Missing the Point

So what's the difference? It is this. Some expressions of bigotry are permissible in this country and some aren't. One had best keep your anti-black racism to yourself — or pretend it's just about Obama as the Limbaughs and right-wingers do. Same with Jews, where, as the Thomas case demonstrates, expressing disdain for Israel, let alone Jews, can be a career killer. But it's still okay to express open prejudice towards gays and lesbians, Latino immigrants (legal or illegal) and, above all, Muslims and Arabs. [From Jeff Goldberg Defends Marty Peretz — But Not That Bigot, Helen Thomas] islamophobia, anti-Muslim

Islam and the Lagging Economies of the Arab World : The New Yorker. But, before consigning a fifth of humanity to the dustbin of economic history, one might consider, more broadly, whether it makes sense to place such an emphasis on religion in explaining the underdevelopment of so many Muslim countries. To start with, it’s worth noting—and Kuran and Lewis, to their credit, do note it—that Islam, at least in its original formulation, was far from hostile to business. As the centuries passed, many Muslim regions fell badly behind the West, but the most immediate explanation involves not Islam but…