"Islamofascism"

The "right" has been knocking the term "(islamo)fascism" around a lot lately. I suspect they decided to co-opt it as their own, since so many of us have been describing the Bush administration as fascist for the last few years. But, the righties know that they need to twist the definition to suit their agenda. So, they apply it to the muslim religion, knowing that most people who hear the term "islamofascism" won't bother to figure out what the hell they're trying to say, but are already scared of Islam, and pretty much know that fascism is something really, really bad, or at least it sounds awfully bad.

Well, try as they might, they can't escape the fact that fascism is an expression of rightwing extremism, and, of course, we all know who the rightwing extremists are, don't we?

Nonetheless, we have fascism nicely defined in the 14 Points of Fascism (which is also portrayed with cinematic brilliance here).

There is also a wonderful all-in-one page of definitions and explanations of fascism at Answers.com.

My final thought on the right's use of their term "islamofascism" is this: I understand that definitions of such concepts grow and develop as years pass. But if they can apply the concept of fascism to a religion, then they better be prepared to answer for their own Christofascism.