Islamophobia (for lack of a better word)

First of all, I want to publicly commend Dean Esmay for challenging right-wing bigotry (you heard me) against Muslims. It ought to go without saying that I am not referring to opponents, peaceful or otherwise, of Al Qaeda, Hamas, The Taliban, Hezbollah, Wahhabism, Algerian Salafism, etc., ad nauseum. I am referring here to those who demonize a billion people — including my wonderful old West Beirut neighbors, as well as the Iraqi Kurds who love us more than anyone else in the world — as mortal enemies.
Dean has been relentless on this question lately, and the only support I’ve seen him get is in his comments section. But perhaps I haven’t been paying enough attention.
A while ago he invited Ali Eteraz, an American Muslim who eschews the “moderate” label, to blog with him.
I want to direct you to an essay Ali wrote about his experience in an Ann Coulter chat room. Yes yes, I know, there are plenty of jerks on the Internet and of course some of Ann Coulter’s fans are going to be mean to a believing Muslim. So what, right?
Read it anyway. It’s quite a story. And Ali is a real stand-up guy.