Elite America's Contempt for the 99%

Do you remember those horrible days following 9/11, when howling mobs of rednecks ran wild in the streets, hunting down Arabs and beating them to death with clubs and sticks?

And then again, after the unfortunate events at Fort Hood, when a wave of lynchings swept the heartland, and only the intervention of the National Guard prevented the Muslim death toll from reaching triple digits?

Yeah, me neither.

And yet, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, we are once again being warned by our betters that we must control our impulses and must not go out, as we had no doubt planned on doing, to burn down the nearest mosque, machine-gunning everyone, especially the women and children, as they try to escape the flames.

The leftist Salon, in an article titled “Let’s hope the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American” (published shortly after the bombings), said:

As we know from our own history, when those kind of individuals [Muslims/foreigners] break laws in such a high-profile way, America often cites them as … proof that entire demographic groups must be targeted …

An American Muslim writing in UK's The Guardian tells us that:

It seems that until proven otherwise, terrorists are Muslims, and for some, all Muslims are terrorists.

Mondoweiss, a website of ‘Jewish progressives’ says:

It’s happening again: another collective freakout steeped in Islamophobia. The Boston Marathon bombings have unleashed the anti-Muslim sentiment that bubbles under the surface and always shines bright in times of national hysteria.

And the National Geographic adds that there are stories circulating of a backlash against Muslims (though it fails to cite any examples):

Americans, particularly the media, also need to recognize the damage that Islamophobia can cause in alienating these young Muslims away from the mainstream religious and civic community. Already there are stories circulating of a backlash against Muslims in the wake of the events in Boston.

What is it with the American elite classes that they think all Americans except them are a bunch of bloodthirsty savages? This is a particularly ugly form of bigotry and one that (if they were as intent on understanding Others as they say they are) they would examine. But of course they won’t – critical self-examination is for plebeians.