I found the comparison between homophobia and Islamophobia interesting - especially when they note that if someone made comments about another group like they do about Muslims, it would not be socially acceptable (like comments about Muslims sadly are).
"As Islamophobia grows, it alienates Muslims, raising the risk of homegrown terrorism ? and homegrown terrorism heightens the Islamophobia, which alienates more Muslims, and so on: a vicious circle that could carry America into the abyss. So it?s worth taking a look at why homophobia is fading; maybe the underlying dynamic is transplantable to the realm of inter-ethnic prejudice."
Not sure I agree with their assessment that acceptance of Muslims cannot follow the same pattern as acceptance of gays (which boils down to if you know one and regularly interact with one, you realize they are a person and not evil) because of how small the group is and how geographically isolated they are.
I don't think they are really that "rare", especially if people are well traveled or well read. Get outside the bubble or bubble mentality and there is a great deal of diversity.
And I loved this comment: "Note to Juan Williams: Over the past nine years about 90 million flights have taken off from American airports, and not one has been brought down by a Muslim terrorist. Even in 2001, no flights were brought down by people in ?Muslim garb.?
