Survey Finds Americans Intolerant… of Muslim Extremists?

posted at 11:01 am on August 26, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
[ Terrorist Attacks ]   

As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, a new survey finds that Americans remain intolerant of Muslim extremism.

The General Social Survey (GSS), conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, finds that while Americans have grown more tolerant of the free expression of a variety of views, they continue to harbor a grudge against those who would commandeer passenger jets and fly them into buildings in the name of Islam.

Feel free to stop me at any point now. I will affirm it is not April 1 and that this report does not come from The Onion. Someone—in fact his name is Tom W. Smith—decided the world needed a survey probing American sentiment not toward Islam, the religion, but toward Islamist extremism.

Not only that, but Tom W. Smith almost seems surprised by the findings. With a straight (and evidently long) face, he reports that the percentage of Americans who believe “a Muslim clergyman who preaches hatred of the United States” should be able to speak publicly remained unchanged from 2008 to 2010. Each time, only 41% answered affirmatively. Tom also explains helpfully that “these figures are a result of people responding to what they perceive to be a serious threat.”

These findings are less troubling for a libertarian (or at least this libertarian) than you might think. The NORC survey notes that

tolerance has increased for the expression of other non-majority viewpoints. For example, the GSS found that a majority of Americans are no longer opposed to civil liberties for Communists.

From where I stand, this and similar findings are positive developments. The First Amendment protects the rights of any American to speak his mind freely and to participate in the open exchange of ideas. This is all to the good—until words crystallize into actions.

Quite obviously, the practitioners of Islamic extremism long ago tipped their hand that their intentions were malevolent. Every fatwa that they issue, every plan to destroy innocent American lives is another reminder that Islamic extremism has gone way beyond mere words. There can be no healthy debate about the freedoms enjoyed by a group that is bent on the wanton destruction of another.

In the post-911 era, there have at least 30 major terrorist plots against American civilians perpetrated by Islamic extremists, and that represents just the tip of the iceberg. The Department of Homeland Security has been understandably tight-lipped about operations they have foiled.

It is impossible to be forgiving to a sinner who is unrepentant and plans further bad acts. What I want to know is what the two-fifths of American who approve of Islamic extremism are thinking.

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