Islamophobes are drawn to cities where Muslims thrive.

Evidence

Anti-Muslim activists like Terry Jones, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, the Bible Believers, and the Westboro Baptist Church are drawn to Dearborn because they see it as an abomination, as a dangerous exception to the American norm. In fact, Dearborn is proof that an alternative American reality, one in which Islam is normal and Muslims enjoy political support, is possible and will become increasingly common in future. The Muslim presence in the West has been growing steadily for over a century, through immigration and conversion. Mosques can be found in every major city of Europe and North America, and the idea that Muslims can only be foreigners is now a position that must be vigorously argued, with obvious ideological bias. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 707

Categorization

• XREF: Converges on the reader’s project: intolerance as psychological reaction to what unsettles the fearer’s worldview.
• QUESTION: Why Dearborn specifically functions as the flashpoint — worth checking the chapter’s fuller reasoning.