4 ms·
Islamophobia is a virulent issue, particulary in Europe. There are a number of reasons behind this (most prevalently Continental Europe's lack of a history of i
by soneill 14y ago
Islamophobia is a virulent issue, particulary in Europe. There are a number of reasons behind this (most prevalently Continental Europe's lack of a history of immigration and integration, which has caused struggles throughout the Continent since large scale immigration from non-European countries began in the late 60s and 70s), but that doesn't excuse it.
I struggle to see why this merits a link. That said, there's a parallel I love to draw when people make this particular argument: is what they're saying about Muslims all that different from what 19th century Americans said about Italian and Irish immigrants and their "allegiance to the Pope above country"? Xenophobia is nothing new.
- troels 14y agoNot to talk about present day extremist christians, who deny evolution. Not much of a muslim invention.
- lucb1e 14y agoI was baffeled when hearing that for the first time. I've attended a Catholic primary school, but it never occurred to anyone until the last few years that the story about God creating everything and evolution theory conflicted. We've been told both. I was amazed when hearing about the evolution theory not being believed on some (many? I don't know) schools in America (though it might have been anywhere I guess).
- soneill 14y agoI don't know the figures offhand, but the percentage of Americans who don't believe in evolution is...disheartening to say the least. Hell, it's downright embarassing when you compare the percentage of Americans who don't believe in evolution to the percentage in other 1st world countries. Yay evangelical fundamentalism!
- JoeAltmaier 14y agoNot new, particularly among Muslims right? If the gay-murder and police-attacks are accurately reported, then in Belgium its rampant among Muslims. And no more excusable.
- soneill 14y agoTwo part response: 1) There's nothing backing up those claims, and without hard data it's hard to know how seriously to take them. That said, those aren't uncommon claims to make against any poor immigrant group (in Eastern Europe, you'll hear much the same charges levied against the Roma, gypsies, with some regularity). 2) At the heart of it, the real issues are demographic and integration based, not religious. There's a reason you don't see those kind of claims in the US, Canada, or the UK: those countries are used to new immigrants and integrating them. Mainland Europe is not, and has struggled to figure out how to do so, and that lack of integration has consequences which typically manifest in crime.
- JoeAltmaier 14y agoI guess the worldwide Muslim response to a fricking movie - firebombing, shooting and killing - is just another claim against poor Muslims, not their fault somehow. This claim gets more threadbare every year. Its about time to admit that there's little or no common ground between Muslims and ... anybody I guess. They seem to have a as their goal, isolating themselves and rejecting, often violently, other viewpoints.