These are all recorded inventions and contributions to modern civilization by what some Germans would call “genetically less intelligent” Muslims.

In his new book, Deutschland Schafft Sich Ab (“Germany Does Away With Itself”), German banker and politician Thilo Sarrazin puts forward his conclusions that Muslim immigrants are detrimental to Germany. Why? Because according to Sarrazin, intelligence is inherited, not nurtured, and the Muslim population is unfortunately a few IQ points south of the intellectual border. Sarrazin also claims that the Islamic culture is, in and of itself, dangerous to an individual’s success, and the fact that the German Muslim population is making babies means that within 80 years, Germany will be an altogether dumber and less successful state.

Now, to top that mouthful off, it seems as if some Germans are agreeing with Sarrazin and praising him for expressing what’s on everyone’s minds. And that is where I draw the line.

It’s not that Sarrazin’s so-called research is in anyway threatening or valid. What the man is trying to do is pin a nuanced culture and religion down to mere straight-line statistics. This means Sarrazin believes that the world will continue the way it is now, without any change whatsoever—a method of prediction that is widely frowned upon. Yet in an interview with the New York Times, Sarrazin says, “The facts I quoted and analyzed are undeniable and cannot be done away with.”

What troubles me most about Sarrazin’s claims is how easily the public digested them. Sure, there were the usual cries for banning the book and gagging the man, but murmurs of assent sounded in the background from people who suddenly realized what a revelation Sarrazin was. Are xenophobic and Islamophobic comments that easy to accept, as long as a public character utters them? Maybe in less wholesome countries, but surely not in our glorious United States? Americans are far too well-educated and worldly for that kind of trash talk!

Allow me to disillusion you.

On Oct. 29, American political commentator Bill Maher raised some eyebrows (but clearly not enough) when he confessed his alarm over the fact that Mohammed has become the most popular baby name in Britain. On his HBO program, “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Maher said, “Am I a racist to feel alarmed by that? Because I am. And it’s not because of the race, it’s because of the religion. I don’t have to apologize, do I, for not wanting the Western world to be taken over by Islam in 300 years?” The audience was shocked into silence; and the show continued on.

What I see here is not the problem of people making Islamophobic comments; it’s people listening to these comments and staying silent or accepting it as fact. The root of Islamophobia is a lack of information. In fact, according to a poll conducted by the University of Muenster, less than 40 percent of people in West Germany said they had any contact with Muslims at all, while only 16 percent of respondents in East Germany had had personal encounters with Muslims.

And yet, a large portion of the German public is convinced that Muslim immigration is at the heart of all Germany’s problems. At the risk of sounding like a nagging housewife, I think what the world needs to do is a little less whining and a little more conversing. Then, maybe people like Thilo Sarrazin and Bill Maher will realize that moderate Muslims have already condemned the actions of those few extremists who throw themselves around like Rambo rag dolls.

No matter how loudly America sings its national anthem, no one can deny that a really perverse form of xenophobia is slowly creeping into our nation’s culture—one where we can discriminate against a group of people under the guise of national security, and then nod our heads in self-appraisal for a job well done. Islamophobia is catching on like hipster swine flu within certain pockets of people—people who are willing to turn on the television and swallow spoonfuls of misinformation about Islam from a variety of sources. Mmmm, isn’t prejudice just delicious?

Two years ago, I was a hijabi—I wore the traditional Muslim headscarf to school, work, everywhere. One day, towards the end of my senior year of high school, I was walking home from school when a man decided to take it upon himself to follow me home, threaten me and my family with everything under the sun, and spit on me just as I reached my doorstep. Through a combination of my parents’ fear that something would happen to me and my own disillusionment, I stopped wearing hijab that very day. But I haven’t forgotten the feeling I had when a stranger told me I was worth less than dirt because of a piece of cloth on my head.

So what do we do? Is it OK to let a serious form of discrimination slowly permeate our culture until the norm is to hate on Muslims? As a Muslim myself, I say hell no. As an American, I also say no. Muslims have voices too; now seems like the right time to use them.