Aswad
Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
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Thanks.
Being called a leftie is one of my favorites, because I would probably be considered almost extreme right by Norwegian standards and likely a conservative by objective standards. A rather famous guy whose books and talks I enjoy, but whose political leanings I disagree with, is Noam Chomsky, and he gets called a leftist by the right and a right winger by the left. I think that's a good sign. When all sides in a matter think you're with the other side, that is some of the best evidence out there that you're not on a side, but rather somewhere closer to the truth than either.
We have nailed the various jihadists in Norway one by one, so far, and the muslim communities have been consistent about their choice to distance themselves from all forms of terrorism, in part because we've shown them that it's possible to disagree without resorting to violence to resolve the disagreements. The far right, ironically, is more disadvantaged than they are up here, and we've paid the price for that exclusion. Hopefully, we will be able to integrate those, too, and resolve our differences without everything going crazy. And when I say hopefully, I mean I really do hope so, because I know we have just short of a battalion of right wing extremists arming themselves in preparation for a civil war up here, and I would rather not have a civil war just now.
I don't have a problem with recognizing that there are issues we need to deal with as regards certain immigrant populations that are incidentally muslim populations, but I think it is important both to bear in mind that- as you say- the majority aren't terrorists, or even potentially so, and that it is a question of integration and circumstances of origin. Poor government planning will always be a problem, and we've had no trouble with the immigrant populations in those areas where we have kept a decent pace and spread them out enough to avoid the formation of ghettos. So long as one doesn't get ghettos, they're left with a real need to integrate and the impetus to do so. That almost invariably turns out well. It is our Labor Party that has been lax in this regard, failing to take the necessary steps to integrate the people they've taken in, which culminated in 22/7, although I of course don't assign responsibility to them for the event.
Denmark recently showed the importance of proper integration, when a company-size group of poorly integrated immigrants in a gang in one of the cities had a showdown and attacked the ER of a hospital because the ambulance had "made off with" a guy they wanted to kill, from a rival gang. That's too much like the gang crime period in US history for my tastes. But it's no wonder. These people come from areas where it's all they know, and where the authorities and officials are realistically the enemy. I think it's good that we can bring some of them out of that environment, but we can't neglect that we have to do the whole job, which includes integration. I'd like to be clear that I'm not making comparisons to animals when I offer this analogy: you can't just take in strays without also taking them to the vet, feeding them and socializing them. There's a responsibility that goes along with lending a hand, for not leaving them- or us- worse off than before. And it's not very hard to do.
All cultures around today exist as the product of millenia of exchange and internal differentiation in historical countries, and I welcome the continuation of this process, conducted with the necessary attention to what needs to be done to ensure the process is smooth. If the people that are critical of immigration could focus on the real issues and their resolution, rather than violence, and the politicians could keep half an eye to not aggravating xenophobia (it's got to be treated like any other phobia, which I may write something about at some point), then we can have a peaceful and productive growth of the population while doing some good for people in trouble around the world.
Going crazy never solved any real problems, I think.
IWYW,
— Aswad.
_____________________________
"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.
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