> Second, it's sort of unfair to use Islamophobia as the criterion for
> comparison because Europe actually has a lot of Muslim immigrants and we
> don't, so the friction is greater there. In the US anti-Islam is more based
> on ethereal ideology than day-to-day resistance to otherness.
You're making two distinct points that don't really go together. In the United States, at least, anti-Muslim sentiment seems to be the strongest in regions without any significant Muslim presence. In New York, Detroit, and other strongholds, everyone understands that it's really just another religion. Which raises an interesting question: why does regular exposure to Islam have opposite effects on non-Muslim Americans and Europeans?
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."