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When someone says that "Mosques are training grounds for terrorists," as many have claimed lately, then that gives a believer a pretty good reason to attack a mosque.

When a radio show host says, on-air, "If you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up," that is going to plant the idea in somebody's head that this needs to be done.


When someone fantasizes on a blog about burning down an Islamic community center, and says that the "hero" who does so would probably get away with it due to probable apathy from New York's finest, that encourages a terrorist to act.

When even the most moderate and Americanized of Muslims, such as Imam Rauf--who has tirelessly worked towards religious tolerance and peace with the State Department under two presidents, and with the FBI--is constantly misconstrued by everybody on the right wing as some sort of terrorist sympathizer, this gives believers a reason to suspect all moderate Muslims of being potential terrorists.

Words have consequences. Words are fuel to action. Violence directed at any social group never becomes widespread spontaneously; it always follows propaganda. The victims must be dehumanized before they can be killed or oppressed. Oftentimes, as with African-Americans during the formation of the KKK, the group will be presented as a threat to the dominant class. The ANB condemned the Madera Muslims as terrorists, all while committing an act of terrorism themselves. The irony simply did not register with them.

Once again, I stress that most of the Cordoba opponents wouldn't actually support these violent radicals in their acts of hate. But they've certainly given them a reason commit them.

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