Do We Hate America? The Arab Response

[SteveMetz]

Personally I think the percentage of Americans who "ferverently believe" the stuff the religious right puts out is relatively small. Do they answer the phone when pollsters call? Most likely; making them appear to be more of a factor than they really are. But I also tend to suspect that for some people the fear/hatred of Islam might come from a slightly different source than some have considered. Anyone remember the Nation of Islam? There were a fair number of black hate groups in the late 1960s going through to today that wrapped themselves in Islamic trappings. I think for some the "threat of Islam" resonates on a different level than the Middle East.

In any case, the press loves sticking a microphone in the face of someone who's going to say something to ramp people up...so long as it's the 'right' people being ramped up. And I mean 'right' in terms of target audience or ability to make a splash as opposed to political leanings.

I agree with you but would add three points:

1) the number of Americans extremely hostile to Muslims is growing
2) those who are hostile have an influence over politicians greater than their numbers simply because there is no "pro Islam" lobby to counterbalance them. It's the same dynamic as the anti-Castro lobby. For many Americans, it's really hard to distinguish a "good" Muslim from a "bad" one, so they figure they'll just be safe and dislike them all.
3) even though the group may be a small minority, many in the Arab world think they are typical of Americans.