When an angry crowd mistook this Coptic Christian man for a Muslim, did that count as a backlash? What else explains the Koran burning event this Florida church is planning (guess what day the event is scheduled). Or consider the Temecula, California mosque project that is also apparently too close to Ground Zero.These are all very recent news items. So what can this assertion that "there has been no “anti-Muslim” backlash actually mean? That it hasn't been as bad as some people feared? If that is what Mr. Goldberg means he should say it.I'd also like to re-link to this This American Life episode on the lengths to which a school went to ostracize and ultimately expel a local Muslim-American family.
The bullish case for Brazil
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In a country of 300 million people, the 500 or so examples he can list seem awfully thin gruel.
ReplyDeleteThese strike me more as the exceptions that prove the rule.
(It also seems like he's playing the silly game of being hyper-literal. Goldberg wasn't suggesting that no single instance of anti-muslim activity occurred. Any honest reading of his work would understand that. But the relative dearth of anti-muslim sentiment/action overall speaks volumes about American tolerance.
Particularly when you think about how other nations have reacted to lesser circumstances (see India, African riots), it's pretty clear that by almost any measure, there has been no backlash in the U.S.. And thank God.