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So which is it, is Europe too accommodating or not accommodating enough? Legolas Send a noteboard - 17/02/2015 07:05:44 PM

View original postLots of recent news about rising anti-semitism in Europe (again). Obviously, Europe isn't as accommodating to minorities as the US, but sadly looks like the trend is in the negative direction.

Not long ago the fuss about Fox News' statements on "no-go Islamic zones" and "Birmingham is an Islamic city" was all over the news - funny that you should say now that Europe "isn't as accommodating to minorities as the US".

I think it's indisputable that the US, "accommodating" or not, is much better at integrating its minorities and rapidly making them feel like the US is where they belong. Part of the reason for that is simple geography - the long distances making it impractical for immigrants to regularly return home, and limiting the emigration possibilities to relatively wealthy people, except in Latin America, which also means that the Latin Americans are the only community immigrating in big enough numbers that they can afford to band together and keep themselves to some extent separated from other Americans, at least in a number of places. Another part, for sure, is that America does still have the American Dream and a stronger sense of identity and of patriotism, but also the melting pot idea.

But to get back to Europe - the problem is, of course, that elements of the one minority, which is in fact present in big enough numbers as to be quite dominant in some areas, are creating a dangerous climate for the other. This has the ironic side effect of pushing many of the native racist elements, the indirect ideological heirs of Nazism, towards Israel and a pro-Jewish stance, as they figure the enemy of their enemy is their friend, whatever history may say.

Looking ahead to how we can handle that problem and improve the situation in the long term, I would say that a perhaps counter-intuitive answer is inescapable: the situation of the Muslims in Europe needs to improve, and their feeling of being under assault for their religion themselves needs to lessen. And, yes, a lasting solution has to be found for Palestine. Alternatively, it would also help if that asshole Netanyahu didn't actively promote the notion that yes, all Jews in Europe should in fact be considered as Israelis in exile. That may be politically useful to him in Israel, but he doesn't seem to give a damn about how it undermines the message that Europe is trying to get into the heads of its Muslim youth: that European Jews are not in any way, shape or form responsible for the actions of the state of Israel, and the only suitable place for protests against said actions should be Israeli embassies.

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How anti-semitic is Europe? - 17/02/2015 03:01:59 AM 942 Views
Too bad they have such strict gun control - 17/02/2015 06:54:55 AM 835 Views
Really? Most of that is common sense, and not anti-semitic by any definition of the word. - 17/02/2015 07:26:52 PM 595 Views
I agree. Netanyahu was wrong and populist saying that. *NM* - 18/02/2015 09:28:25 AM 283 Views
Not to mention it's not quite the first time - 18/02/2015 01:01:32 PM 746 Views
Meh - 17/02/2015 08:55:08 AM 724 Views
Heh. He hates Israel and feels no anti-semitism eh ? - 17/02/2015 09:50:43 AM 637 Views
He's Israeli, though. I guess he has his reasons *shrug* - 17/02/2015 10:07:28 AM 641 Views
So which is it, is Europe too accommodating or not accommodating enough? - 17/02/2015 07:05:44 PM 648 Views
I think you may be misreading Ameirca - 17/02/2015 09:20:26 PM 626 Views
We killed all of the natives, though - 17/02/2015 09:51:47 PM 655 Views
I think you may be misreading my post. I do agree with most of yours actually. - 17/02/2015 10:11:29 PM 746 Views
don't you think socializm and welfare have something to do with it ? - 18/02/2015 07:04:31 AM 646 Views
No. - 18/02/2015 08:28:34 AM 833 Views
Touchy - 18/02/2015 09:05:48 AM 623 Views
Government dependence does seem to be working well in Greece *NM* - 18/02/2015 01:26:43 PM 310 Views
Socialism IS a bad thing, though - 18/02/2015 03:38:50 PM 596 Views
Maybe to some extent, but I don't think that's a big factor. - 18/02/2015 07:05:37 PM 685 Views

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