McCarthyism and Islamophobia were systematic products of state power, not outsized individuals

Evidence

In his book The Great Fear, historian David Caute showed that McCarthyism wasn’t simply about one out-of-control senator, but a political system (including both Democrats and Republicans) that allowed a figure like Joseph McCarthy to set the political agenda. McCarthy was a useful tool in prosecuting the Cold War—particularly in creating a climate of fear where dissent could be punished and neutralized. The right-wing Islamophobic warriors play a similar role during the era of the war on terror. They are not “alien outsiders” but emerge from within the political establishment, the security apparatus, the academy, think tanks, and the mainstream media. Thus, far from “infiltrating” an otherwise sound democratic system, the “new McCarthyites,” as I call them, are a product of, and sit comfortably within, the structures of US empire; their role is to elevate and legitimize overt racism. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 640

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Mirrors the argument about moral panics being elite-driven instruments of social control rather than grassroots eruptions. Also parallels the Milgrom point that institutions arise to serve systemic functions.
• SEED: Angle: the ‘useful enemy’ as an institutionally manufactured phenomenon — comparing McCarthy’s role in the Cold War to Islamophobia networks in the war on terror could anchor an essay on how states weaponize fear through establishment insiders.

Related

• Islamophobic warriors are establishment insiders who legitimize overt racism, like McCarthy did (similarity 0.91)
• Right-wing Islamophobes mirror McCarthy as system-insiders servicing empire, not fringe outsiders (similarity 0.90)
• McCarthy-style anti-Muslim warriors emerge from within the establishment, not outside it (similarity 0.89)
• Islamophobia network figures are integrated into the US establishment, not marginal extremists. (similarity 0.85)
• New McCarthyites are integrated into the foreign policy and security establishment, not aberrations (similarity 0.85)
• The anti-Muslim right wing emerges from within US empire’s establishment, not outside it (similarity 0.84)
• Right-wing Islamophobes are structurally embedded rather than marginal figures (similarity 0.82)
• Islamophobia warriors are integral to the establishment, not fringe aberrations (similarity 0.81)
• Right-wing Islamophobes are inside the establishment, not fringe infiltrators (similarity 0.80)