© AFPA group of Muslim students take selfies before Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a speech at a campaign rally on 5 March, 2016 in Wichita, Kansas. During the speech, after they voiced some protests, they were removed from the convention centre.
Glaringly absent from American news media are opinion polls showing that Muslims are no more likely to accept violence than other groups
No sooner had the Belgian attacks happened, commentators on social media began linking the terror acts to the Islamic faith, with the hashtag #StopIslam trending on Twitter.
Empirical data show that Islamophobia,
defined by Professor Todd Green as "an irrational fear, hostility or hatred of Muslims or Islam" is on the rise in American society.
Many Americans are increasingly scared of Muslims, and, given rising anti-Muslim hate crimes - the FBI says anti-Muslim hate crimes have increased fivefold since the September 11 terror attacks - many American Muslims are also growing more scared for their personal safety.Given attacks by Muslim extremists - including the 11 September 2011 attacks - some fear of Muslim terrorists is obviously warranted. But much of Islamophobia borders on the absurd. Islamophobic statements, sentiments and policies tend toward exaggeration and overgeneralisation, and are divorced from empirical realities.
Recent statements made by Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump offer useful cases-in-point. In a recent CNN interview, Trump
stated that "Islam hates us." Trump also
claimed last week that 27 percent of Muslims are radicals who are "very militant".
No one knows where or how Trump's campaign team came up with the 27 percent figure. He may have consulted with noted Islamophobe Brigitte Gabriel, who famously
claimed that Muslim radicals represent "between 15 to 25 percent" of the global Muslim population. "You're looking at 180 million to 300 million people dedicated to the destruction of Western civilisation," Gabriel asserted. Prominent media personality Glenn Beck, meanwhile, has
claimed that 10 percent of the world's Muslims are terrorists.
Comment: The Japanese have had more than enough of the U.S. military presence, and have been consistently protesting for years - it's little wonder.