GhaneaBassiri concludes that, while bigotry and prejudice have regularly played roles in the building of American cultural unity by suppressing diversity, attacks on out-groups divert attention from real crises and often lead to the expansion of state power and the erosion of civil liberties.

XREF: Echoes broader historical patterns of scapegoating and its relationship to authoritarian state-building that appear in other political-historical sources.

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 43