When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.

The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."

Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. "What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans."

At the end of the one-hour show, rich with arguments on why visual identification of "the threat in our midst" would alleviate the public's fears, Klein revealed that he had staged a hoax. It drew out reactions that are not uncommon in post-9/11 America.

From here, via Hit and Run.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: most people are effing idiots. One thing keeping policies like these from actually being implemented now is the bizarre quasi-religious reverence for the Constitution present in our country. In some places, the proper reaction to "that's not constitutional" is "well, then it's about time to change the constitution". Somehow, luckily, the elite in America has convinced the masses that our Founding Fathers were infalliable, God-like uber-democrats. It's enought to prevent shit like this (a crescent-shaped tattooo? C'mon now.), though it's worth noting that, even with these guidelines, people have been able to justify a lot of obviously unconstitutional insanity (see internment, Japanese). But without Constitution-worship, would America be an even more populist (I obviously consider this word a pejorative) country than it is now? Absolutely.

This post is also an excuse to link to the catchiest song ever written about throwing Jews down wells.