Oh. My. God. Recently, I read this Newsweek story about a WalMart in Dearborn, Michigan, catering to its local Arab-American community by selling middle eastern products. I have problems with WalMart's business practices and reserves about the behemoth chain putting out the local Arab mom and pop shops. But upon reading the article, I gave the store props for celebrating diversity.

Then I read the comments following the article, and while I am not completely surprised, I am disappointed at the volume of anti-middle eastern sentiment expressed in the thread. Some ignorant shmuck even took a dig at Sen. Barack Obama for supposedly being Muslim. Whatever!

Posted By: AmyJRock @ 03/03/2008 1:09:40 PM
Comment: Just one more reason not to shop at Wal-mart. The list is growing. Do you think stores in the middle-east are opended with Americans in mind, I think not.

Posted By: deni520 @ 03/03/2008 1:09:37 PM
Comment: This is insane! You come to the US, you speak english and conform to our ways. Have people forgotten that as we cater to these people we have young men and women dying in their country? C'mon Walmart - how can you say you're American when you don't stand behind American ways?

Posted By: mtthw @ 03/03/2008 1:12:49 PM
Comment: First Wal-Mart next the white house.... Go ahead and vote Obama.

Posted By: julileav @ 03/03/2008 1:10:11 PM
Comment: How amazingly scary! We are giving away this country to middle easterners who denounce our ways and hate us for BEING AMERICAN! They take our jobs, run our hotels, drive our taxis, smell up our neighborhoods with their weird food, and now Walmart, in a drive to make yet another buck, is going to cater to their desires!!!! What's next, schools start teaching our children to speak arabic and how to construct a strap-on bomb?!?!?! This country is going to no good place with this type of mentality.

The hatred did not stop there. It extended to other groups as well: