Tribune: There seems to be no bottom to the cesspool of Islamophobic rhetoric coming from Republican candidates.
The tone of anti-Muslim musings post-Paris attack has become so poisonous that it cannot portend anything positive.
In the latest, the Republican front-runner said the United States would have “absolutely no choice” but to close some mosques. And, when asked by a reporter, he seemed to suggest he wouldn’t have a problem registering Muslims, which many have condemned, comparing it to the way Jews were once treated. (After heavy bipartisan criticism, he tried to walk back his remarks about the registry.)
Muslim republican gives best response to Islamophobic discussion on Fox News
And then Dr Ben Carson drew a tortured parallel between Syrian refugees, who are mostly Muslim, and “a rabid dog running around your neighborhood.”
Robert McCaw, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Al Jazeera that Carson’s remarks were “unthinkable,” saying, “There is only one thing you do with a rabid dog — and that’s put it down.”
Indeed, this is the problem with reckless, racist rhetoric: Each utterance tosses one more log onto the bonfire that can burn out a space for the unimaginable.
Categories: Accepting Islam, America, Americas, Anti-Islam Attitude, The Muslim Times, USA