Multiculturalism gone wrong.Women Against Shariah has posted this very interesting story about a feud stoked to flames in a Toronto apartment building- all because one man , Matthew Coutts, had the audacity to greet a Muslim wife with a friendly "good morning." Matt describes himself as hugely friendly man, one who runs errans for unfamiliar neighbors in the pouring rain and strikes up storms of conversations in the laundry room. Your typical, outgoing, well-meaning neighbor. But when he greeted the wife of the new Muslim couple across the hall, they confronted Matt and demanded that he not speak to the wife nor look at her.
Now, make no mistake. I'm not calling this couple a pair of jihadi-crazed Islamic radicals. But their behavior is exemplary of a disturbing trend we've seen growing among the more fundamentalist Muslim immigrants in the Western world over the past 6 or 7 years; a refusal to integrate into the societies they immigrate to.
This is no isolated example. Just take a look at Britain; where it had its own British culture 5 years ago, it's now steeped in Shariah-like culture. Look at Michigan, too.
For anyone who's pounding their desk screaming 'racist' right now, let me put it to you in another context; Mexican immigrants, legal or not, cross into America in search of work so they can make money to send back to their poverty-stricken families in Mexico. Many Asian immigrants- Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc.- come here for similar reasons.
But they INTEGRATE. They adapt to their surroundings, and respect their home-away-from-home's culture and social laws. Many of these Mexican and Asian families hold on to their cultural roots in America. Many of them don't even speak English. That's fine. That's America.
But when you come to this country, demand that your boss give you 5 breaks a day to pray, demand that your local hospital remove a cross depicting Jesus Christ because it offends your religion, and get into fights over a friendly, everyday "Good morning", it all belies an ulterior reluctance to integrate into the society you've thrust yourself into. If someone moves to a country, they need to be ready to learn the cultural and social laws of the land. At the very least, they better damn well learn to accept them. If I moved to Saudi Arabia tomorrow, I'm not about to expect the entire Saudi community change their way of life to make me feel more at home. If I wasn't comfortable in a foreign setting, then I have no business traveling to Saudi Arabia in the first place.
If adaptation is necessary, then it's the immigrant's job to adapt to a foreign society, not the other way around.
The sad fact is that for these fundamentalist Muslims, multiculturalism is a one-way street. They're operating under this belief that their host countries owe it to them to flip the mountains upside down and alter the orbit of the sun to make them feel more comfortable. No, no one should have to give up their roots and personal way of life when moving to a new country. But don't impose on the country that was gracious enough to bring you in, be it America, Kurdistan, or South Korea.
I love experiencing foreign culture. It's my dream to travel the world and immerse myself in different cultures. I would love nothing more than to travel abroad and throw myself into Japan, France, India, Greece, even a more moderate Arab country for a couple years. But when I do, I'm not about to demand that my host country and its citizens change their ways of life just to suit me.
Yes, Muslim immigrants have the freedom to come to the United States and keep to their own culture. As they should. And I'm sure they're wonderful people. But they do not have the right to forbid us from enjoying our own. If you come to America, be prepared to deal with an American society.
8 comments:
Best article i have ever read
Thank you.
This article begs the question which must be addressed: How can these particular immigrants assimilate into a free and open society? This is nothing more than a case of self-segregation.
To me, immigration is a positive thing. (I am married to a Mexican immigrant.) However, immigration needs to be linked to assimilation and a willingness to accept the values of the country one is immigrating to. And yes, that means that strange, non-Muslim men are going to say "good morning" to your Muslim wife and hold an elevator door open for her. The man need more worry. We get the idea that a Muslim woman with a hijab is not open to any advances or requests for a date. We get it.
Ultimately, it comes down to the old refrain, If you don't like it here-leave.
gary fouse
fousesquawk
I love xenophobia as much as the next guy, but don't you think imposing your beliefs on others is just a little immoral to say the least?
I mean they don't want to talk to the neighbors, so fucking what? What is this, the 1950's "conform or be jailed" communist paranoia? Do you not think it's irresponsible to spread such fearmongering drivel? Does anyone persecute you for your interactions or lack thereof?
I'm sorry to tell you this, but you've made the fatally flawed assumption of an "us versus them" mentality where you've ascribed all the worst traits of human nature to "them" and all the best ones to "us" while in reality both groups possess the entirety of the set, but your own bias won't allow you to see this.
I know I'm not going to convince you of anything here, because such deep seeded beliefs are not swayed by silly things like facts, logic, or honest scrutiny of one's own beliefs, but if nothing else I'd like you to know that your articles have thoroughly convinced me that this whole blog is about as fair and balanced as Fox News.
Enjoy your sputtering moral-high-ground-seeking rage as you use your warped perception of reality to explain away everything I just said with bigotry and a steadfast determination to slander an entire people out of a deep seeded superiority complex. I'm sure at the very least your like-minded buddies will be more than happy to circle jerk your ego so you don't have to ever consider the possibility that you might be as bad as the ones you slander.
And so life continues, it's a funny fact of human nature, you being a human presumably, that we always think we're right regardless of evidence to the contrary. You certainly think you're right. Are you really?
I still don't see how any of this is a Muslim issue as opposed to a Human issue, which was my point.
Do you really think official promotion of violence and terrorism by Muslim leaders is unique? Was Hitler a Muslim? Was the Catholic Spanish Inquisition Muslim? Were the crusades led by Muslims? Have you ever seen Jesus Camp? Are they Muslim? My point stands that you're painting the ugly Human aspects of a group and labeling it as traits unique to that group, which is irresponsible one-sided reporting also known as "propaganda".
Please, there's a difference between denouncing the inherent stupidity and violence in fundamentalism and extremism regardless of the particular beliefs of the idiot who propagates the violence, and slathering that label across an entire race of people who are only as bad as every other group of idiots.
And do you really think the Muslim lobby is that strong in the US that they have more bargaining power than, oh let's say, the Jews? If you go on network television and say "All Muslims are insane suicide bombers and are therefore evil" will the repercussions be the same as going on and saying "The Jews killed Jesus and are therefore inherently evil."? Both statements are equally flagrant libel and stupid, but one will get you publicly, politically, and possibly financially blackballed while the other will garner no large scale reaction aside from dirty looks from Muslim friends and possibly an end to your ability to buy pitas from a turban-wearing shopkeeper.
If the Muslim lobby had any real political power or ability to fundamentally change the culture of our nation then they would need to exert at least as much influence as the Jews do, and that is entirely not the case here.
I'm amused you brought up research, do you ever actually look at the numbers? In the USA, as of 2007, the total Muslim population accounts for less than 1% of total population. Does that overwhelming minority vote strike fear into your heart as far as public policy goes? I know I'm stocking up canned food for the coming apocalypse. And check out this little factoid, 9/11 resulted in the terrible and unfortunate deaths of 3,017 people, but at the same time in 2001 heart disease killed 700,142 people in the US alone. I did the math for you, that means that McDonalds caused the equivalent of one 9/11 every day and a half. If you want to get people to deal with the problems that will actually get them killed, a healthy diet will save MANY more lives than combating the abstract concept of "Islam" or the guerrilla tactic of "Terrorism". It is extremely irresponsible to distract people from major killers to deal with minor ones.
I'm sorry if I don't pick up the subtle nuances in one group of self righteous monkeys killing another group of self righteous monkeys, but religious fighting is cyclical in nature and has been going on for tens of thousands of years, I don't see the need for alarmist propaganda to alert us to a threat that has been around almost as long as the technology of agriculture.
Sputter a little more and tell yourself my opinion isn't valid because I "don't" research or know my history.
Oh, and realize that this isn't personal, I just call bullshit where I see it. If this blog promoted Muslims as harmless, docile, and the victims of unfortunate circumstance you bet your ass I'd be bringing up instances of terrorism, bigotry, human rights violations, and acts of sadism.
But like I keep saying, I believe these to be inherent traits of humanity, or religion as a whole, and it seems short-sighted to label one particular group as the sole proponent of idiotic violence and spout intolerance for the whole populace based on the idiocy of the few.
Misanthropy is so much more accurate than xenophobia.
Gladly.
First of all, the small amount of facts you've provided mean nothing. We're not talking about the amount of people killed in one specific event. Measuring evil in terms of people killed is a flawed perspective. You and I both know that religious extremism of any kind is more dangerous than McDonald's. Additionally, the amount of Muslims in the US is a neutral statistic; it doesn't mean or prove anything.
Kindly stay on topic. We're talking about Muslim immigrants moving into foreign countries and subverting those countries' cultures to serve their own. Though I must thank you for comparing Muslim jihadis to Hitler and the Spanish Inquisition. You just proved the point that Muslim radicalism is mired in a medieval, Nazi-esque mindset. While the Nazi, Spanish Inquisition, Crusader, etc. mindset has essentially died out long ago and poses no threat to us today, Muslim radicalism still exists and flourishes. Yes, there is still some Christian radicalism, even Jewish radicalism to a small degree. But the following of any other religious extremist mindset pales in comparison to that of Islamic extremism.
Muslim leaders are not merely propagating violence, jihad, and cultural jihad; they are actively working to achieve those ends. Once more: Britain. Michigan. It's already been done in Lebanon (militarily). And it's going on in a large portion of North Africa (militarily). Sudan and Darfur are current worst-case scenario examples. And that's ignoring the Sudanese slave trade.
The power of the "Muslim lobby" in the US is an issue you brought up yourself. I don't know where you got it from. However, Muslim radicals don't need a lobby to start a charity (such as the Holy Land Foundation) and use it to fund Islamic terror organizations. And they certainly don't need a lobby to file complaints to factories, hospitals, schools, department stores, and their own jobs so those institutions will better serve their religious needs (5 prayer breaks a day, no depictions of Christianity or Judaism, all women must wear burkas, etc.)
Is that enough "sputtering" for you, my friend? I would ask you to respond, but you haven't supplied anything of significance to my last post. I will say that describing this as a "human issue" does have some credibility. In every age, a form of evil has risen from the human race and made itself known. The Nazis. The Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition. And now, there is Islamic fundamentalism.
Just because this threat has been around since its inception means nothing. It was a threat then and it's an even bigger threat now because its perpetrators are actively carrying out their agenda and have willingly ignorant and uninformed apologists such as your type to excuse their abominable behavior and help them along the way. If this is the argument you make to excuse terrorism, genocide, and cultural subversion, what argument would you have made to excuse Nazism in the 1930s?
If you only have your own opinion to offer (repeatedly), don't expect a response to your next post. I've heard from your kind countless times, and they only offer the same obscure and opinionated arguments. Never anything factual or historical. So please, either offer me examples that contradict the ones I have provided you with, or return when you've learned enough to create an informed opinion on the matter.
~Tinct
This blog in no way targets Muslims as a whole. I recognize there are some sane-minded and normal Muslims out there. Just ask my reformist Muslim roommate who I've known since 6th grade.
When Christian fundamentalists do or say something stupid, regular Christians are quick to condemn them and elicit an apology. This is why I don't worry about Christian fundamentalism, because I know the more level-headed Christians will always keep them in check. They take responsibility for their religion.
Unfortunately, the wide majority of moderate Muslims don't do this. They choose to allow Islamic extremism to go unrenounced, which inevitably colors their entire religion. When a figurehead of a certain faith makes a public statement or action, he is representing his entire religion and people will interpret it as such. That may not be fair, but it's reality. The fact that almost no Muslim moderates have stood up to condemn Islamic extremism in a time when it's so rampant and destructive in our world is a very disturbing thing.
So when you come across people who actually do fear Islam as a whole, blame the Muslim moderates who didn't bother to make the effort to assuage their fears and defend public interpretation of their religion, like moderate Christians have.
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