While its principal propagators insist that it is a myth, Islamophobia persists as one of the final forms of acceptable bigotry. It is, as I have stated time and again, that last bastion of tolerable hate that is not only palatable in the popular sphere, but a hate that pundits build careers off of, politicians claim power through, and hatemongers—seated before church stages and carrying tiki torches across college campuses—openly spew. In 2022, it is mostly acceptable to be Islamophobic. Engaging in it, by way of political statement or slur, will likely not invite the sort of reprimand tied to anti-Black, anti-Semitic, or homophobic expressions.

QUESTION: What constitutes Islamophobia, and does the author's claim of unique acceptability hold across global contexts or within Muslim-majority societies?

Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamopho…, loc. 346