If you'll recall, a few posts back I was ruminating on (among other things) immigrants to this country and how they were not assimilating to the degree that they should, and pointing out how the lack of assimilation among Muslims in other countries has led to some very bad things happening in these other countries. Well, lo and behold, via the good folks at Wizbang, comes this, from the Washington Post (emphasis mine --ed.):
America's Muslims Aren't as Assimilated as You Think
By Geneive Abdo
Sunday, August 27, 2006; B03
If only the Muslims in Europe -- with their hearts focused on the Islamic world and their carry-on liquids poised for destruction in the West -- could behave like the well-educated, secular and Americanizing Muslims in the United States, no one would have to worry.
So runs the comforting media narrative that has developed around the approximately 6 million Muslims in the United States, who are often portrayed as well-assimilated and willing to leave their religion and culture behind in pursuit of American values and lifestyle. But over the past two years, I have traveled the country, visiting mosques, interviewing Muslim leaders and speaking to Muslim youths in universities and Islamic centers from New York to Michigan to California -- and I have encountered a different truth. I found few signs of London-style radicalism among Muslims in the United States. At the same time, the real story of American Muslims is one of accelerating alienation from the mainstream of U.S. life, with Muslims in this country choosing their Islamic identity over their American one.
...Despite contemporary public opinion -- or perhaps because of it -- Muslim Americans consider Islam their defining characteristic, beyond any national identity. In this way, their experience in the United States resembles that of their co-religionists in Europe, where mosques are also growing, Islamic schools are being built, and practicing the faith is the center of life, particularly for the young generation.
Take from that what you will, but as for me, it makes me wonder what's going to happen in the future, especially now that the president is starting to get away from the nebulous "war on terror" concept and calling this war exactly what it is -- a war on Islamic extremism/fascism. The author of the piece says she has found "few indications of homegrown militancy among American Muslims, but not long ago I got an email from a reader who shall remain anonymous, and he had this to say (remarks paraphrased):
"...Alienation [of British youth]" is not the best term to describe their modus vivendi...possibly jihad would be more appropriate. The United States' immigrants are no different than the British youth, precisely because of jihad. Despite the fact that they are not alienated here, a visit to the corner of 43rd and Walnut in Philadelphia, a few blocks from the University of Pennsylvania, next to a church-turned-jihad community center, reveals an environment no different than any street corner in Damascus, complete with anti-Western literature, rooting for al-Qaeda, Hamas, the Taliban, and Hezbollah, watching al-Manar & al-Jazeera, and violent attacks within the neighborhood (rape,roberries,murder), and trash everywhere to match.
None of that should really be any big surprise, but it's more than a little disturbing that all this is being swept under the Islam-Is-A-Religion-Of-Peace rug. Fortunately, with the rise of the Internet, blogs and such, there are more gatekeepers and news outlets than at any time in history, which makes uncovering the threats and traitors within our walls much easier. The only question is, will enough people wake up in time to see the threats posed by this 5th column before it's too late. It's not so hard to make the case right now that this fifth column is making itself known as we speak, with incidences such as Iranian Mohammad Reza Teheri-Azar driving his car through a crowd of students on the University of North Carolina campus at Chapel Hill and Naveed Afzal Haq opening fire at at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle, killing two people and injuring five. Granted, those incidences are few right now, but it would be foolish to think the perpetrators don't embolden more of their ilk to commit more of these terrorist acts. And if the various foreign and domestic disarmament lobbies ever get their way, the American sheepdog is going to be castrated just as the ones in Europe have been, and we will go the way of Europe. No doubt many think that would be a good thing. I wonder if they'll still be thinking that as dhimmis, or as their heads are being sawn off with a dull blade. Time will tell, or better yet, perhaps our friends across the pond will get up off their knees.
In the meantime, I suppose I need to work on my Mozambique double-taps.
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