Between 2010 and 2014, I served as a senior advisor for the U.S. State Department, and one of my duties was to engage with young Muslim populations around the world. Everywhere I went, I received earnest queries about the perceived difficulties facing Muslim life in America. "How can you stand the hostility you get from other Americans after 9/11?" was one angle, which was odd to hear from Muslims living in a much more intolerant Europe. "Do you even pray or know anything about your religion?" went another, asked more with concern or pity than derision. I suppose if all I depended on was what I read on the internet, I'd feel the same way.
Let's talk about that. Oddly, perceptions in America vis-à-vis Muslims were pretty stable in the years after 9/11, and only began tacking increasingly negative in the past few years. Even then, much of this hostility has kept itself confined to online spaces (thankfully, though recent small public protests around the country are a worrying spillover). The increased heat is due to various reasons, including an influx of foreign anti-Muslim provocateurs (e.g., Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Geert Wilders) and methodologies (e.g., anti-sharia legislation), the rise of ISIL/al-Qaida, etc., and their concordant crimes against humanity, as well as the convenience of having a new political whipping boy to bolster national security credentials come election time. Both distrust of Muslims and concern over their loyalty to America have risen over the past years as a result.
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