Nice Going, Hertz.

Well, Hertz has gone and blown it, firing *twenty-six* Muslim employees for not clocking out during their daily breaks for prayer. Even firing a single employee would have been pretty gauche of them as a business, but when you get anywhere past, say, three or four, then words like "discrimination" and "Religious Tolerance" start to get thrown around.
Not to mention "Lawsuit".

Muslim Youth Win AK-47s, Hand Grenades in Qu'Ran Recital

So, I am having some difficulty believing this is true. It seems too perfect an example of the kind of stereotypes that our Western culture has adopted about Islam, the epitome of yellow journalism.
And yet, there is more.
The New York Times? Really? Wow.
Honestly, this really makes me a little unsure of how I should feel. The label of the extremist, AK-47-touting, turban-wearing Muslim is an image that is all too subtly present in our pop culture, (and probably just as present in our social subconscious). I would be more comfortable with the assurance that the above article is a fabrication, something that WE have invented to justify our own misconceptions, rather than proof of its accuracy. The fact that the contest was orchestrated by the Shabab - a group that has been linked with Al-Quaeda, is even more uncomfortable news.
So what are we to do with this information? Well,
In the same way that within Christianity, you have the Westboro Baptist Church and the Salvation Army, it is important to remember that militant religious groups are in no way representative of the religion as a whole. Extremists will exist in all fields, and where there is extremism and the possibility of disagreement, so also is there the possibility for violence.
For now, I'm hoping that none of those AKs will be put to use.