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<\/center><\/p>\nAlthough the neologism that is Islamophobia dates back to the 1990\u2019s, it was not until after September 11, 2001 that the intolerance was so rampantly widespread that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, stated that \u201cwhen the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry, that is a sad and troubling development.\u201d While its definition, and for that matter, existence as a term, is contentious, many agree that Islamophobia is the hatred and fear of Islam and by extension, all Muslims. Though as much as I would like to say that American Islamophobia only emerged after 2001, the unfortunate truth is that it and the driving themes behind it have been around for quite some time; it is only after that cataclysmic day that it reared its ugly head that much higher.<\/p>\n
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According to Hussein Ibish<\/a>, Senior Research Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, what we recognize today as Islamophobia is merely a reincarnation of 20th century anti-Semitism, a time when it was popular to create fantastical scenarios wherein Judaism and its followers were \u201cdedicated to plotting and carrying out the violent overthrow of American and Christian Capitalist society.\u201d Sound familiar? That\u2019s because it is.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ibish also uncovered some other popular anti-Semitic literature of the era, and the parallels between now and then are alarmingly similar. Just substitute \u201cMuslim\u201d for \u201cJews\u201d in statements like \u201cJewish immigration to the United States is a weapon of this war and a mortal peril\u201d or \u201cJews are religiously authorized to lie to, cheat, steal from and murder non-Jews whenever possible,\u201d and you\u2019ve got a winner.<\/p>\n Coming a little closer to September 11, the entire Muslim-American population was quick to be called the culprit for another horrific terrorist attack, this time at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. KFOR, the local news station, received an anonymous phone call that day from a man who claimed his membership to the \u201cNation of Islam\u201d as well as the responsibility for the bombing. Although unaware if the claim was accurate, the news station chose to air this claim several times that day, which resulted in over 200 hate crimes being committed to Arab and Muslim Americans in the next 72 hours, according to a report by the Arab American Institute. Suffice it to say, the perpetrator was not, in fact, a Muslim, but rather Timothy McVeigh, a homegrown terrorist who claimed to be a devout Christian.<\/p>\n Despite the fact that those responsible for the unnecessary deaths on September 11 were by no means identical to the majority of Muslims in America (much like many devout Christians are nothing like Timothy McVeigh), and the fact that over 300 people who died that day were Muslim, the unwarranted hatred continued, this time with a vengeance. From 2000 to 2001, the amount of hate crimes<\/a> (pdf) committed against Arab-Americans quadrupled. <\/p>\n These sentiments were only perpetuated and made legitimate by the remarks of many, like Ann Coulter, who earn their living by being small-minded and hateful. In 2001, Coulter stated, \u201cWe should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity.\u201d Don\u2019t worry, Ann; some of your conservative comrades have been trying.<\/p>\n While by no means were any of these hate crimes condonable, their prevalence so soon after the attacks is unsurprising. But now? Still?<\/p>\n Recently, Terry Jones, the attention-starved Evangelical pastor who gives quite a few Muslim extremists a run for their money, created another publicity stunt with his desire to host an \u201cInternational Burn a Quran Day,\u201d only deciding against it once high-up officials like General David Petraeus took his inane ideas seriously, and thereby spread Jones\u2019 hateful and bigoted beliefs to an entire population of people who may never have known this Floridian fool otherwise existed.<\/p>\n And then there was the visceral and vitriolic reaction to the proposed construction of an Islamic Community Center close to (and by close I mean two city blocks away from) the former Twin Towers. Newt Gingrich, popular today for his extra-marital affairs and paying for nearly all of his Twitter followers, compared the community center to a Hitler memorial being built next to Auschwitz. The comparison is completely unfair and unreasonable, but if the comparison must be made, a fairer one would be that it is like stationing US troops next to the many Ground Zeros we have created in the Middle East.<\/p>\n And today, political leaders are quivering so much in their proverbial boots about the Islamic \u201ctakeover\u201d that it has actually generated a substantial amount of heat in the Republican primary campaign trail. Recently, Michele Bachmann, largely under the influence of Frank Gaffney, well-known conspiracy theorist and Islamophobe, signed a pledge<\/a> that rejected Sharia law. This pledge also equated homosexuality with adultery, which is something that is illegal in Bachmann\u2019s home state of Minnesota. Funny enough, homosexuality and adultery are also considered crimes in Sharia law. Maybe Bachmann and Muslim extremists can find some common ground, after all.<\/p>\n In addition to calling attention to radical Islam while trying to squash it, Bachmann, along with others, has caught onto the trend of calling President Barack Obama whatever it is that she is currently afraid of. When Obama suggested that NASA increase its outreach efforts into Muslim countries, Bachmann riposted, \u201cThis leaves a lot of Americans wondering, where do this President\u2019s interests lie?\u201d thereby implying that Obama has a bias toward Islam. Suspiciously enough, Obama also has that name that rhymes with You-Know-Who. Bachmann, along with all other Republican fear mongers, knows that all you have to do is plant the seed to watch the paranoia flourish. And she did.<\/p>\n My question is, as a self-proclaimed Constitutionalist and Christian, what would it matter if Obama were a Muslim, Sephardic Jew, or a Mennonite? Both the Bill of Rights and Establishment Clause state that you may practice whatever religion you wish and not be punished or discriminated against because of it. Or to be pithier, there\u2019s even that biblical beaut that commands Christians to \u201clove thy neighbor.\u201d But if it\u2019s the violence about which Michele is concerned, she needn\u2019t worry; democracy and Christianity both have a long history of war, oppression, and intolerance to offer.<\/p>\n Given how angry, scared, and bitter some Americans are about the imminent threat of the \u201cIslamization of America,\u201d one would think that the American Muslim must resemble some sort of blood thirsty sasquatch who seeks to implement his or her violent dogma into every aspect of peaceful American life. Wrong. Or that, you know, these Muslim Americans are really angry with how they\u2019re being treated by the general public. Wrong again.<\/p>\n![\"oklahama](\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Sjyqt.jpg\")
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