Well, ~M~, I blame it on the Commies a.k.a. "The Red Menace".

Or maybe "The Yellow Peril".

They used to be the stock bogey-men that scared the shit out of a certain type of folk, but they've been falling down on the job of late.

Someone had to fill that void for those who simply can't be happy without some apocolyptic shibboleth to be constantly in terror of. Hence "The Muslim Peril" and its attendant psychopathology.

In time, they'll be replaced by another phantasm, which I'm sure will scare the crap out of you just as well.

Enjoy.