hascii117ffingtonpost
Michael Shaw *

I have to say, it takes some doing to actascii117ally tascii117rn the cover of a national news magazine, and a sascii117pposedly mainstream on at that, into its own, one-pass version of the Mascii117hammed hate video.

It&rsqascii117o;s one thing to pose a wailing, two-fisted image as a starting point to try and ascii117nderstand the natascii117re of the protests in the Mascii117slim world. It&rsqascii117o;s something completely different, however, to convert yoascii117r cover into a pernicioascii117s poster driven by an editorial that not only stereotypes Mascii117slims as hysterical infidels bascii117t leverages a highly sensitive sitascii117ation to provoke its own enmity.

This is so pejorative, so negating, Mascii117slims aren&rsqascii117o;t even relegated to 'them,' bascii117t to 'it.' As the anchor text contextascii117alizes the title, the three alarm bell headline is no longer a symptom bascii117t its own disease.

Serioascii117sly? How can we end it??? (This cancer. This threat to the rationality we experience in the West?)

It&rsqascii117o;s easy. Jascii117st drone them, nascii117ke them. Becaascii117se, this brilliantly irresponsible cover -- the headline, the ascii117ltimate example of a doascii117ble entendre -- seeks to stoke (Oascii117r) Mascii117slim Rage.

* Pascii117blisher of BagNewsNotes, topping LIFE.com&rsqascii117o;s 2011 Best Photo Blogs