Reading this article, I was reminded of those wonderful books by Leo Rosten, "The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N" and "The Return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N", which are hilarious tales of a WASP teacher in an evening "Americanization school" in the 1930s, which were filled with immigrants from just about everywhere, who were all avid to become "real" Americans. These classes were much more than English lessons, they were about civics and culture too, and immigrants flocked to them, usually after a working day that could be 12 hours long.
Mr. Parkhill ["Mr. Pockhill"] is not at all apologetic for his cultural origins. Neither are his students, for theirs. They don't perceive learning a new culture to denigrate their old one, just that they WANT to be able to live "as Americans" in the wider American culture. They want to show their gratefulness for the opportunity to escape poverty by embracing new values in addition to their old ones. At home, the Italians undoubtedly still "eat Italian" while the Eastern European Jews keep kosher; Madame Olga Trasha goes to a Russian Orthodox church, but not one of this group would dream of trying to demand that all restaurants be kosher, or Italian, or all churches Russian Orthodox.
Yet what we see, over and over again, is that Muslim immigration demands that the host country conform to their requirements, and there is no feeling of being beholden to the host country at all for improved health, work, social conditions. They see no reason why non-Muslims cannot comply with their religious and cultural outlooks. They have provoked the backlash that has created the EDL, and while I deplore any violence, I have to side with those, in Britain and the US who think immigrants should adapt to the host country, or return to where they came, and I'm not apologetic, either.
ANTIGONOS' BRAIN
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At home, the Italians undoubtedly still "eat Italian" while the Eastern European Jews keep kosher; Madame Olga Trasha goes to a Russian Orthodox church, but not one of this group would dream of trying to demand that all restaurants be kosher, or Italian, or all churches Russian Orthodox.
Have Muslims started demanding that all houses of worship become mosques? I must have missed this.
It's unquestionable that Islamic immigrants, particularly in Europe, have a vocal contingent that want to make their host countries adapt to the immigrants' standards. However I see the problem as being one of degrees rather than of iron-clad principles. Remember that the America Rosten writes about was not always so welcoming of new-comers. While Rosten's characters are proud of their heritage, their real-life analogues suffered very real anxieties about how much of their culture they were "allowed" to maintain, and there was a certain amount of shame and even fear at different times in the 1900s through 50s at being perceived as too foreign, too different. Hence lots of name changes, shunning of home languages, abandoning cultural practices, etc. In retrospect, I think lots of people would agree that this was wrong; that immigrants shouldn't have felt coerced into disowning their former identities in order to be part of America. I think the fact that the model has shifted away from an exclusivist "meltingpot" is a very positive move.
That's not to say that the pendulum can't swing too far in the other direction. But I think we need to distinguish between people that want to impose Shariah on Europeans and actually take over their host countries versus those who just want to maintain their culture (or aspects of it) in a new country. The former is a problem; the latter shouldn't be.
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