It is a mistake, in my opinion, for us to busy ourselves with trying to correct misconceptions of Islam. Authentic information is available, as is observable reality. The problem is not their misconception of Islam, neither among leaders and intellectuals, nor among the general public.The problem is their fundamental animosity towards the Truth.
When your enemy slanders and vilifies you, it is not because he believes what he is saying, it is because he wants harm and discredit you. So do not labor under the flattering assumption that the Kuffar are guilty of nothing more than ignorance; it is malice, not misunderstanding.
For the masses, who are fed distorted ideas about Islam, again, these misconceptions are not really our problem. The real problem lies in their radical misconceptions about themselves. Everything they believe about themselves is a lie. Living with this extreme cognitive dissonance is tremendously painful and emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually crippling.
This is one of the main reasons so many Americans and Europeans are coming to Islam; because the cognitive dissonance inflicted upon Western populations is greater than anywhere else in the world, and Islam is the Light that rescues them from stumbling in that miserable and unnatural darkness
You cannot belong to a nation that has been at war for every decade of its existence, created through genocide, and enriched by brutally dehumanizing slavery, and simultaneously believe that you belong to a nation of peace, justice and freedom. You cannot claim to have a system of representative democracy while elected representatives are ranked lower in trustworthiness than car salesmen. You cannot believe that the government wages war overseas because it cares about the security and safety of its citizens, while more citizens are maimed and killed every year by domestic homicide, assault, and corporate negligence. I could go on and on.
Everything that they believe about themselves is false, and they are trapped in this contradiction, and they desperately need a way out. But there is no way out unless and until they are made to recognize the falsehood in which they are engulfed.
It is their misconception of themselves, not of us, that needs to be corrected