I'd really like to know

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I have more questions than time so I'll be brief: 1. This weekend marked the 10th anniversary of the Cronulla Riots, Australia's most infamous case of interracial violence since the Gold Rush days. Australians are more tolerant now (witness the #illridewithyou hashtag after last year's Sydney Siege) but such events could clearly happen again. A tidal wave of migration means that tensions - toward Muslims in particular - are building in many Western nations. I don't think there is much doubt that this antipathy will develop into violence, but who is likely to inflict most of it and who is most likely to suffer? 2. A related question: Is it possible to discuss Islam's various problems without being branded Islamophobic? Somewhere between Obama's PC denials and Trump's tactless ravings there must be a middle ground on which all of us can negotiate a way forward. Please note that this question has nothing to do with Muslims as people - I'm talking only about the creed of Islam. 3. Godwin's Law states that as a discussion gets longer, the probability that someone will mention Hitler or the Nazis increases. It's a joke Internet law, but it's all too familiar in the real world. Ben Carson mentioned the unarmed German Jews in his defense of gun rights; Obama is a Nazi; Trump is like Hitler - you can probably think of other recent examples without too much effort. It's understandable that someone as familiar as Hitler should be invoked so often, but it's intellectually lazy and depressingly blind to recent history. Since 1945 there have been dozens of similar regimes and atrocities. There is nothing unique about Hitler and his cronies, but each time we use the Nazis in an argument, a little piece of us pretends that there is. Can you think of any other groups or people we might use in their place? 4. I notice that since the San Bernardino shootings and the subsequent calls for tighter firearm regulations, gun sales have soared. Smith & Wesson is one hot stock right now. This isn't surprising - it happens every time someone mentions gun control. My question: WHY? Is it fear? Is it madness? I do not understand this at all.