Islamophobia in the Blogosphere

It has been less than a month since Muslims Against Sharia published the manifesto, and we discovered to our dismay that Islamophobia is alive and well in the blogosphere, supposedly the more open minded part of humanity. I am not referring to rednecks who have more guns than teeth and whose first morning thought is “I’m gonna bag me some Muslims today.” I’m also not referring to CAIR’s shrieks every time someone utters a phrase “Islamic Terrorist.” I am talking about deep-seeded perception among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, that no free thought or reform can come from within Islam. Every time a bomb blows up in Iraq or a cartoonist receives a death threat, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that it is a manifestation of Islamic terrorism. However, when someone like Muslims Against Sharia advocate Islamic reformation, they are met with suspicion or outright dismissed as a fakes. By both, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. I could understand the non-Muslim perspective; Islamic criminals have been terrorizing them for decades in the name of Islam. But why us, Muslims? Where all this self-hatred is coming from? Why the mere notion that some of us might want to leave in peace with non-Muslims is regarded as blasphemy and discarded as something that could not possibly come from a REAL Muslim? Maybe we need to learn how to stop hating ourselves before we can take the next step. Where are those “spiritual leaders” when you need them?