When both bad Muslims and good Muslims are irrelevant and exceptional, something is clearly wrong with the terms of debate. The potential for being ordinary and unmarked disappears, as do the moral gray zones in which most of us are privileged to live, unburdened by the obligation of constantly proving our loyalty and constantly having that loyalty questioned.

XREF: Connects to frameworks on identity politics and how labels collapse moral gray zones, and to broader debates about who must constantly prove belonging.

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 711