I believe this Muslim/terrorism issue is similar: guilt by proximity.That's why it's incumbant upon the associated to expunge themselves of the associated guilt. Just because I hang out with rapists don't make me a rapist, right?
You bring up the example of the South & the KKK. Certain North/Central States had as high and sometimes higher per capita KKK membership than Southern States, but they avoided the stigma of the association. That's because they actively ridded themselves of it and in general not only decried it but acted against it in mainstream act and thought. The South earned its reputation not through KKK activity but through Jim Crow. The one was a logical extension of the other, and they fed off each other. Same goes with the Muslim Americans. They are not standing up to the challenge. They hide behind tolerance. A more apt analogy might be the abused wife who defends her abuser.
What got me going today was a radio interview with some Muslim American group leader who stated flatly that "Muslim Americans" are opposed to this war. Oh, really? I guess all those hundred thousand Iraqi exiles in Detriot are Saddam agents and sympathizers?
That kind of crass dismissal of dissent within their own only leads to an ugly reputation from without. They're employing the same logic as the anti-war protestors who claim to be against the war but supportive of the troops. The President nailed them all with "You're either with us or against us." Ain't no half way with this one.