I'm tired of this word being thrown around by people as if they're trying to be PC or neutral towards the issue, it's just not true.
I escaped from my cult like family when I was very young after my dad passed away from cancer. I became an atheist at the age of 12 after learning about the big bang. By definition, this makes me an apostate.
My sibling has gotten married and had a child, their child had health conditions so they chose to move to Qatar for the money. My mom has visited them several times without me because I absolutely refuse to go. They always ask why I don't come, stating that it's very "modern" like Dubai, which I've been to and it's absolutely not. They always call me an islamaphobe and that I have personal, rooted hatred for them.
It's literally a law there that apostasy is not allowed, punishable by several years in jail or even death. Sure, there hasn't been an execution in about 20 years, but the law is still there, so why would I risk it when I let the world know publically that I'm an apostate through the Internet?
People who throw the term "islamaphobia" don't seem to understand what phobia means. It literally defines as "irrational fear", and I can't understand why people think it's irrational that I need to fear for my life from these people. If there was an exhibit at the zoo that had lions or gorillas, and they didn't have any kind of accident in 20 years, does that mean I should jump the fence and chill out with them, because they have a cute little environment set up for them? Absolutely not.
My cult like family has stalked me online growing up, watching my every step, and at one point even got me and my immediate family alone into a room just to berate us.
At one of my cousins arranged marriages, someone casually told my mother that if their children didn't believe in God, the parents should have the right to execute their offspring.
Even at a gathering where the speaker has tried to incorporate new, progressive sayings into their recitals, like accepting a man who is with another man, I've always seen someone in the crowd make a fuss and become upset, enough for someone else to intervene.
I'm constantly told by my mother, who's still indoctrinated, that I shouldn't eat pork because it's against her religion. Why? Because they eat mud? Meanwhile, she continues to buy Kit Kats and other Nestle products even after learning Nestle is the most evil corporation in the world, they have killed more babies than Jews have died in world war II, and her precious chocolate is made by the blood, sweat and tears of child slavery.
I mean seriously, what other religion will have people try to hunt you down and put you on their hit list because you drew their child raping prophet, and not even in an offensive way? You could draw a stick figure and label it Prophet Muhammad and someone will attack you for it.
I'm tired of all of this. Islam will never be a religion of peace.
Islamophobia is not real.