Donald Trump's anti-Muslim attack: cut him off, or give him enough rope?
He's a man who loves to stir up controversy, but this week Donald Trump outdid himself.
The business mogul turned Republican presidential hopeful vowed that if he's elected, he will ban Muslims from entering the United States. It was in response to a mass shooting by a couple in California who are believed to have been radicalized.
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Democrats and Republicans alike have condemned Trump's anti-Muslim position, but Trump says he's just telling it like it is.
Which raises an interesting question: Is it better to put these views out in the open, to know the extent of Islamophobia?
Or would it be better to ban coverage of the front-runner of the Republican race?
Chelby Daigle, editor-in-chief of the website Muslim Link, and Amira Elghawaby, a spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, debated the issue on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning Thursday with host Robyn Bresnahan.
Daigle said stories like Trump's provide a space in the mainstream media for open discussion about Islamophobia that might not take place otherwise.
Elghawaby said that while she doesn't want to silence Trump, discussions about marginalizing people shouldn't become normal.
Here's some of what they had to say Thursday.
'There is a danger here'
Daigle: "I think we need to sometimes have something become sensationalized in the mainstream media to create the space in the mainstream media to have an honest conversation about what's been going on.
"We know what we feel and what we experience daily, but that doesn't necessarily become a mainstream discussion until something like this happens, and then we actually can talk about this as a real issue and other people who maybe haven't taken us seriously can start realizing, oh, maybe there's really a problem."
Elgahawaby: "By the same token I think we have to understand that there is a danger here when we almost normalize a discourse around marginalization and taking away people's rights. The fear is that this normalizes the idea, for example, that you could limit different groups from entering a country, and it sort of allows that to almost take on a legitimate suggestion, and this then has ramifications.
"There is a danger there that this could give people license to air out views that really are reprehensible. Were they to be about any other group, it would just be beyond the pale and no one would give any attention ..."
Daigle: "I think the reality is that he's articulating something that has been going on for a very long time, it's been articulated for a very long time.
"... Something is going on, and we've seen it trickle in to our own mainstream media as well. And I kind of prefer to know where people stand, and for it to become more of a public discourse, because so much of it has been happening underground. And I think the more you can start getting what's happening underground out into the light, you can start having a bigger conversation about, wait a minute, why do people have these views?
"I think silencing Trump can actually make him a martyr."
Elghawaby: "I don't think that we should be banning Mr. Trump ... I don't want to make him into a martyr.
"That being said, I think that we have to be careful with what kind of platforms we provide people who espouse views that the general public would find atrocious.
"We've got young children who see these discussions about Muslims ... or any other group, and they don't know how to analyze what's happening, and this is also going to impact their relationships in their own classrooms and in their futures."