Reversing prejudice into its positive mirror image still dehumanizes its object

Evidence

But Islamophobia cannot be cured by simply saying that Muslims are good people. To use the language of political scientist Carl Schmitt, shifting Muslims from the category of enemies (Islamophobia) to friends (Islamophilia) simply perpetuates the same essentializing logic, but with an equally distorted positive view of Islam. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 55

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes Islamophobia from Islamophilia as symmetrical products of the same essentializing logic.
• XREF: Connects directly to the friend-enemy distinction in Carl Schmitt’s political theology, and to the ‘good Muslim, bad Muslim’ framing used elsewhere in contemporary cultural criticism. — connects to: Benevolent assimilation further humiliates the person it claims to equalize — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 117