite their rabidly racist views; their role is to push the envelope. To recap, the first group of new McCarthyites discussed in this chapter was a segment of neocons who have devoted themselves to anti-Muslim advocacy through various groups and organizations. However, given that they are part of the foreign policy establishment or from the military, the CIA, the Department of Defense, or other branches of the security apparatus, their ideology is echoed and endorsed by others who share their views but may not explicitly identify as neocons. Other Islamophobic warriors include right-wingers of various stripes—Zionists, Christian fundamentalists, and right-wing ex-Muslims and Christians from the Middle East and South Asia. Their arguments are made more palatable by the liberal Islamophobes who populate the academy, the mainstream media, and various think tanks.

XREF: Connects to historical McCarthyism as a parallel for how ideological networks mainstream fringe views across political institutions.

Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politi…, loc. 571