The Ground Zero Mosque backlash was orchestrated by organized Islamophobia networks

Evidence

However, the Islamic basis of the development, including prayer facilities, and its proximity to the Twin Towers site led to Park 51 being dubbed by protesters the “Ground Zero Mosque.” Anti-Islamic agitators grouped together to oppose the development of what they saw as, in effect, a celebration of the attacks and a bridgehead for an Islamic takeover of America. Nathan Lean traces the orchestration of the protests back to “a tight-knit and interconnected confederation of fear merchants[,] … [b]igoted bloggers, racist politicians, fundamentalist religious leaders, Fox news pundits and religious Zionists,” making up what he calls “the Islamophobia industry.” — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 274

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘Islamophobia industry’ concept — a coordinated confederation of fear merchants — is a usable analytical frame for comparing how organized backlash meets novelistic contestation.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s work on Home Boy and The Reluctant Fundamentalist: the ‘fear merchants’ framing parallels the hostile public discourse both novels respond to. — connects to: Framing victims as white supremacists won the Ground Zero Mosque battle despite Muslim deaths — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 658; The Islamophobia network spans neocons, Zionists, Christian Right, and ex-Muslims; Mass progressive mobilization defeated the Islamophobia network in the Ground Zero Mosque fight (+2 more)