Anti-Muslim hate crimes soared by an astounding 50% last year, skyrocketing over 2009 levels in a year marked by the vicious rhetoric of Islam-bashing politicians and activists, especially over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York City.
Although the national statistics compiled by the FBI each year are known to dramatically understate the real level of reported and unreported hate crimes, they do offer telling indications of some trends. The latest statistics, showing a jump from 107 anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2009 to 160 in 2010, seem to reflect a clear rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric from groups like Stop Islamization of America. Much of that rhetoric was aimed at stopping an Islamic center in lower Manhattan.
It was the highest level of anti-Muslim hate crimes since 2001, the year of the Sept. 11 attacks by Muslim terrorists in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. That year, anti-Muslim hate crimes hit a total of 481.
Read more at:
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/11/14/fbi-reports-dr... /
This is the end result of vile people such as Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Frank Gaffney, and a host of others who spew the most hateful venom all over the internet. The irony of it all is that if you carefully read their mindless ramblings, you'll notice how shockingly similar they are to some very old anti-Semitic canards.....essentially, they've simply substituted "Muslims" for "Jews", and redefined a few of the concepts in terms of Islam.
They're not terribly original, to be honest, but their repeated bleating of baseless nonsense has indeed incited violence. As far as I'm concerned, people like the aforementioned (not to mention people such as Joseph Farah, and about 80% of the people on Free Republic) would feel more at home posting their screeds on Stormfront.
I give credit to Charles Johnson over on LGF for purging these vituperative maniacs from his website. If "Anonymous" really wants to the world a favor, they can go and attack Atlas Shrugs blog for a start. Freedom of speech I respect absolutely, but when words inspire violence, there's a red-line that must be drawn. The First Amendment doesn't give a person the right to yell, "Fire!" in a crowded theater.