It's not actually unmeasurable. It's
completely measurable, and is in fact one of the many types of hate crimes tracked by the FBI alongside Sikh's, Jews, Catholics, Protestants and gender identity, etc. And because of that, we can measure that the problem has skyrocketed since 2001, and that hate crimes against Arabs is actually startlingly large compared to the actual total population of Muslims in the country.
Of course, it's quite easy to diminish huge problems as they exist from our comfy chairs wherein we don't face the daily scrutiny of irrational hate from bigoted fellow country men, but if you are a person of color or you are a Sikh who has heard shit being yelled at you just because you wear a turban, you know exactly how serious the problem is. This fear takes on all forms - from the fear of physical harm to the fear of humiliation. And it's a problem that grows the more we politicize this entire group of people through the irresponsible lens of terrorism.
I have several Muslims friends, and depending on the story going on I have heard them express fear. For example, after the beheadings by the ISIS of those American captives my friend Muhammad shared concerns that he was going to be attacked walking the streets. He said it half-jokingly, half-serious... but it's the type of comment that, knowing him, was revealing a genuine deep seated fear.
And of course,
you can watch any segment on this problem and see honest, everyday Muslims expressing genuine fear about the rising tide of hate toward that community.
But hey, if we diminish the problem, that's the exact same way we fix them. Trollface.gif
