Zaid Jilani focuses on the positive results in a recent poll of Tennessee residents, conducted in the midst of a controversy over a proposed Islamic community center in Murfreesboro that has been the target of professional Islamophobes. The poll finds that "sixty-seven percent of Tennesseans polled said Muslims deserve the same rights as any Americans and only 14 percent disagreed," and that "[sixty-six] percent said they either supported or did not object to the construction of a new Islamic center in Murfreesboro, while only 28 percent objected."
Good stuff. But there are other more mixed results. Consider:
Fifty-six percent of Tennesseans “disagree” or “strongly disagree” with the idea that Muslims in the United States should be required to register their whereabouts with the government. Only 32 percent “agree” or “strongly agree” with this proposal. Six percent “neither agree nor disagree.”
An even larger majority, 66 percent of Tennesseans, “agree” or “strongly agree” that it is wrong to profile people as potential terrorists solely on the basis of being Muslim. Only 25 percent “disagree” or “strongly disagree.” Three percent “neither agree nor disagree.”
So some of the people who think it's "wrong" to profile terrorists on the basis of being Muslim also believe that Muslims in the United States "should be required to register their whereabouts with the government." Part of this is the general ideological incoherence of the American electorate, part of it is a genuine clash between first principles all Americans cherish and our own fears about Muslims and Islam, with the latter leading a large number of people to some pretty disturbing conclusions. But then, there always seems to be 25 percent of the population willing to believe anything, so maybe I'm just being pessimistic.
