In an opinion piece in Newsweek, Ali Albassam recounts the terrible ordeal of suspicious looks and unfriendly behavior she encounters on a daily basis just because of her Muslim faith.

In my eyes, I was as American as anyone else my age. I celebrated the Fourth of July with my family, played high school sports and shared many of the same interests as my peers.

But after 9/11, I was frequently bullied in school and harassed in public, especially when I was with a relative who wore a headscarf. These changes made me paranoid, and I struggled with an identity crisis. Seemingly overnight, I went from being a regular American to public enemy number one -- by virtue of my faith.

Unfortunately, the political and social climate for American Muslims has only worsened over time. Anti-Muslim discrimination is now mainstream and heavily ingrained within U.S. culture. We see it on TV news and in Hollywood movies that continuously depict Muslims as terrorists.

Well, maybe if her Muslim brethren would stop butchering, maiming, plowing down, beheading, and blowing up non-Muslims just because they are non-Muslims – all done in the name of her faith (Allahu Akbar) – Ms. Albassam might not have to suffer the horrors of mean looks.  But no.  Ms. Albassam points the finger not at her own tribe as the root cause of her terrible suffering, but at the U.S. non-Muslim citizenry for blaming all Muslims for the actions of a tiny minority.

Certainly it would be stupid to blame all postal workers for a postal worker who goes postal.  Ditto for blaming all mothers for leaving their kids to suffocate in their cars while they shop.  But is it a logical fallacy (hasty generalization smear tactics) to maintain that all members of the KKK share the blame for the actions of a few, or all members of the American Nazi Party for the actions of a few?  Of course not: they share an ideology that motivates such actions.  Now, following the example of our president, it can be maintained that such heinous acts committed in the name of Allah are not the real Islam.  But so what?  It is how the brutal madmen and their mullahs interpret Islam that counts, it is Islamic culture and culture cells all over the world that produce such sadistic zombies and no one else.  With headlines like this coming in from all over the world on a daily basis...

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...what exactly is the rational reaction?  A little suspicion and animosity that Ms. Albassam might just be sympathetic to her brothers in faith?  Until Muslims point the finger at their own and place the blame where it belongs, suspicion is warranted.  As Thomas Sowell has pointed out, innocent until proven guilty works in the courtroom but not in daily life:

“Innocent until proven guilty” is a good rule in a court of law, which has the power to deprive a defendant of liberty or life. But it is mindless and dangerous nonsense to apply that standard outside that context.