Islamophobia chiefly functions to deflect attention from domestic economic failures

Evidence

Indeed, Islamophobia—like all prejudices—actually reveals more about those holding the prejudice than it does about its objects. A demonic Islamic enemy is all the better for diverting attention from intractable economic and social problems caused by late capitalism and the socially eviscerating tendencies of neoliberalism. Islamophobia makes its claim to the ground of common sense by providing simplistic explanations and scapegoats for society’s ills. It directs the attention of those who have suffered most at the hands of an inequitable system away from national political failures toward an alien wedge portrayed as intent on mayhem and carnage. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 40

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the scapegoating function Hamid’s Changez describes in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and the post-9/11 suspicion of ‘aliens’ that Naqvi’s Home Boy dramatizes.