Attacks on out-groups divert attention from real crises and expand state power

Evidence

GhaneaBassiri concludes that, while bigotry and prejudice have regularly played roles in the building of American cultural unity by suppressing diversity, attacks on out-groups divert attention from real crises and often lead to the expansion of state power and the erosion of civil liberties. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 43

Categorization

• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 43
• XREF: connects to: A government can manufacture crisis to construct its own people as enemy — , The Braided Reading EPUB: 5-Year…, 111; Revolutionary terror designed to discredit the state often backfires into sympathy for the state. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1523; The state recovered lost social direction by constructing a unified internal enemy (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Crisis-time scapegoating of religious out-groups masks political and economic causes #corroborates (0.85)
• Politicians gain power by promising protection against imagined threats #corroborates (0.80) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 329
• Restricting hostility to one precise target can intensify it dramatically #expands (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 305
• Hate violence can be state-encouraged rather than merely irrational individual deviance #expands (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 101
• Terror attacks spark vigilante violence against perceived Muslims endorsed by state policy #exemplifies (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 134
• Religious framing of terrorism justifies state expansion that erodes due process #corroborates (0.70)
• The War on Terror metastasized into a global network of state crusades against Muslims #exemplifies (0.65)
• Perceived national security threat is the most powerful predictor of hostility toward out-groups. #expands (0.60) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 254
• Being bypassed by a distant battle can produce a false sense of security #complicates (0.50) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 421