In his column at the Boston Globe examining the differences in experience and, presumably, behavior of Muslims in Belgium with those in the United States:
The United States has been far more successful at assimilating and integrating Muslim immigrants into American society and culture than has Western Europe. There are no Muslim ghettoes here like those in Molenbeek or the Paris suburbs, where authorities turn a blind eye to antisocial behavior and aggressive incitement by radicals preaching jihad. Of course there have been some heinous exceptions, such as the Tsarnaev brothers, the Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hassan, or the killers in San Bernardino. And mosques in American cities have often been built with funding from Saudi Arabia, which promotes a harsh and puritanical version of Islam.
[…]
Given America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the bloody battles with Islamic regimes and insurgents, and the threat to homeland security from “lone wolf†terror attacks, it might seem surprising that Muslims in Detroit or Brooklyn aren’t at least as alienated as those in Molenbeek. But they aren’t. For despite the rise of identity politics and the balkanizing pressures of multicultural correctness, America’s melting pot still works. Generations of Muslim immigrants have come to America to escape repression, poverty, or war in their homelands. The life they have made for themselves here has been freer, safer, more prosperous, and more embracing than the existence they left behind. There are tensions, but not enough to keep most Muslims from fitting themselves comfortably into the American mosaic.
I think there are some important considerations he fails to take into account. First, the European states are ethnic states (in the case of Belgium bi-ethnic). Their identities are completely bound up in considerations of blood, language, and culture and some, as in the case of France, have historically enforced these considerations quite ruthlessly even if they aren’t doing so today.
Consequently, immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa who have no ties of blood, religion, or culture with Belgium and may speak neither of Belgium’s languages, present special challenges to a society that has never faced them before. In other words, don’t be too hard on the Belgian’s. We’ve had hundreds of years of practice. They’re just beginners.
Secondly, just as the United States is the natural destination for Mexicans and Central Americans seeking better jobs and less repression than in their home countries so is Europe the natural destination for people from the Middle East and North Africa. Our Muslim population is very different from Europe’s because we’re selecting them as well as their selecting us. Just as one example, Muslim immigrants to the United States tend to be better educated on average than the native population.
My advice would be that we shouldn’t rely too heavily on American exceptionalism. If we adopt Europe’s methods, we’ll have Europe’s problems.
” Just as one example, Muslim immigrants to the United States tend to be better educated on average than the native population.”
Almost none are single males between 16-35. Most speak English. They come in families.
Steve
Again, very different from the situation in Europe.
Muslim immigrants in America are pretty religious, in my experience. And they raise their children to be religious. Big difference with Europe, where the majority of the terrorists seem to be guys who found religion in prison. Converts are always more dangerous/insufferable than those raised in a religion.
Note that the Muslims in America who have committed terrorism are farther up the ladder than a family who owns and runs a bodega in Brooklyn and who lives in a diverse neighborhood. There’s safety in numbers.
I’d like to think that the photos of Texas assholes with guns following veiled Muslim teenage girls are not representative of what the anti-PC non-diverse future has in store for everybody.
When historians look back at this era, I wonder if they will take Saudi Arabia as the strongest case of a reactionary country that tried to use militant fundamentalism as a means to ignore economic and political problems. But not only did the ignored problems grow worse–fundamentalism failed spiritually as well.
And there will be the obvious parallels to America as a weaker case of the same approach.
There is an ocean involved. And Muslims have become for jobs, in cases, Europe’s Mexicans.
Now, if the US was conducting a war against Mexico, as it did against Palestine, Iraq, Libya and Syria, you could expect frequent revenge killings.