Here’s a worthwhile account of the Islamophobia panic among British elites. The panic is quite comprehensible—in times of stress a society needs to reaffirm its core beliefs, and Western political life is now based on what the article calls “a profound distrust of the public – a fear that base sentiments lurk under the surface, only requiring a spark to be unleashed.”
I always thought the
I always thought the -ophobia in political terms referred to one’s dislike for any one or anything protected by the ruling class: homophobia, anglophobia, xenophobia, etc. The described person is said to have an irrational fear with the inference that he is mentally deranged or insane.