What's going with the mass Muslim migration into Europe and all the backlash is probably more CULTURAL than it is religious. It's a matter of getting thru to the immigrants the very basic concept that their right to not to be offended by Western ways has been revoked. And that the mayor of Cologne (or whereever this happened) shouldn't be admonishing German woman to not dress provocatively. That's a leftist "solution" that is counter-productive to what "culture re-adjustment" needs to happen...
And I sympathize with the immigrants. Who must ponder now how to practice and live their religious convictions in a place that WILL NOT protect them from being offended. Leftist leaders trying to ACCOMMODATE these adjustments are just making it worse. It needs to be handled by the EXISTING Muslim community and by culture immersion. Perhaps at some point -- they give up and go back to the safety of tyranny and theocracy. But the danger is --- they might be subject to radicalization if they ABHOR western culture and don't adjust.
It IS a threat.
I think that is an over-simplified explanation. I talked about this in the thread I started in CDZ on Muslim Americans.
Muslim immigrant assimilation is little different from other immigrant assimilation - it depends on the culture of the country they are coming from and the culture of the country they are going to - not just the culture, but the culture of integration that country has. Why are countries like the US and Canada so successful at integrating immigrants and why do immigrants flourish here and end up not in other places?
That is a question that Righwingers refuse to address because it is more satisfying to attack the alien religion than it is to examine complex problems. Instead they focus on religion
as the only barrier, claim that therefore the SAME things will happen in the US as in ohter countries, and completely ignore culture. Like Leftwingers - it's ignoring huge pieces of information. How can there be a solution when you only have part of the data?
Integration is a two-way street dependent on the immigrant and on the host country - when either end fails, there is room for radicalization.
I posted this before but I think it's relevent in this discussion also:
Why Do American Muslims Fare Better Than Their French Counterparts?
Some 5 million Muslims live in France -- about 7.5 percent of the country’s population -- one of the largest Muslim populations in Western Europe. After the horror of the coordinated terrorist attacks on six sites in Paris last Friday, a climate of suspicion once again engulfs Muslims living in the Western world -- and French citizens and politicians alike are grappling with how to respond to homegrown threats. But experts say that the conditions of Muslims in some European countries can create fertile breeding grounds for extremism, whereas societies with more-integrated Muslim populations like the United States are less susceptible.
“In a very broad sense, you have the same communities in Europe and America. Both are Muslims living in the West. But in fact, there are huge sociological differences between the two groups. Most importantly, the relationship between Europe and its Muslims is one rooted in colonialism, whereas the U.S. has no previous history with its Muslim populations. So [in Europe] there is some of the residue of racial and cultural prejudices of the colonial era,” says Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University’s School of International Service and the author of several renowned field projects on Muslims, including “Journey Into Europe: Islam, Immigration and Empire.”
The result is two very different communities: One in America that is hopeful, affluent and better assimilated, versus one in Europe, particularly in countries like France, that exists on the periphery of society, both economically and socially. It’s that marginalization of European Muslim communities that can leave certain members vulnerable to recruitment attempts from groups like ISIS.
One of the main differences stems from the makeup of Muslim groups in European countries compared with those in the United States. Estimates vary, but Muslims in the United States account for 1 to 2 percent of the total population -- yet there is no one ethnic group that dominates: Muslims hail from 77 different countries in the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and Europe. That’s a stark contrast from Europe, where the Muslim populations are more homogenous and typically made up of residents of former colonies. For example, the Muslim community in the U.K. is dominated by Muslims of South Asian descent, while three-quarters of French Muslims are mostly of Morocco, Algeria or other North African origin, according to the Brookings Institution.
“In Europe, pockets of Muslims are isolated by country of origin, which hampers integration. That keeps Islamic identity tied to a home country and so the community is more insular. The umbilical cord is still there,” says Shahed Amanullah, who has worked as a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of State on issues surrounding Muslim youth around the world. “In America, no one group that dominates. It’s not an affinity-based community but a value-based community.”
This article makes strong points outlining the differences between America/Canada and Europe in terms of assimilation, how they are integrated into society, and affluence and prospects for the future - all of this plays into the potential for radicalization far more than simple religion or a matter of "abhoring western culture" - if they feel economically marginalized by western culture, if they feel they have few prospects for improvement AND if they are surrounded by like minded individuals and that view is consistently affirmed by the dominant culture then they are ripe for radical exploitation.
If the Right were truly looking for ways to reduce radicalization, they would be examining this data and asking - why does it work in some places and not in others ? Some models hamper assimilation and integration, other ones inhance it and again, it only works when it's a two-way street with immigrants seeking to assimilate and culture that helps them to assimilate by providing avenues for successful integration.
