I've devoted this blog to revealing new and for the most part promising trends in Muslim media in the hope of challenging the reductionist views some in the West hold of the contemporary Muslim world. I know that for some people these voices don't matter much in the face of a violent extremism that shows no regard for human life and respect for dialogue. But this attitude is precisely what keeps these progressive voices from making a bigger difference in their communities because we think of them as exceptions to the rule and not the rule itself. The biggest challenge facing the world today is how to empower these voices beyond the occasional quirky headline in the paper which is clearly meant to 'balance' the incredible focus on terrorism and extremist Islam. I'm tired of hearing the same question again and again: where are the moderate Muslims? Well, pay attention because they are everywhere, and frankly the media are failing them and their public by not seeking them out. In our project on Muslims in the Mountain West, we're finding an incredible number of what you would consider a moderate Muslim, but many of them have never been approached by journalists. although we'll have to agree on what exactly defines moderation when that question gets asked, as in the words of Tariq Ramadan in a recent column about this topic, "...So what exactly are we discussing? Religious or theological practices? Political positions? Proclivity towards violence? Animosity towards the west? What do we mean when we brand someone a "moderate" Muslim? In the video below about an interesting movement in the Arab world called Yallah Underground, are the youth behind this cultural movement moderate because they listen to rap music, dress in jeans and the women are unveiled? Are they moderate because they speak in the language of modernity? Are they moderate because their religion is invisible? We have come to a point where we want moderate Muslims to be exactly what some in the West want them to be: an extension of the Western modern, whatever that means. In fact, inherent in this incessant call for moderate Islam to reveal itself is a desire for Muslims "to be just like us," to think like us, to dress like us, to have a sense of humor like us (remember the cartoons), in short to cease being different from us. We must clarify the language we use to have a constructive debate about what really is happening inside the Muslim world; otherwise, this conversation is purely one sided.