Reply #66: I agree: there will (likely) not be a happy ending here

[Bragi]

Part of the unhappy ending I fear is that this is the kind of situation that American right-wing haters will use to promote Islamophobia.

Typically, the response from the left will be to ignore it as long as possible, and when forced to deal with it, to make a muted statement of perfunctory outrage about the actual events, coupled with a strong condemnation of the other side for being racists (which they are), a forceful appeal for tolerance and harmony (which will sound stupid to many in the context), while quibbling and nit-picking on the details of what's happening.

Which is a precisely why, in my view, the right is making gains promoting Islamophobia. The left prevaricates when actions of some Muslims and some Muslim countries ought to be strongly condemned, and thus makes itself irrelevant to the growing anxiety many people have about what's going on, and to their discussion of this.

(If anyone wants to test this theory, do a google blog search right now and see which side of the political spectrum is now galvanizing around this story from Pakistan, and which side is studiously ignoring it.)