Islamophobia can also generate Islamophilia, an apologetic and generically affectionate relationship to Islam and Muslims. As I will show, Islamophilia itself can pose serious challenges to the effective incorporation of Muslims in American society. This is so for two reasons. First, advocates and opponents of Muslim inclusion often share underlying assumptions about Islam, citizenship, and national belonging, and a positive or negative spin on those assumptions does little to modify their political effects.

QUESTION: What specific mechanisms make Islamophilia counterproductive to the same extent as Islamophobia? Builds on: "Positive stereotyping perpetuates the essentializing logic of Islamophobia."

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 661