Ugly Intolerance

From the "Have a right to say it, but it's not right to say file":

[Radio Host] Neal Boortz claimed that "at its core," Islam is a "violent, violent religion," called "this Muhammad guy [is] just a phony rag-picker," and asserted that "[i]t is perfectly legitimate, perhaps even praiseworthy, to recognize Islam as a religion of vicious, violent, bloodthirsty cretins."

This is from a nationally syndicated radio program. (Article here, and audio avialable with the article.)

I think a "nationally syndicated" program would fit within what we could call "mainstream." This demonstrates a concern that I have long voiced: that anti-Muslim bigotry has a home in at least a portion of mainstream America. It's not underground pamphlets or obscure websites. It's nationally syndicated.

Boortz apparently thinks it's "praiseworthy" to be a bigot.

There was an element of this last night on CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck program as well, where he was stereotyping Islam as a "violent" religion and the Muslim world as a "culture of death." (This is the first time I've watched his program- and the last. I found a transcript here). Not as inflammatory by far as Boortz, but still stereotyping, and, as his (moderate) Muslim guest said, he was "taking out the knees" of moderates with his statements- the very people we need to encourage.

We need to reject this sort of bigotry from the mainstream. Only when we do that, will all Muslims feel welcome in mainstream America, and only then will the threat of more radical elements begin to recede.

GP