American anti-Muslim sentiment is old but stayed politically latent until recently

Evidence

American Anti-Muslim attitudes are as old as the United States. Through out its history, large segments of American society have identified Islam with tyranny, intolerance, misogyny, violence, sexual promiscuity, and heathenism. 2 These sentiments, however, remained latent in national politics and discourse until recently. 3 One is hard-pressed to find public opinion surveys that inquire into attitudes toward Muslims prior to 9/11. In one of these rare surveys conducted a few days before the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, one can see that the general public for the most part had little knowledge and interest in Islam at this time. When asked to give their impression of Islam, the majority (62 percent) said that they “haven’t heard enough to say” or they are “not sure.” Fourteen percent had favorable impressions and 22 percent had unfavorable impressions. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 247

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with later chapters’ accounts of an older Orientalist tradition — the pre-9/11 indifference vs. deeper running prejudice.