@Casanova Yes, I'm in Tehran now. I don't want to leave!!!

"Where are you from?" "Australia." "Israel?" "No, Australia *hops like kangaroo*." <-- this happens more often then you might think (:

Oh, here's a conference photo: math.ipm.ac.ir/IPMCCC2017/pictures.jsp#&gid=1&pid=8 I'm the one in color (:

@III-AK-III If you're qualified to answer the meta question, please do. I've been wondering if they're synonyms for a while (it's on my list), but I'm not familiar enough to be sure. (E.g. I was worried one might be more Shia friendly.)

It wouldn't take much editing to fix.

@RebeccaJ.Stones I don't know if I am qualified. I am in watch mode at this stage to understand what is going on first. Then if I find I can participate, I will. This one was an easy and obvious one, that's all. It took me a good year of just reading questions and answers on Islam.SE before I posted my first answer.

Okay (: I don't feel qualified either, but I'm fairly sure they're synonyms.

@RebeccaJ.Stones It takes a lot of effort and research to answer a question on Islam.SE. No wonder we have a lower-than-normal answer rate.

You certainly have an awesomer-than-normal answer rate (:

@RebeccaJ.Stones Oh, thanks. I learn a lot by answering. Especially the questions you, G.Bach, and Kilise ask. Each one of them typically requires hours of research. I am compiling an answer now to your question. Hope I can finish sometime tonight before I go to sleep.

@III-AK-III Meta is generally far less about "qualified to answer" than it is about "have an opinion that i think matters".

@goldPseudo I will do my best to participate in this case. Please direct me when I get out of line, though.

Well, thank you! (:

So @RebeccaJ.Stones are you sunni or shii lol?

@III-AK-III this is so true. It's like writing 3-5 answers on another SE site

@Casanova Neither really... *shrugs*

Oh? I didn't know this.

I think I've seen one in my life in Australia

so why they have to bans something doesn't exists !?

Islamophobia, probably *shrugs*

Far-right :)

Some people in Australia are afraid of "creeping sharia", and the politicians promote that fear to get votes

same in Europe !

"islamophobia" is a pretty lazy idea, like everyone who doesnt like islam is somehow irrational; theres good reasons to not want islam to become more of a cultural or political force than it already is

not that a niqab ban is gonna help that, no idea

@G.Bach "Islamophobia" is far more than just "someone who doesn't like Islam".

@goldPseudo mostly its not

presumably, one can still disagree with and even criticise Islamic ideas without being a bigot.

of course, and in my experience, thats the case with most people who nevertheless get accused of "islamophobia"

calling islamophobia "lazy" just because some people misplay the card just diminishes the very real problem.

you get people like pamela geller and robert spencer who - i havent looked into them much, just an impression - smell of bigotry, and you get people like ayaan hirsi ali whos talking about genuine problems in a factual way and gets called the goon of a hate industry

that's like saying racism doesn't exist because some people tend to overplay the race card when they're the target of anything.

whether it's racially motivated or not.

i didnt say there arent anti-muslim bigots

yet "islamophobic" doesn't apply to them?

heres the thing with that word, its propagating a taboo on criticising islam

oh so i guess that makes it okay then.

makes what ok

diminishing the very real threat that Islamophobia represents to the Muslim world.

can you phrase that less vague and end-of-the-worldy

im not sure what youre talking about

Islamophobia is a problem. You are saying that we can't acknowledge that it is a problem because doing so might prevent people from voicing valid criticism.

im saying its lazy to call every or even most instances of criticism of islam islamophobia, and having it as a knee jerk reaction, and it really harms the discourse

im not saying theres no anti-muslim bigotry

and im not saying that we should ignore the anti-muslim bigotry that exists

we're just not allowed to try pointing it out?

sure, and you should, just dont be startled when someone points out when you try to call wolf when there isnt one