Integrating or assimilating new groups into any country is a challenge, particularly if the newcomers do not want to. We used to do a better job of it, but I think public schools, which used to do a lot of the work, turned on the US and western civilization and are not any help. We are not as bad off as Sweden, Germany, France or the UK (and Canada?), but things are not good.
Clearly this gets really important when elected officials (Omar, Jaypal, etc.) seem more aligned with the places they left than the US (and openly state it), but smaller scale interactions, such as yours, aren’t any good either.
If these folks don’t want to integrate and abide by our laws, customs and cultural norms, then they should leave.
Personally, I don't believe anyone of foreign extraction and in this country as an immigrant or child of immigrants should be eligible to hold any public government office. Sorry. I'm sure there are good people in that category, but evidently they don't run for office. Instead you get America haters like the squad, AOC, that communist dude running for mayor of NYC, and a plethora of others who are in it for the scam.
I agree Humdeedee, Is there no way to eliminate such representatives? The of senators and representatives elected who are not US citizens, seem to be the loudest noise makers, have not honored their vows to protect and defend the US Constitution or have learned how to legislate. AOC is a prime example of admitting in the press that she does not know how to either write or to sponsor legislation. Her admission was done in front of her boss and his reactions were to nod in agreement and laugh.
I am proud that so many people in power are trying to make that a reality Harald. I stand ready to do what is asked of me in the highly unlikely event I would be called upon to do so or to be reactivated back as an active duty Armed Forces member,
Some groups cannot and will mot leave in the case where they believe their presence is answering a higher calling. In the fractured beliefs and political systems of the Western nations, liberal or 'progressive' actions punched a hole in national traditions and values that is impossible to reestablish or repair.
I hope you’re feeling better after the one-dose El Blasto Vagisil.
Also, you’re right: We do NOT live like that here. If living like that is someone’s thing, fine! He or she is a good fit for many, many *other* countries in the world.
P.S. Alternative title/band name: “Just The Tip, Mohammed.”
Well done on several fronts, but the most important being voicing your opinion of the problem, as a woman, because in all honesty you and children have clearly been identified as the soft targets of choice.
Importing 3rd world immigrants, especially from muslim countries, where women are chattel and disputes are settled with machetes is the acme of stupidity. They live daily lives in a cortisol fueled dystopia, where everything looks like predator or prey, no in between.
Their 24/7 daily reality doesn't assimilate or play well with the soft, spoiled and fatally obtuse American culture, where disputes are settled with hashtags and memes. The third world and especially islamic countries, see only weakness in our equity, for the greater good, and blue haired tolerance. Oil and water do not mix, no matter how much you shake the bottle.
Question
So when Mohammed delivered the Vagisil and other items, what was his demeanor? Was there an air of "here you go dirty Western girl" or "this toothpaste was in the wrong aisle I think"??
Non-verbals (if any) would provide a deeper hint to the cultural dissonance question, but it's more curiosity on my part than anything.
Other observation - if you ladies have guys so feeble of mind and masculinity, that they can't carry a six pack of beer, box of tampons, and tube of Vagisil without their testicles retreating up into their abdomen, then shop around.
I could see it when they're 15, but grow the hell up and be an adult.
I've graduated to buying huge bundles of adult diapers, for the ladies in my mom's assisted living community and could give a crap what anyone thinks.
No doubt there are muslims who've assimilated, which encompasses outward cultural American norms - no hijabs/burquas, women allowed to inhabit spaces with men, driving privileges and schools - but may not include some/many of their religion's other beliefs.
One solution to the assimilation problem (which may not cover the feminine creams) is the legal immigration policy currently on the books. If immigrants are putting the time and money into gaining citizenship, it's more likely they'll appreciate the country they're coming to. There are many examples of this, where legal immigrants are more vehement about protecting the freedoms and liberties of this country than almost anyone on the left.
The assimilation problem was a known problem to the orchestrators of open borders. Ever since the obama era, they've used this as a destabilizing and disruptive tool.
As you well know, the lack of immigration law requirements leads to an entitled expectation and demand, that the new country cater to the illegal. We saw this in NYC where immigrants were complaining about the free accommodations, amounts of money, food type and quality, and schools for their children - demanding teachers who spoke their native languages.
We've been kumbaya'd (by the left) and virtue signaled into a mess. Funny that's only ever implemented in the macro of the smelly wal-mart people and never the micro of the liberal elitists (looking at you Martha's Vineyard).
For me the answer is 100% secured borders and a militantly enforced immigration system, accompanied by mass deportations. You must have the second part, because saturation is a real problem and concern, which Europe and the UK are starting to understand, much too late.
A good question. I was trying to avoid the sun entirely so I minimized interaction -- I stepped out on the porch, waved him over, pointed to where they should be stacked, said "Thank you so much!" and went back in. He gave me a kind of nostrils-flared, frustrated/angry stare and let out a rough breath, but said nothing.
Hmmm...that could be a lot of things, but in this day and age I'd say assume the worst. I'm a worse case scenario type of person, and have told many women, the time to think "that ally way looks way to dark or feels wrong" is when you see it from a distance and not when you're being assaulted in it.
So, while judging a book by it's cover may be "taboo and racist", it's just smart. Humans used this instinctual tool for millennia, to survive a world filled with predators. It's only modern (liberal/progressive) man that turned it into a cudgel, that had to do with social concerns.
Not that you asked or were looking for validation, but I think you made the right assessment and move in this situation.
Life has taught us all important lessons and for me the wake up period started with my wife, my daughter-in-law, my granddaughter Yanabah, and here from Holly and her followers who are patient enough to not give up on me.
This isn’t a failure of assimilation, it is a failure to recognize an inconvenient truth.
“And if we keep importing people who see those freedoms as wrong — or un-Islamic, or shameful, or simply optional — then we are going to have a problem. A growing one.”
John Daniel Davidson at the Federalist wrote a good article on the subject earlier this week: "Not Everyone with U.S. Citizenship Is Actually An American."
I loved the way you told the story, easily visualized. And funny, with a definitely un-funny subject.
Among men, gays aren't the only ones who can handle that kind of a shopping list. Some of us, who had two wives, and have two daughters and two granddaughters have been there, done that with no problem.
Immigrants coming from the Islamic culture are already to some extent, and are going to be a problem that needs to be addressed soon.
The United Kingdom has ignoring this sort of thing for many years. There are now entire neighborhoods that have formed their own ad hoc islamic governments. Police have to take translators with them. This is the new normal there.
For absolute 100% FOR SURE blocking, you have to initiate a chat window and get Instacart to do it. Just say “I was uncomfortable with him/her and prefer not to have him/her get my orders again” if you want; that’ll do it. But I have reverse engineered their algorithm, and this works really well; I’ve only had a shopper I didn’t want recur one time, and I have a stable of six or seven GREAT shoppers who get my orders upwards of 85% of the time.
Favorite — do ALL of the following. 5 stars, check every option for why they were great, leave a thank you note, and increase the tip. The shoppers I have done this for recur more often to a statistically significant (yes, I did the math, LOL) degree.
Block — do ALL of the following. 1 star, lower the tip (I lower it by half for the overpacking and not giving a damn problem, or to 1 cent for rude behavior) and thumbs-down any replacement they gave you. If a shopper is really scary, I skip this part and just go to Instacart directly (I don’t piss off scary males who know where I live, when I can help it.)
My daughter went to an “international “ school in Germany. That is what it was called. It was code for “too many immigrants from Islamic countries” go there. I did not know this when we signed up. We had just arrived from the US and were new to town.
Violence was high at the school, mothers wore face coverings… and my daughter was one of two non-Muslim kids in her class. She was called a whore. For swim class she wanted to wear a burkini to not stand out. All girls wore headscarves. She was in 5th grade.
I don't know anything about the operation of Instacart (or had even heard of it until now), so maybe I'm missing something important - but couldn't this be a problem with service from the shop he happened to be in?
No. He pretended the store was out of an item that they not only sell, they sell literally dozens of varieties of. He only stopped pretending when the vast majority of his pay was on the line. The store does not have magic dust to make people act that way.
Once upon a time, I really tried to live with a progressive outlook on the world. Immigrants were always to be celebrated, especially illegals and especially Muslims.
Only later did I realize how silly it was. Most wars erupt over ethnic conflicts--people with different worldviews, different languages, and different values. The Balkans are a perfect example of how badly things fall apart when there are simply too much differences between the people as the powers-that-be try to force them together.
The U.S. is a unique nation, and it's always had to find ways to have different people learn to live together. It's always been messy. But I do think there are certain values that we need to hold everyone to, and if those coming into our nation can't handle them, then they need to find another place. This includes language (there can be no peaceful co-existence if people can't even talk to each other), the rule of secular law, the first amendment, and the principles stated in the Declaration of Independence -- including the emphasis that "all men are created equal" and endowed with inherent rights means all mankind, i.e. men, women, everyone.
I believe Stockholm syndrome is the most unacknowledged factor in the way the West fails to assimilate Muslim immigrants. Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological defence mechanism in which hostages or abuse victims develop positive feelings, sympathy, or loyalty toward their captors or abusers, sometimes to the point of protecting and defending them and desperately silencing anyone who stands up to them. Terrorist violence creates fear and if the fear is not acknowledged it manifests as appeasing behaviour in the hopes that the terrorists will leave them alone. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is both the most articulate ex Muslim warning of the dangers of Islam, but also an extreme and extensive example of how Stockholm Syndrome works. She escaped an arranged marriage by fleeing to the Netherlands where she became a citizen and wrote Submission, a film critical of Islam, directed by Theo Van Gogh. He was stabbed to death by a Muslim man with a note saying Van Gogh’s views on Islam were the reason for his killing. Ayaan was elected to the Dutch parliament but because she was an obvious target her neighbours forced out of her home and she eventually had to spend her nights in jail for protection. Finally the Dutch government surrendered to Stockholm Syndrome and expelled her and she came to the US. (She has since married Niall Ferguson and become Christian!)Tommy Robinson is another example. He is sometimes called the most dangerous man in Britain and is regularly jailed because he won’t shut up about the Muslim grooming gangs that prey on working class British girls as young as 12. Compared to the fear inside the souls of the British establishment the systematic rape of working class girls is small potatoes. In the UK the fear of triggering Muslim rage is so great that Holly’s post about ‘shopping with Mohammed’ might well merit a visit from the police and even jail time for hate speech. I would expect they would have my liver out for this comment! Even Douglas Murray’s 2017 Strange Death of Europe, which explores the peculiar inability of the West to defend itself against Islam, makes no mention of Stockholm Syndrome. (I just word searched my Kindle Edition.) So it is our own fear which is doing us in and it is just too painful to acknowledge. Too painful to face - even to save ourselves. After silencing Charlie Hebdo and the Mohammed cartoons Western Stockholm syndrome is easily maintained by a few random acts of terror. Just drive a car into a crowd in Germany or throw a Molotov cocktail in Boulder Colorado and the fear is topped up - refreshed by the blood of martyrs. Cheap investment. Collectively I believe some, not all, of the opposition to the Israeli response to Oct 7 is also the unconscious fear generated through the mechanism Stockholm Syndrome. So good for you Holly for confronting the issue in this post. I believe Dr Johnson said that courage was the most important virtue because without it all other virtues were impossible.
The view from the UK (as much as I can say – we now have de facto blasphemy laws covering Islam (and only Islam) and Breach of the Peace laws covering, ahem, some communities more than others). Also the view from a Jew whose great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents were immigrants to the UK:
Absolutely. A few months into the Gaza War, a poll of British Muslims found that 75% support Hamas. Not Gazans. Not a two-state solution. Actual Hamas. Many don’t believe that Hamas committed war crimes on 7 October, but many others do and still support them. I have had friendly relationships with Muslim colleagues in previous jobs and degree courses and now I can’t stop thinking about what they *really* thought about me.
A Substack post I hope to write one day (I need to do more research first) divides immigration problems into two categories, the technical (such as strain on infrastructure and suppression of wages) and the adaptive. And at the top of the list of the adaptive is immigrants who don’t assimilate, who don’t adopt Western values, particularly ones like treating women as equal to men and treating Jews like human beings. And you can guess which community is, IMHO, the worst offender there.
Jews assimilated. If anything, Jews over-assimilated and lost much of their own culture out of a sense of cultural inferiority and a need to “pass” as non-Jewish to get good jobs and university places (how things change…). Some Jews, like myself, have spent a lifetime trying to learn things my ancestors took for granted and then forgot.
I don’t see that in contemporary UK immigration. Jews came to this country before the idea of multiculturalism took hold. We were expected to be “a Jew at home and citizen in the street.” Since the 1970s, when immigration from Muslim countries took off, the doctrine of multiculturalism has meant that immigrant communities have had their own cultures celebrated while (since the 90s at least) British culture and history has been denigrated as white supremacist (and all the rest) in schools and the public sphere. There is no sense of “This is what you have to do and believe (in the sense of civic beliefs, like freedom of speech and freedom of religion) if you want to be British.” It’s just, “You do you,” and, increasingly, the police are unwilling or unable to intervene if the law is broken (this is what the Pakistani r*pe gang scandal is about).
There has been more talk about British values in recent decades, but no one is able to articulate them effectively, either because of decades of cultural ignorance or an unwillingness to suggest a value that some people might not share, let alone to suggest that British values might be *superior* to some other cultures in some areas. Instead, people just talk about nonsense things like queueing and afternoon tea (neither of which are a thing any more, at least not in London, which is hugely immigrant-based).
I think, historically, America has been better at assimilating immigrants. America really is a country of immigrants, unlike Britain where the technocracy just says that to try to discourage criticism of immigration policy. But the sense I get is that recently things have got worse in the US too, perhaps related to the Biden administration’s relaxation of border controls and a general push for the out-of-control immigration policy that characterises Britain and many European counties at the moment (Why? Woke ideology, of course, and, presumably, TDS).
So, yes, speak out before you lose the right to do so.
What we have here in Arizona is a Senator, strongly endorsed by President Trump, who ran on enacting Sharia law. We have newly built mosques complete with wailing towers (for now silenced). In my circle of friends, any call, letter, or petition for him to consider supporting Disabled American Veterans legislation is acknowledge only once out of ten requests sent. What was Trump and is advisors thinking?
One can easily interpret Islam in Supremacist fashion.
The same is true of many other ideologies.
Locating the challenge presented to liberal societies by Islamic Supremacy in Islam places liberals on the horns of a dilemma created by the special place religion/moral philosophy holds in the West and its history.
Locating the challenge in Supremacy classes Islamic Supremacists with Aryan Supremacists, White Supremacists, and the like.
Westerners have ways of dealing with, of defeating Supremacists.
If the West wants to defend itself against Islamic Supremacists, frame the battle in terms that trigger the appropriate responses from Westerners.
Islam, like every ancient religion, is grounded in many ancient texts that often conflict with one another.
Interpretation can change with time.
For example, the cataclysm of the Thirty Years War and the contemporaneous English Civil Wars was followed in parts of Europe by greater emphasis on toleration of Christians who believed and wished to worship slightly differently.
Will something like that happen in Islam? Who knows?
This assimilation problem is becoming more and more common. I never cease to be amazed that people are willing to cross our border illegally to access the benefits of living in the US but only want to wave the flag of their home country or, worse yet, only want to speak in their native language. It pained me to see money from the poor districts in which I served as a teacher have to take needed funds to employ translators to speak with parents or to buy Whatever language to English dictionaries for use in every classroom in the school or to have students (almost always girls) who were not allowed to attend school in their home country be thrown into a class based on their age when that student spoke no more than a handful of words of English and spent time using gestures. I say not always because I did have a male student who spoke two words of English--name Johnny--and one day he raised his hand. I asked what he needed and he looked perplexed and shrugged his shoulders. (I had already been to Barnes and Nobles and bought one of those quick guides for travelers and was looking for what I was hearing him say to no avail). He stood up and reached for his zipper at which time I yelled "Go, go" all while frantically waving my hands in the direction of the door! I also had a few girls who spoke no English as well. My point is, this is utterly unfair to the teacher and to other students in the class but, without a doubt, useless to put students like them in a regular class.
You hit many nails on the head. Thanks for another great article!
Excellent post. I definitely agree and we need to speak out.
Integrating or assimilating new groups into any country is a challenge, particularly if the newcomers do not want to. We used to do a better job of it, but I think public schools, which used to do a lot of the work, turned on the US and western civilization and are not any help. We are not as bad off as Sweden, Germany, France or the UK (and Canada?), but things are not good.
Clearly this gets really important when elected officials (Omar, Jaypal, etc.) seem more aligned with the places they left than the US (and openly state it), but smaller scale interactions, such as yours, aren’t any good either.
If these folks don’t want to integrate and abide by our laws, customs and cultural norms, then they should leave.
Personally, I don't believe anyone of foreign extraction and in this country as an immigrant or child of immigrants should be eligible to hold any public government office. Sorry. I'm sure there are good people in that category, but evidently they don't run for office. Instead you get America haters like the squad, AOC, that communist dude running for mayor of NYC, and a plethora of others who are in it for the scam.
I agree Humdeedee, Is there no way to eliminate such representatives? The of senators and representatives elected who are not US citizens, seem to be the loudest noise makers, have not honored their vows to protect and defend the US Constitution or have learned how to legislate. AOC is a prime example of admitting in the press that she does not know how to either write or to sponsor legislation. Her admission was done in front of her boss and his reactions were to nod in agreement and laugh.
But they won’t leave - that’s part of the problem
If they don’t want to, we will make them.
I am proud that so many people in power are trying to make that a reality Harald. I stand ready to do what is asked of me in the highly unlikely event I would be called upon to do so or to be reactivated back as an active duty Armed Forces member,
Some groups cannot and will mot leave in the case where they believe their presence is answering a higher calling. In the fractured beliefs and political systems of the Western nations, liberal or 'progressive' actions punched a hole in national traditions and values that is impossible to reestablish or repair.
I hope you’re feeling better after the one-dose El Blasto Vagisil.
Also, you’re right: We do NOT live like that here. If living like that is someone’s thing, fine! He or she is a good fit for many, many *other* countries in the world.
P.S. Alternative title/band name: “Just The Tip, Mohammed.”
LOOOOOOOL that’s hilarious!
And yes, women are people here. Get over it, Mo.
Well done on several fronts, but the most important being voicing your opinion of the problem, as a woman, because in all honesty you and children have clearly been identified as the soft targets of choice.
Importing 3rd world immigrants, especially from muslim countries, where women are chattel and disputes are settled with machetes is the acme of stupidity. They live daily lives in a cortisol fueled dystopia, where everything looks like predator or prey, no in between.
Their 24/7 daily reality doesn't assimilate or play well with the soft, spoiled and fatally obtuse American culture, where disputes are settled with hashtags and memes. The third world and especially islamic countries, see only weakness in our equity, for the greater good, and blue haired tolerance. Oil and water do not mix, no matter how much you shake the bottle.
Question
So when Mohammed delivered the Vagisil and other items, what was his demeanor? Was there an air of "here you go dirty Western girl" or "this toothpaste was in the wrong aisle I think"??
Non-verbals (if any) would provide a deeper hint to the cultural dissonance question, but it's more curiosity on my part than anything.
Other observation - if you ladies have guys so feeble of mind and masculinity, that they can't carry a six pack of beer, box of tampons, and tube of Vagisil without their testicles retreating up into their abdomen, then shop around.
I could see it when they're 15, but grow the hell up and be an adult.
I've graduated to buying huge bundles of adult diapers, for the ladies in my mom's assisted living community and could give a crap what anyone thinks.
No doubt there are muslims who've assimilated, which encompasses outward cultural American norms - no hijabs/burquas, women allowed to inhabit spaces with men, driving privileges and schools - but may not include some/many of their religion's other beliefs.
One solution to the assimilation problem (which may not cover the feminine creams) is the legal immigration policy currently on the books. If immigrants are putting the time and money into gaining citizenship, it's more likely they'll appreciate the country they're coming to. There are many examples of this, where legal immigrants are more vehement about protecting the freedoms and liberties of this country than almost anyone on the left.
The assimilation problem was a known problem to the orchestrators of open borders. Ever since the obama era, they've used this as a destabilizing and disruptive tool.
As you well know, the lack of immigration law requirements leads to an entitled expectation and demand, that the new country cater to the illegal. We saw this in NYC where immigrants were complaining about the free accommodations, amounts of money, food type and quality, and schools for their children - demanding teachers who spoke their native languages.
We've been kumbaya'd (by the left) and virtue signaled into a mess. Funny that's only ever implemented in the macro of the smelly wal-mart people and never the micro of the liberal elitists (looking at you Martha's Vineyard).
For me the answer is 100% secured borders and a militantly enforced immigration system, accompanied by mass deportations. You must have the second part, because saturation is a real problem and concern, which Europe and the UK are starting to understand, much too late.
A good question. I was trying to avoid the sun entirely so I minimized interaction -- I stepped out on the porch, waved him over, pointed to where they should be stacked, said "Thank you so much!" and went back in. He gave me a kind of nostrils-flared, frustrated/angry stare and let out a rough breath, but said nothing.
Hmmm...that could be a lot of things, but in this day and age I'd say assume the worst. I'm a worse case scenario type of person, and have told many women, the time to think "that ally way looks way to dark or feels wrong" is when you see it from a distance and not when you're being assaulted in it.
So, while judging a book by it's cover may be "taboo and racist", it's just smart. Humans used this instinctual tool for millennia, to survive a world filled with predators. It's only modern (liberal/progressive) man that turned it into a cudgel, that had to do with social concerns.
Not that you asked or were looking for validation, but I think you made the right assessment and move in this situation.
Life has taught us all important lessons and for me the wake up period started with my wife, my daughter-in-law, my granddaughter Yanabah, and here from Holly and her followers who are patient enough to not give up on me.
This isn’t a failure of assimilation, it is a failure to recognize an inconvenient truth.
“And if we keep importing people who see those freedoms as wrong — or un-Islamic, or shameful, or simply optional — then we are going to have a problem. A growing one.”
Right on target...Houston, we have a problem.
John Daniel Davidson at the Federalist wrote a good article on the subject earlier this week: "Not Everyone with U.S. Citizenship Is Actually An American."
I loved the way you told the story, easily visualized. And funny, with a definitely un-funny subject.
Among men, gays aren't the only ones who can handle that kind of a shopping list. Some of us, who had two wives, and have two daughters and two granddaughters have been there, done that with no problem.
Immigrants coming from the Islamic culture are already to some extent, and are going to be a problem that needs to be addressed soon.
Personally, I’m just glad you’re well and in fine writing form. Happy July 4th (or as Bridget Phetasy would say, ‘the original No Kings Day’).
The United Kingdom has ignoring this sort of thing for many years. There are now entire neighborhoods that have formed their own ad hoc islamic governments. Police have to take translators with them. This is the new normal there.
For the life of me I cannot figure out how to favorite or block an Instacart shopper. Is there a secret you can share?
For absolute 100% FOR SURE blocking, you have to initiate a chat window and get Instacart to do it. Just say “I was uncomfortable with him/her and prefer not to have him/her get my orders again” if you want; that’ll do it. But I have reverse engineered their algorithm, and this works really well; I’ve only had a shopper I didn’t want recur one time, and I have a stable of six or seven GREAT shoppers who get my orders upwards of 85% of the time.
Favorite — do ALL of the following. 5 stars, check every option for why they were great, leave a thank you note, and increase the tip. The shoppers I have done this for recur more often to a statistically significant (yes, I did the math, LOL) degree.
Block — do ALL of the following. 1 star, lower the tip (I lower it by half for the overpacking and not giving a damn problem, or to 1 cent for rude behavior) and thumbs-down any replacement they gave you. If a shopper is really scary, I skip this part and just go to Instacart directly (I don’t piss off scary males who know where I live, when I can help it.)
Excellent! Thank you, Holly.
My daughter went to an “international “ school in Germany. That is what it was called. It was code for “too many immigrants from Islamic countries” go there. I did not know this when we signed up. We had just arrived from the US and were new to town.
Violence was high at the school, mothers wore face coverings… and my daughter was one of two non-Muslim kids in her class. She was called a whore. For swim class she wanted to wear a burkini to not stand out. All girls wore headscarves. She was in 5th grade.
We had to leave. And we did.
I don't know anything about the operation of Instacart (or had even heard of it until now), so maybe I'm missing something important - but couldn't this be a problem with service from the shop he happened to be in?
https://hollymathnerd.substack.com/p/dilemmas-of-modern-life?utm_source=publication-search
No. He pretended the store was out of an item that they not only sell, they sell literally dozens of varieties of. He only stopped pretending when the vast majority of his pay was on the line. The store does not have magic dust to make people act that way.
Once upon a time, I really tried to live with a progressive outlook on the world. Immigrants were always to be celebrated, especially illegals and especially Muslims.
Only later did I realize how silly it was. Most wars erupt over ethnic conflicts--people with different worldviews, different languages, and different values. The Balkans are a perfect example of how badly things fall apart when there are simply too much differences between the people as the powers-that-be try to force them together.
The U.S. is a unique nation, and it's always had to find ways to have different people learn to live together. It's always been messy. But I do think there are certain values that we need to hold everyone to, and if those coming into our nation can't handle them, then they need to find another place. This includes language (there can be no peaceful co-existence if people can't even talk to each other), the rule of secular law, the first amendment, and the principles stated in the Declaration of Independence -- including the emphasis that "all men are created equal" and endowed with inherent rights means all mankind, i.e. men, women, everyone.
I believe Stockholm syndrome is the most unacknowledged factor in the way the West fails to assimilate Muslim immigrants. Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological defence mechanism in which hostages or abuse victims develop positive feelings, sympathy, or loyalty toward their captors or abusers, sometimes to the point of protecting and defending them and desperately silencing anyone who stands up to them. Terrorist violence creates fear and if the fear is not acknowledged it manifests as appeasing behaviour in the hopes that the terrorists will leave them alone. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is both the most articulate ex Muslim warning of the dangers of Islam, but also an extreme and extensive example of how Stockholm Syndrome works. She escaped an arranged marriage by fleeing to the Netherlands where she became a citizen and wrote Submission, a film critical of Islam, directed by Theo Van Gogh. He was stabbed to death by a Muslim man with a note saying Van Gogh’s views on Islam were the reason for his killing. Ayaan was elected to the Dutch parliament but because she was an obvious target her neighbours forced out of her home and she eventually had to spend her nights in jail for protection. Finally the Dutch government surrendered to Stockholm Syndrome and expelled her and she came to the US. (She has since married Niall Ferguson and become Christian!)Tommy Robinson is another example. He is sometimes called the most dangerous man in Britain and is regularly jailed because he won’t shut up about the Muslim grooming gangs that prey on working class British girls as young as 12. Compared to the fear inside the souls of the British establishment the systematic rape of working class girls is small potatoes. In the UK the fear of triggering Muslim rage is so great that Holly’s post about ‘shopping with Mohammed’ might well merit a visit from the police and even jail time for hate speech. I would expect they would have my liver out for this comment! Even Douglas Murray’s 2017 Strange Death of Europe, which explores the peculiar inability of the West to defend itself against Islam, makes no mention of Stockholm Syndrome. (I just word searched my Kindle Edition.) So it is our own fear which is doing us in and it is just too painful to acknowledge. Too painful to face - even to save ourselves. After silencing Charlie Hebdo and the Mohammed cartoons Western Stockholm syndrome is easily maintained by a few random acts of terror. Just drive a car into a crowd in Germany or throw a Molotov cocktail in Boulder Colorado and the fear is topped up - refreshed by the blood of martyrs. Cheap investment. Collectively I believe some, not all, of the opposition to the Israeli response to Oct 7 is also the unconscious fear generated through the mechanism Stockholm Syndrome. So good for you Holly for confronting the issue in this post. I believe Dr Johnson said that courage was the most important virtue because without it all other virtues were impossible.
I hope you’re feeling better.
The view from the UK (as much as I can say – we now have de facto blasphemy laws covering Islam (and only Islam) and Breach of the Peace laws covering, ahem, some communities more than others). Also the view from a Jew whose great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents were immigrants to the UK:
Absolutely. A few months into the Gaza War, a poll of British Muslims found that 75% support Hamas. Not Gazans. Not a two-state solution. Actual Hamas. Many don’t believe that Hamas committed war crimes on 7 October, but many others do and still support them. I have had friendly relationships with Muslim colleagues in previous jobs and degree courses and now I can’t stop thinking about what they *really* thought about me.
A Substack post I hope to write one day (I need to do more research first) divides immigration problems into two categories, the technical (such as strain on infrastructure and suppression of wages) and the adaptive. And at the top of the list of the adaptive is immigrants who don’t assimilate, who don’t adopt Western values, particularly ones like treating women as equal to men and treating Jews like human beings. And you can guess which community is, IMHO, the worst offender there.
Jews assimilated. If anything, Jews over-assimilated and lost much of their own culture out of a sense of cultural inferiority and a need to “pass” as non-Jewish to get good jobs and university places (how things change…). Some Jews, like myself, have spent a lifetime trying to learn things my ancestors took for granted and then forgot.
I don’t see that in contemporary UK immigration. Jews came to this country before the idea of multiculturalism took hold. We were expected to be “a Jew at home and citizen in the street.” Since the 1970s, when immigration from Muslim countries took off, the doctrine of multiculturalism has meant that immigrant communities have had their own cultures celebrated while (since the 90s at least) British culture and history has been denigrated as white supremacist (and all the rest) in schools and the public sphere. There is no sense of “This is what you have to do and believe (in the sense of civic beliefs, like freedom of speech and freedom of religion) if you want to be British.” It’s just, “You do you,” and, increasingly, the police are unwilling or unable to intervene if the law is broken (this is what the Pakistani r*pe gang scandal is about).
There has been more talk about British values in recent decades, but no one is able to articulate them effectively, either because of decades of cultural ignorance or an unwillingness to suggest a value that some people might not share, let alone to suggest that British values might be *superior* to some other cultures in some areas. Instead, people just talk about nonsense things like queueing and afternoon tea (neither of which are a thing any more, at least not in London, which is hugely immigrant-based).
I think, historically, America has been better at assimilating immigrants. America really is a country of immigrants, unlike Britain where the technocracy just says that to try to discourage criticism of immigration policy. But the sense I get is that recently things have got worse in the US too, perhaps related to the Biden administration’s relaxation of border controls and a general push for the out-of-control immigration policy that characterises Britain and many European counties at the moment (Why? Woke ideology, of course, and, presumably, TDS).
So, yes, speak out before you lose the right to do so.
What we have here in Arizona is a Senator, strongly endorsed by President Trump, who ran on enacting Sharia law. We have newly built mosques complete with wailing towers (for now silenced). In my circle of friends, any call, letter, or petition for him to consider supporting Disabled American Veterans legislation is acknowledge only once out of ten requests sent. What was Trump and is advisors thinking?
Islam is not the problem.
Islamic Supremacy is a problem.
Supremacy is the problem.
Supremacist ideologies contradict the American creed that holds all people to have been created equal, endowed with certain unalienable rights.
When Islamic Supremacy becomes rare and unpersuasive among Muslims, it will cease to be a problem in the U.S. and in the Middle East & North Africa.
Islamic Supremacy is the consequence of Muslims believing the words of their holy book, not just pretending to believe them.
We’re used to people who only pretend to believe that their holy books were dictated by the Creator.
Muslims actually do. Hence, there is very little (I’m being generous to allow any) distinction to be made between “Islam” and “Islamic Supremacy.”
One can easily interpret Islam in Supremacist fashion.
The same is true of many other ideologies.
Locating the challenge presented to liberal societies by Islamic Supremacy in Islam places liberals on the horns of a dilemma created by the special place religion/moral philosophy holds in the West and its history.
Locating the challenge in Supremacy classes Islamic Supremacists with Aryan Supremacists, White Supremacists, and the like.
Westerners have ways of dealing with, of defeating Supremacists.
If the West wants to defend itself against Islamic Supremacists, frame the battle in terms that trigger the appropriate responses from Westerners.
That’s an impossibility - they can’t split their doctrine in that way - it would not be allowed - probably would result in death to the infidel
Islam, like every ancient religion, is grounded in many ancient texts that often conflict with one another.
Interpretation can change with time.
For example, the cataclysm of the Thirty Years War and the contemporaneous English Civil Wars was followed in parts of Europe by greater emphasis on toleration of Christians who believed and wished to worship slightly differently.
Will something like that happen in Islam? Who knows?
But it could.
Yes, Islam is the problem. There is no nuanced discussion to have.
This assimilation problem is becoming more and more common. I never cease to be amazed that people are willing to cross our border illegally to access the benefits of living in the US but only want to wave the flag of their home country or, worse yet, only want to speak in their native language. It pained me to see money from the poor districts in which I served as a teacher have to take needed funds to employ translators to speak with parents or to buy Whatever language to English dictionaries for use in every classroom in the school or to have students (almost always girls) who were not allowed to attend school in their home country be thrown into a class based on their age when that student spoke no more than a handful of words of English and spent time using gestures. I say not always because I did have a male student who spoke two words of English--name Johnny--and one day he raised his hand. I asked what he needed and he looked perplexed and shrugged his shoulders. (I had already been to Barnes and Nobles and bought one of those quick guides for travelers and was looking for what I was hearing him say to no avail). He stood up and reached for his zipper at which time I yelled "Go, go" all while frantically waving my hands in the direction of the door! I also had a few girls who spoke no English as well. My point is, this is utterly unfair to the teacher and to other students in the class but, without a doubt, useless to put students like them in a regular class.
You hit many nails on the head. Thanks for another great article!