Clarification re "Minnesotastan"

When I created this blog, I did so under the username "Minnesotastan" which is obviously an amalgamation of my home state and my first name; I've used this "nick" for perhaps 20 years on a variety of forums and websites.

"-stan" is also a suffix in the Persian language, and means "place of." So, in central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, there are lots of places that end in -stan. The well-known ones are Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Kurdistan. Wiki lists about 30 more.

Tonight I Googled "Minnesotastan" to find something I had written years ago, and got 400 hits, but discovered to my dismay that Minnesotastan also has some markedly negative connotations. Apparently the term has been independently generated and popularized in the upper Midwest by xenophobics who disapprove of an increasing Muslim presence in the state. The term "Minnesotastan" is thus used as a derogatory term for Minnesota, reflecting the changing ethnic makeup in the Twin Cities area.

So, if anyone happens to encounter "Minnesotastan" on a gardening forum, or a Ron Paul political discussion, or a real estate or archaeology or hobby bulletin board, it will probably be me. But if you see "Minnesotastan" used in the context of a screed involving Islamophobia, that is for sure not in any way associated with me.