For anyone who doubts that our "best and brightest" are living in a fantasy world, look at this article in The Columbia Spectator:
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Columbia’s vigils and memorial services allow us to mourn victims and condemn terrorism. Moving forward, however, they should condemn not only terrorism, but also the specific Islamophobic attitudes and policies that facilitated the recent attacks.
First of all, it is important to recognize that terrorist attacks are usually not arbitrary events without any justification—they often are responses to institutionalized hate and oppression. Unfortunately, the Brussels attacks are not that surprising because Islamophobia is widespread in Belgium.
It comes as no surprise that the municipality Molenbeek—the site of one of the explosions—has an unemployment rate of more than 25 percent where the majority of Muslim youths are denied equal access to the labor and housing market. This is just the tip of the iceberg of Belgium’s Islamophobic attitudes and policies. Thus, although Islamophobia is certainly not the only reason the Brussels attacks occurred, it needs to play a critical role in explaining these attacks.