4.725 "Dhimmis" in 30 days of Blogging

To Senator Joe McCarthy, anybody who did not share his brand of virulent anticommunism, or who had not done so at any moment in the past, was "soft on Communism". Being judged a "fellow-traveller" was worse: You were barred from many professions, or, like Charly Chaplin, exiled abroad.
Calling people "Dhimmi"*), is a modern variety of McCarthyism. It has become a favourite sport with (far-)right bloggers, in the US as well as in Europe. It replaces "political correct" in the top-ten of name-calling. It is reserved for those who are judged "soft on Islam(ism)". Anybody who doesn't howl with the fashionable islamophobe wolves in bloggistan, is politically incorrect, is a muslimfriend, or a secret agent for them. Memories of the Nazi use of "Judenfreund" for everybody who did not share their antisemitism, keep coming up.
"Djimmi-Watch"
The first time, I met with the dhimmi-obsession, was, when I sought for (and found) on the internet a Dutch rightwing islamophobe, who had emigrated to the US in 2002. My hit was on an American (NJ) website, called "djimmi-watch". Mr. Verkooijen (for that is his name) had, in 2000, falsely accused a Dutch local Turkish women's charity of embezzling public money and the Mayor of the city of covering that. Seemingly not disturbed at all by of his Dutch fizzle, he continued to spread the Word in the Promised Country, seeing "dhimmis" everywhere.

So, when Dutch blogger Frans Groenendijk started to use the word recently for people, who, in his eyes, bow for Islamism, when they do not condemn Islam as a dangerous and terrorist "culture", I tried to make him see, how far he is getting lost from his principles. As of now, I have had no success.
Dutch xenophobia
Dutch xenophobia continues to gain ground. Some days ago, the Rotterdam city alderman charged with security (police, etc.) asked for forced sterilization of Antillean girls and forced abortion of unwed Antillean young mothers, in case their family-, economic- and social situation were to be deemed "unstable". If this proposal, some weeks before local elections, is already to be considered as reprehensible in itself, what is more alarming still, is the absence of a general outcry in the country against such racist proposals. Even in Romania, where anti-gipsy racism thrives and constitutes one of the main causes for EU-hesitations about its membership, no one in an official position has, to my knowledge, ever proposed this kind of eugenetics.
My "dhimmi"-abuse Watch
But, back to the Dhimmis! In order to convince Frans G. of the connotations the dhimmi-word has got in these times, I did a little and easy Technorati-search for the frequence of the use of the dhimmi-word in blogs. For the last 90 days, is the result this:

(Click on the image for a full and readable version)
During the las 30 days, a sudden dhimmi-jump is shown, making it 4.725 blogs who use the word during that period. A majority of blogs use the word in a pejorative sense, indeed, for (f.i.) the new Canadian Conservative Government, who are not condemning the Muslim protests enough in the eyes of a blogger.
If you click on the heading of this post, you can do the dhimmi-abuse watch yourself. A Technorati page shows, indicating the last 30 days of dhimmi-ing in Bloggistan.
On Februari 18, the 30-days statistics read like this:




To me, the use of the dhimmi-word, even in the modern sense, is covered by the freedom of expression of opinion. I hope, that this freedom may last long enough, to allow me to observe its use publicly and to my calling it stupid, dangerous and infantile.





*) Djimmi or dhimmi is used in Muslim communities for non-muslim minorities, who, under varying conditions, are allowed to observe their religion and to participate economically. It should not be considered as freedom of religion, and, often, very harsh conditions have been imposed on them. The pejorative use of the word stems from the contempt for them, not of Muslims, but of coreligionaries (Jews, Christians, etc.), who, when dhimmis identified with the rulers of their countries, considered them too "soft on islam". A notable example of a djimmi is the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides, who had to flee liberal Andalusia in the twelfth century, when fanatic Muslims from Morocco invaded the region from the South and fanatic Christians from the North. He became a Djimmi representative for the Jews in Alexandria (Egypt) and was free to publish his philosophical and medical studies in Arabic and in Hebrew. Until the French Revolution, Jews in Europe were in Dhimmi-like positions.