Is All Hate Created Equal?

In a country that discusses tolerance as a rule and acceptance as an ideal, do Americans find some hate speech more, well, hateful than others?

In a recent article published by the Christian Science Monitor, correspondent Omar Sacirbey thinks the answer might be a resounding yes.

The latest debate has been sparked by Michael Savage's comments on his nationally syndicated radio show telling listeners that Muslims should be deported, along with rude comments about what they could do with their religion.

Although a number of individuals and corporations have since pulled their advertisements from the show, the comments did not create the same furor that got radio host Dan Imus fired after he denigrated a black women's basketball team. This has led many to question whether the consequences for hate speech against Muslims is less harsh than against other groups.

As the article expounds:

Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson resigned his post as head of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York after suggesting in October that black people are less intelligent than other races. ABC executives decided this year not to invite actor Isaiah Washington back to the cast of the hit TV show "Grey's Anatomy" after he allegedly used an antigay slur. When presidential candidate Jesse Jackson failed to distance himself from anti-Semitic remarks made by Louis Farrakhan in 1983, his campaign suffered. Sen. Trent Lott (R) of Mississippi resigned as majority leader in 2002 after jokingly suggesting that America would be better off today had Strom Thurmond, the late South Carolina senator, won the presidency in 1948, when he campaigned as a segregationist.

On the other hand, presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani has endured little scrutiny for touting an endorsement this month from TV evangelist and onetime presidential candidate Pat Robertson, who has called Islam "Satanic" and the prophet Muhammad "a wild-eyed fanatic."

According to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 35 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of Muslims, and increase from 29 percent in March of 2002. The same survey shows a rise in the number of people who say Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence.

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, is tolerance a rule only for those we believe deserve tolerance?