Steve,
Wow, I'm just so dangerous, and I have an agenda?
Please quote me where I've ever supported radical Islam of any fashion. I haven't.
Please allow me to address the other examples that I previously neglected in the interest of concision.
It is a very good example of a problem when one case is made so much fuss about and another isn't, just because of the races of the people involved. Still, just because one immigrant stabs someone (no matter how heinously) it doesn't mean we can hold it against the whole immigrant population. I know people who have been killed by white people too. It does seem to alter the situation a little when the offender is transplanted from somewhere else, but it doesn't really. All people make bad choices.
Someone used the example of a rude Somali woman in a market and her bunch of kids that only rob people. I can find an American mom with 7 kids living in a trailer, cooking meth, who's kids will all go out and steal things in their time. Their ethnicity or heritage doesn't really change the situation. For every one rude immigrant I could find you two who are courteous. Better yet, for every one rude immigrant I could find you one Brit and one American who are rude.
So what we really have here is an issue of assimilation. The feeling that, 'they come over here, take our jobs and don't even want to be a part of our culture' is not unwarranted at all. To some extent I agree with that sentiment. I have no problem with signs being put up in multiple languages, especially safety signs, but when people make no effort to learn the language or culture that they are entering there is a problem. To some extent bilingual signs facilitate this. This is also a two way street between the immigrants and the absorbing culture. Too few immigrants are willing to break out of their 'little Pakistan', but also too few Americans and British are ready to accept them with open arms. It is much the same way in Germany with the Turks.
Two families of Mexicans live just down the hall from me. They are very nice, have jobs, work hard, and their kids are extremely well behaved. One of them has a really nice Mustang. They moved here legally in search of a better life, and they detract nothing from our society. Some punk downtown doesn't invalidate their contributions. Most people around here don't even talk to them, and they notice that. They've told me how nice it is that I say hi to them in passing, like a normal human being. The more I talk to them, the more they talk to me. Funny enough, they also like to live, love, learn and grow.
So, in America there is a growing population of people of Mexican heritage. Some came here, some were born here. Some choose to wave the Mexican flag to celebrate their heritage, and lately to protest the treatment they as citizens have been receiving (and to protest for immigration reform, but thats another issue). It is not an expression of Mexican Nationalism over American Citizenship.
I don't EVER hear people complaining on St Patrick's day when Irish flags are waved everywhere. Nor during Oktoberfest when German and Bavarian flags fly. Are those people trying to turn this country into their former ones? Is someone who is wearing a 'kiss me I'm Irish' shirt invading this country?
If you want to encourage cultural assimilation, you must first realize that your own culture is not immutable. Then you must realize that their own cultures and practices may offer positive things for you, just as yours does for them.
The best thing you can do is to go down to their neighborhood and say, "Hi, I'm just really curious about where you come from and what life is like there. Would you like to meet me in the park sometime for Tea and share some things with me?" This may sound really sappy, but by starting a conversation comparing your cultures, it opens them up for you to express yours as well. They can practice their English, and you might learn a little of their language (serving you well if you run into one of the delinquent people speaking that language).
Arbitrary political correctness is a problem in Western society, but don't confuse that with cultural objectivity. Too many people are quick to call something political correctness when they don't like what they hear.
I don't see how any of this supports radical ideologies or hoaky 7th century religions.
BTW I'm not a liberal.
