Actually...

Submitted by Jacob (United States), Sep 14, 2010 at 12:22

Israeli soldiers don't shoot through human shields. It's against their ROE. I know that because I am Jewish, have been to Israel, and some of my best friends there are soldiers.

Obviously I am not referring to Israelis shooting through human shields when I refer to Islamophobia on the right. I don't even know why you asked that question.

When I refer to Islamophobia on the right, I mean the instinctive tendency to resort to collective punishment, to blame all Muslims for the crimes of only a very few. Indeed, far more Muslims are victims of Islam than are perpetrators. This tendency isn't limited to the right, but it is more common there.

There is a great diversity within Islam. There are Sufis, mystics, Shias, Sunnis, modernists, literalists, feminists, black nationalists, literally hundreds of forms of Islam, a kaleidoscopic mass of beliefs and practices. It is, in short, a religion. But most people on the right see only a caricature of one or two admittedly backwards forms of Islam. That is what I mean by Islamophobia.

And besides, I do not understand why you don't appropriate the term as a badge of honor. If I told you I was a Muslim, wouldn't you be prejudiced against me? Isn't that prejudice what you are defending, what you are saying is legitimate?

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