I'm not sure if it's reassuring or troubling that small-minded anti-Islamic bigotry isn't unique to the United States. The French daily Le Monde reports on the case of a 9 year old boy who was denied a place on a children's game show solely because of his first name: Islam.
"You must understand that the name of your child makes reference to a religion that the French don't like very much," the casting director told the boy's mother. "It could shock people."
The show even urged them to have the boy use a pseudonym instead, which the family refused.
Naturally, after the story went public, the show called invited the boy back on the show and 'apologized' (the usual 'this goes against the values of the production company bla bla bla'). The family declined, seeing through this transparent attempt at PR damage control.
Rejecting a child because of something as trivial as his first name is something you might expect on an elementary school playground. Imagine this boy's parents having to explain why so-called adults would do such a thing.
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