Muslims are just the latest of insular groups demanding special treatment in multicultural societies of the west. This excellent essay by Francis Fukuyama explains that western societies’ weak identities leave us and our way of life vulnerable to the pressures of such groups. A key excerpt:
Whatever its exact causes, Europe’s failure to better integrate its Muslims is a ticking time bomb that has already contributed to terrorism. It is bound to provoke a sharper backlash from populist groups, and may even threaten European democracy itself. Resolution of this problem will require a two-pronged approach, involving changes in behaviour by immigrant minorities and their descendants as well as by members of the dominant national communities.
The first prong of the solution is to recognise that the old multicultural model has not been a big success in countries such as the Netherlands and Britain, and that it needs to be replaced by more energetic efforts to integrate non-western populations into a common liberal culture. The old multicultural model was based on group recognition and group rights. Out of a misplaced sense of respect for cultural differences—and in some cases out of imperial guilt—it ceded too much authority to cultural communities to define rules of behaviour for their own members. Liberalism cannot ultimately be based on group rights, because not all groups uphold liberal values. The civilisation of the European Enlightenment, of which contemporary liberal democracy is the heir, cannot be culturally neutral, since liberal societies have their own values regarding the equal worth and dignity of individuals. Cultures that do not accept these premises do not deserve equal protection in a liberal democracy. Members of immigrant communities and their offspring deserve to be treated equally as individuals, not as members of cultural communities. There is no reason for a Muslim girl to be treated differently under the law from a Christian or Jewish one, whatever the feelings of her relatives.
See the full essay here, or shorter version here.
(h/t this post on Nuke’s News & Views, which discusses Muslim resistance to vaccination. You’d think I’d be writing about the vaccination topic considering the usual content of my posts, but to me it seems that if Muslims choose not to vaccinate for religious reasons they are just part of a wider spectrum of religious, hippie, and conspiracy theorist types that have their muddle-headed, uneducated reasons for not protecting their children from deadly or disabling diseases. This, by the way, is the same level of ignorance that recently prompted Muslims to refuse cleaning their hands as directed with alcohol-based antimicrobials in UK hospitals—newsflash, ARTARDS, it’s not even chemically the same kind of alcohol people drink, and it won’t “soak in” and make you drunk. Do these fools have no one educated among them!? O. M. G. The stupidity is mind-boggling.)
The peoples of the world must be exposed to and fed knowledge.
The time to do this, is as always “now”.
Each day a beginning, or a procrastination.
The internet is the tool we have and the programs to put computers in the hands of the third world mases is a start.
You’ve heard the saying that “ignorance is bliss”.
I say the result of ignorance is war.