"The Tipping Point" - More Views...

The other day I took issue with Instapundit's Glen Renyolds and NRO's Jim Geraghty's concern that the negative gut response to the Dubai Ports deal was some sort of creeping rascism. My take, in brief:

The point is that for the first time in a long time, the American Street has erupted. The great cry of "No!" to the Dubai ports is a shout against the years of multiculturalism and relativism jammed down our throats, a cry against all those who told us, against our guts, that talking was always perferable to fighting, and that all bad things that happened in the world were somehow our fault. The cry against the port deal may be a turning point more than a tipping point; the American public has given a primal scream of rage against a backdoor deal that they perceive may threaten our safety, and they liked the way it felt.

...The American people are smarter than the world, and the media that incessantly talks down to them, are led to believe. They know their freedom of speech is threatened, and that Iran is a grave danger to world peace, and that the Iraq war is winnable if fought properly....

Right Wing News is on my side, although he comes at it from a different angle, referring again to the myth of the moderate Muslim:

Now, that being said, the level of hostility towards Muslims has in my opinion skyrocketed in the United States, especially over the last couple of years. However, that's not because of George Bush, it's because nary a day passes without reading about some Muslim committing a horrible atrocity in the name of Allah while screeching Imams demand more bloodbaths in front of packed houses at Mosques around the world. Meanwhile, the reaction from Muslim "moderates" has been muted at best. Maybe that's because they're afraid of the radicals. Maybe they are speaking up in great numbers and the media's ignoring them.

Or -- or -- maybe a lot of "moderate" Muslim just don't have that big of a problem with blowing up school buses full of Jews, cutting off the heads of European hostages, or blowing up a train full of Spaniards. Hopefully, that's not the case, but it's hard for people to miss the fact that there are huge crowds of Muslims gathering all over the world to protest a cartoon that was published in Denmark, but few Muslims seem interested in demonstrating against the terrorist attacks committed in the name of Islam against "the infidels."

Those who still believe in the moderate Muslim say they risk their lives, even in Western countries, when they speak out against the atrocities that are commited in their name. Maybe so. But the result of their silence is that it allows other theories, such as those Right Wing News suggest, to take hold.

RWN may be correct, as least as far as the reasons for America's perceptions of Muslims go. But if our perceptions are wrong, than the moderate Muslims need to come out of hiding, NOW, and stand up for whatever it is they believe. Because I am slowly starting to believe the worst...

UPDATE: To be fair; I'll include this link to Gateway Pundit - pics of an anti-terror march in Bahrain...