"I had to go to Canada, Toronto, to renew my work visa, about 8 months ago. And I went through Minnesota and I stayed with a niece of mine. She came to Canada about 9 years ago from Zimbabwe. She's married, and she has 4 children. All four children were born in Zimbabwe in southern Africa. She was telling me -- she told me this story herself.
"One day in the kitchen, her children were all very excited, because there was a big ice-hockey match, between a Canadian team, and the Sabres, I think, in Buffalo. And they were all very much, of course, for the Canadian team. They were saying, 'Mama, we are really going, we are really Canadian, we really want the Canadians to win!'
"And she said she brought all the kids into the kitchen, and said, 'Listen. Don't you ever forget. You are not Canadians. You are Muslims.'"
Anyone who has read Berlinski, Phillips, Bawer, Steyn etc. should not be surprised in the least about this.There is no sense of recognition of borders, countries, nor any other secular demarcation. It is all Islam, all the time.
The post at the link(The Big Picture) ends with ..."we must get educated and put a stop to this now"
sorry...I believe it is too late.
Canadians are very unwilling to learn from the mistakes made by others. Even in my sons' school they tell them: you learn from your mistakes... We laughed at home - this is only a part of proverb, the full one says that the fools learn from their mistakes, the smart ones from the others' mistakes.
The mistakes that Canada should learn from are English, Portuguese, French and Belgian ones - the colonial history of those countries. Namely, the fact that the Muslim and pagan Eastern and African people DO NOT NEED THE WHITE MAN's WISDOM.
Gideon Rachman on the Collapse of Europe? conference: http://blogs.ft.com/rachmanblog/2007/05/the_collapse_of.html
Aaron, they may not need the white man's wisdom, but they sure use his inventions. Just think, if it wasn't for white men they would still be smacking each other with rocks instead of shooting each other with AK47's.
This rejection of 'being Canadian' is directly linked to the Liberal Party's agenda of multiculturalism, which was put in place as a tactic of maintaining the Liberals in power by dividing the population into closed groups defined by origin (religious origin, ethnic origin, linguistic origin).
Then, the Liberals made it clear that these groups were Political Groups - they existed and prospered in maintaining their 'original identity' by getting money and privileges from the gov't. Therefore, - the Liberal Party effectively bought the massive immigration population of Canada - from about the 1980s, with this policy.
That's why so many immigrants 'vote Liberal'. They were bought by a deliberate policy to buy them - the Liberal's multicultural policy which encourages the population to splinter into groups defined by origin. Adversaries with each other to get gov't money and special privileges.
Aaron - I have no idea what you are talking about with 'the white man's wisdom'. Nothing to do with being white - and everything to do with having moved out a 'groupism' or tribalism in the 1200-1500 era, moving into promoting the use of reason rather than emotion, promoting individual freedom of thought, the necessity to explore, question, invent - and move into democracy..and industrialism. The ME and Africa have to move themselves out of medieval tribalism and into the modern era.
I've said this before, never in it's history has Islam been so lucky as now. They conquered parts of Europe in the past at the edges, they will get the whole prize this time with no casualties.
The Left has made it so very easy for them. The elites haded Europe over to Islam:
"Bat Ye’or convincingly argues that the transformation of Europe into Eurabia is the result of a deliberate strategy that was foolishly set in motion by French Gaullists who wanted to create a European-Arab counterweight to the United States. Today the European Union is continuing this policy, which aims to create a united Mediterranean continent based on a symbiosis between the Northern and the Southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In her Eurabia book she meticulously describes how this strategy has been implemented during the past 35 years and how the promotion of Muslim immigration to Europe constitutes part of this plan."
www.brusselsjournal.com/node/840
penny - I don't think that will happen. The reason is, that the world population requires industrialism, and industrialism is only possible within a social and political system that promotes science and capitalism.
Science requires independent thought, the use of reason, critical questions, debate, dissent, a notion of progress, a sense of an ability to control natural systems, etc. Islam rejects all of this; it hasn't had a scientific thought since it began.
Capitalism requires independent action, the use of reason, the acceptance of dissent, i.e., the marketplace rejecting your product, a competitor coming up with a better selling product; a notion of progress; i.e, that 'I can do better'; a sense of an ability to control system, an acceptance of change, which includes both success and failure. Islam rejects all of this.
The Islamic world has only moved into industrialism since the WWs and only because its territory had oil - and they had to rely, totally, on the West, to finance and technologically access and process that oil. They themselves had neither the money nor the science to do it. They now have the money, but haven't educated their people - and rely on foreign technology.
Given this steadfast refusal of Islam, which is not simply a religion but more realistically a social and political mode of life - given this steadfast refusal of Islam to move out of a lifestyle suited only to 7th century agriculture - it can't become dominant in the modern world.
Either the modern world changes, which would require a massive reduction in population by several BILLION - and moves back to agriculturalism and rejects industrialism and science. OR - Islam has to change.
My money is that Islam will change. At the moment, it is fighing, desperately, to prevent change, to retain its political mode of tribalism, to retain its social mode of scientific ignorance, repression of women, repression of individualism, repression of reason. But - how long can repression last?
The Taliban were able to do it for a year or so in Afghanistan before external forces crumbled them. Note that the Afghanistan people did not themselves choose to continue with fundamentalist Islam.
The Islamic fascists will now try it in Gaza. Watch what happens. It can't be retained for long; the population is too large and can't sustain itself without industrial results, ie, massive aid from outside.
This won't be a short or easy fight; it took the West four hundred years to move out of its own medieval tribalism. It won't take Islam as long, but, it isn't a gentle smooth walk.
ET,
I agree with the general observation you have put forward. However, the Ummah is a lot more radical in its allegance than any other minority group - to the point of violence against all non-Muslims and sedition against the host country.
I know of no other immigrant group that presents such a consistent and toxic threat to any welcoming country.
With what is known about the foundational teachings and dogma of their cult now, I find it absolutely absurd that Muslims are still allowed to immigrate into the west. Regardless of so-called moderates and extremists. It is not our business nor our mission to reform Islam, or to separate the good guys from the bad.
You are not Canadians, you are Muslims.
Funny, you are not required to stay either.
Canada, Love it or GTFO.
"You are not Canadians, you are Muslims."
Funny, you are not required to stay either.
Canada, Love it or GTFO.
Some Canadians are Canadians, others aren't -- what a complete and shining example of the triumph of multiculturalism.
Ken, your point is correct, but irrelevant. The decent, skilled and educated Canadians regardless of their skin colour think, that the immigrants/refugees they invited would come here grateful for this rich and stable country and assimilate.
The newcomers come here to use instead. They do not have a concept of gratitude or assimilation - they have a concept of consumption of whatever available.
This is how the primitive cultures with scarce resources work, and Islam is a religion designed for survival with scarce resources.
Our culture is different, just look at the concept of charitable actions that exists here. This one is not known to the poor people. We should have been very selective and careful from the perspective of the immigration/asylum quotas as they apply to different cultures of the world.
There is a lesson to learn from our own mistakes.
ET: Why am I not surprised at all by your admission that you don't understand?
aaron - I've no idea why you are not surprised by my statement that I don't understand your comments. That's your problem, after all, not mine.
You do not have, in my view, any understanding of social, economic or political organization in non-industrial societies.
Furthermore, your intense hatred of immigrants moves you into a fallacious 'Black and White' perspective - ie, all immigrants are bad; all are out for themselves as individuals; none have any notion of community or neighbourly collaboration. Whereas, all Canadians (who were once immigrants) are good, aren't focused only on themselves, are all charitable and neighbourly. Oh - and that all who are poor are bad and selfish. Such a restricted and reductionist view is, of course, invalid.
ET - you are much more optimistic than I am. Just for the hypothetical, what will a Muslim Europe with its Christian minority, and a very wimpy one at that, look like 50 years, heck, 30 years from now?
It's not as if Muslims can't run factories, banks and a few economic essentials, but, how far will they be able to cannibalize their European serfs? Overseeing a modern university, they can't do. Science can't continue. It's been dead with Muslims for centuries.
My bet, Islam doesn't essentially change. It colonizes Europe and kills the host as quickly as it can because it's basically nothing more than a land grab. The beaten down dhimmis stay on for certain tasks like running health care and scientifically complicated stuff which is how it works in the ME now.
Terrorism will end. They won't need it as much.
ET: You are very consistent, that's good. Here's one for you: how can I hate immigrants, if I am an immigrant myself?
ET:
I agree that tribalism is a wholly non-functional system in a modern world, and that it cannot compete in the long run.
But do you completely discount the possibility of a new "Dark Age"?
Aaron,
Have you never heard of the concept of "self-loathing"
The American far left is awash in that emotion. It's a guilt thing ... I am sure there are other complexities that lead to such a state, but it's a low esteem thing for sure.
It is not limited to immigrants either. Anyone or group is capable of it. Canadian Indians come to mind. They certain appear to be afflicted, look at how most of them live. On other people's money and their leaders vigorously chase down more and more of it instead getting up their hind legs and getting their own.
Immigrant are the same, some come and love off of the liberal system, others prosper big time.
Where do you fit in here?
ET: Guilt? What on Earth are you talking about? Why would I have even a fraction of a tiny bit of guilt regarding other cultures?
This might be new to you, but my beliefs regarding immigrants in this country are based on very good knowledge of the so called 'non-industrial cultures' and their representatives in Canada. I lived and worked among them and listened to their troubles and joys, unlike many Canadians. I know them from the inside. That does not mean that I hate anyone - not my cup of tea. Understanding, facing reality and stating ones ideas does not necessarily need any emotions, like hatred.
If you feel the way you do, you are full of hatred yourself. It's like those drivers who don't make a right turn despite I am coming towards them with my right signal flashing - they don't believe me, because they don't use flashers themselves. They only start moving when I am already doing a corner. Look inside yourself first, than you will be qualified to blame other for hatred.
ET your comment about the Liberal Party's agenda of multiculturalism is well said, and unfortunately I don't see that philosophy changing any time soon.
The Liberals have always been quite prepared to sell anything to win a vote. Not scruples at all.
Born in Zimbabwe myself, came to Canada in 76, happy to be Canadian from day one. But most Muslims I have met in Canada (many of them when I was in university) have a very different attitude.
Very arrogant, very condescending, very demanding, give me give me give sort of view.
But the most depressing thing for me about Muslims who come to Canada is how well they know how to play the system from the moment they arrive. This was certainly true in graduate school at university. To them Canada is just a means to an end, something to be exploited.
Heck I've lived in Canada for over 30 years and there are demands that brand new Muslim immigrants make that I wouldn't even dare make after all this time.
Like anything there are exceptions, but in the case of Muslims in Canada I have found the exceptions to be very rare indeed.
No, penny, if the Islamic mode becomes dominant in Europe, then, no 'dhimmis', beaten down or otherwise, would be able to carry out science. Science can only operate within reason and freedom of thought and speech. A society operating under Islam has neither - for its followers or its 'enslaved'. Therefore, science would end - and serious problems would develop in agriculture, industrialism, health, etc.
Mad mike - yes, I discount the possibility of a new 'dark age'. We can't go back in time; we can't hide the scientific and technological advances of our past. The Islamic world has never modernized; it is, at the moment, in crisis because it is at a crossroads. Modernize or else. It is, of course, in the phase of rejecting modernization. The West tried that for several hundred years, and eventually, had no choice.
The first thing a society will do, when faced with the requirement for change, is various forms of denial. Its ideology will become fundamentalist and rigid; its political system will do the same. It will then, as its population crumbles in disease and poor nutrition, attempt wars of conquest to obtain more resources. It will try to reduce its population size within these wars and also, by emigration. The last, the very last thing it will do - is change its ideology - after all these other tactics have failed to meet the new needs of a larger population.
aaron, I suggest that you stop with the accusations and ad hominem. I said nothing about guilt, by the way. Stick to the issues. The fact that you have had contacts with immigrants doesn't mean that others haven't; it also doesn't mean that you 'know them'; it also doesn't mean that others don't 'know them'. After all, your interactions could be heavily biased on your part; and, you haven't met 'all of them'; just some. You might indeed have found yourself in a group of rigid, unyielding immigrants who rejected Canadian culture.
Again, your view of immigrants and non-industrial cultures is reductionist and invalid. There are plenty from those areas who have chosen to move into the industrial and democratic mode of Canada.
Canada's policy of multiculturalism is extremely dangerous because it openly rejects immigrants actions in moving into the Canadian culture; it insists that they 'stay as they were' and even, refuses to evaluate their old culture, defining it as 'just the same' as the modern industrial and democratic mode. A non-industrial and tribal mode is not the same - and remaining in that mode is dysfunctional for both the immigrant and Canadians.
The liberals , LPC, would love us to be self loathing. That , to me , is obvious and a large part of the problem. England is in critical condition with the disease.
I hesitate to post any contrarian views but...
Christians are taught to be "in this world" but not "of this world"..."come apart and be ye separate" is often cited. So, from one perspective, the "you are not Canadian, you are Muslim" statement is not necessarily a wholly unique attitude.
I'm not discounting any of the other comments, however, just adding a bit of perspective. Certainly, the Bible does instruct Christians to obey the government, to live peacibly with their neighbours, to turn the other cheek, etc. And, I don't know of any Canadian Christians who wouldn't allow themselves to be identified as Canadians.
I agree TJ - but it isn't just Muslims who are using the systems of the West for their own personal agendas.
These include the corrupt refugee and welfare system - and individuals from these countries know very well how to work the socialist systems of Canada. Remember, our gov't services are run by the socialist left, who are dedicated to, not only keeping their bureaucratic jobs, but to handing out taxpayer money to 'those who are less fortunate' (hah) - an act which also makes these socialist bureaucrats feel very good and 'Top Gun' all on their own.
And group agendas, for multiculturalism is a policy that defines people within groups and politicizes the groups, so the group can get LOTS of money from the gov't. This enables the group to set up authoritarian communities, gov't funded schools where they teach their isolationism and rejection of other cultures.
What has also helped increase the success of these demands, is the culture of 'human rights' which the socialist left has also introduced, as they act as the Modern Missionary. Missionaries with the same sense of moral and intellectual superiority as those of the 18th c. They show their superiority in first, defining people as 'poor', and then, rejecting poverty and insisting that everyone live the same way - with a house of their own, with goods and services. These are now 'human rights' - and the fact that there is now no need to, on your own, work and pay for this house - is the key. The modern socialist bureaucrat wants the taxpayer to purchase 'affordable houses' for everyone - not only themselves, but all the indigent and the welfare types.
The socialist bureaucrats have to be booted out, as France is finding; its middle class can't continue to fund the enormous percentage of immigrants living on welfare. The same has to be done in Canada - but, it won't happen soon. A full generation of Liberal domination has resulted that most of our bureaucrats, social services, news agencies, justices and Senate - are all Liberal. And all brainwashed in the socialist nonsense of the 1970-80s.
Nmmmm expalins why there are not too many Mooselims in the NHL
ET: You are raving.
You said: It's a guilt thing ...
ET, I think most bureaucrats are hard working family people, trying to do a good job. It is the totality of government intervention, not attendant wages to civil servants, that are the problem. Multiculturalism are bit players in this game, and immigration policy that delivers needed productivity will be crucial going forward.
We have to take a serious look at transfers in this country. The Tories tried to make a good start, and have the apoplectic left at their throats already. In minority, needed reforms will be impossible. If the statists prevail, demographics will overwhelm us as the aging boomers withdraw their productivity and access health and welfare programs, which are in a sorry actuarial state.
That's why Harper needs a majority. Make the needed changes, weather the storm, and run a clean government (hint: for some of you let me clarify, don't steal, mismanage or lose billions of taxpayer dollars).
Very illuminating!
A little vignette played out in many forms in thousands of muslim households on a daily basis I suspect!
What is a huge deal with immigration is population. Whoever said what will the country look like in 30 yrs. (Penny) would be amazed perhaps at Mark Steyn's article that plays with population numbers and birth rates. Don't mean to be preaching to the choir, and I cannot locate the article. IIRC the 30 years time frame would, using Italy's birth rate ( for native? Italians) and Russia's % of Muslim citizens, result in ... a Muslim majority citizenship for Russia within 30 years. ..any help with article?
I would not worry much about Russians, they demonstrated amazing ability to beat up any enemy that was at them. Canada concerns me much more - every Somalian family in my area has a full time pregnant woman with a dozen aggressive kids in tow. My kids already had encounters with domestic islamic terrorism at school. We got it, how we will react is a big question.
Nice point. Putin was showing his stuff at the G8. One or two of the reads I took on that gave him credit for ending the shortest cold war in history.
Imagine our best and brightest from CSIS...sob
50 years from now people will look back on the idiocy of multiculturalism and wonder what the heck we were thinking.
I for one am not so optimistic as some here. History reveals a number of instances when an advanced culture (technologically, socially, whatever) was destroyed from without or from within by a more primitive culture, resulting in "dark ages" lasting decades to centuries (China, Rome, Mayans, etc).
In the long view - yes, probably things will be OK. But I am thinking about the world that I will live to see, and my children, and I am very pessimistic.
It seemed that we had a great future when the cold war ended, and here we are only 20 years later wondering how the heck we will muster the will to fight against yet another totalitarian ideology.
The most disheartening thing of all is that 90% of Canadians don't think there is a real problem.
no, aaron, I'm not raving. Please read yanni's post at 11.36 am; he's the one who said 'it's a guilt thing'. But, you insist. repeatedly, that I said it.
Perception is important - and flawed perception produces invalid conclusions.
John W
The article you are referring to is an excerpt from Steyn's America Alone that was published in the National Post some time ago. The full content of it is contained in the book.
We are doomed as a society. Multi-Cult has turned Canada into an address of convenience.
ET, you are right, I apologize, but I was under the wrong impression that it was your post. My mistake.
But it is surprising that Yanni did not want to defend his point of view.
As for the doomsayers, you are wrong beyond despair. It's not too late to close the borders and let the smelting pot work.
thx rf...I had it from MM, jihadwatch, atlasshrugged, Ace, LGF , somewhere..
Lori - the Russian economy collapsed with a thud at the end of the Cold War, we never killed the underlying ideology, it morphed to Europe as the all encompassing socialism we see today. As long as the Russian threat existed the left was held in check in Europe.
ET - there are plenty of places outside of hypothetical Eurabia where science will continue. Muslims will, as they have been doing, simply import technology on an as needs basis. Like sharks they aren't analyzing what they ingest.
There simply is no resistance in Europe. Zilch. In every newspaper article, the European left accommodates Islam's colonizing. The demographics are skewed toward the Muslims. Europe is theirs for the taking. The only thing that is going to change Islam is a severe, crushing, and I mean the mother of all defeats with horrific costs and consequences to them. A defeat where the victor dictates the terms, where Islam is turned on its head and shattered. The Euroweenies are never going to deliver that. And, America without serious allies, is going to be too drained.
Penny.. Russians are , as far as I am concerned a race. They have a history w/Muslim. Maybe a Gengis Khan type of thing but nevertheless any gov't that counterattacks the mullahs who kidnapped those children in that theatre should not be in the weenies category.
John W - I wasn't putting the Russians in my Eurabia scenerio. Male life expectancy in Russia is the same as Bangladesh with more abortions than live births. Their demise is on a faster track. China will probbly own a large chunk of Siberia someday when they can no longer defend it
An interesting argument for banning Muslim immigration:
"Muslim immigration is a losing proposition for America. At best, it is an unnecessary risk that offers no comparable benefit. At worst, it is suicidal."
www.familysecuritymatters.org/homeland.php?id=1072859
Some excerpts:
"Unfortunately, an overwhelming majority of Muslims overseas and an alarming number of Muslims in the U.S. are convinced that there is a war against their religion. In fact, high-profile organizations like CAIR and MPAC routinely feed this misconception with negative propaganda, while very few Muslim leaders are active in countering it.
Suddenly the issue of whether or not those Qur’anic mandates to “slay the infidels wherever ye find them” are limited to times of war becomes somewhat academic. A Muslim who actually believes the rhetoric of war (as most Muslims now do) has, at his fingertips, a manual of instruction telling him to strike off heads and fingertips in the cause of Allah. What sense does it make for the U.S. to draw its future citizens from a pool of potential terrorists?
As if this weren’t bad enough, the Pew Research study also finds that the younger generation of Muslims is more accommodating of terrorism than their parents – a trend that is supported by surveys of Muslims elsewhere in the West, with alarming implications. While moderates are capable of breeding radicals, radicals rarely breed moderates. Islamic extremism will expand with each new generation, even if the overall number of Muslims stays the same.
Every country that is Muslim today was once non-Muslim. Every culture that found itself under the heel of Islam died a pitiful death as the concentration of Muslims within the population gradually exceeded critical mass. This is because Islam is an end unto itself. Like a virus, once it is introduced, it uses the host’s machinery to make copies and eventually strangle native religions into tiny, persecuted minorities."
-------------------------
Regardless of the multi-culti, leftist tactic of branding anybody with a rational opinion on immigration a racist, more and more writers are seeing the obvious and writing about it.
Outlaw Islam as seditious and ban Muslim immigration. There is no other solution. There is no better security.
And from David Thompson's blog:
"Further to yesterday’s post on Salman Rushdie’s knighthood, this caught my eye. Here’s Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain:
“The granting of a knighthood to him can only do harm to the image of our country in the eyes of hundreds of millions of Muslims across the world.”
There’s something insanely funny about Muhammad Abdul Bari talking about image problems. Bari, like his predecessor and many of his colleagues, is an admirer of the totalitarian fantasist, Syed Abul A'ala Mawdudi. In April 1939, Mawdudi wrote: “Islam requires the Earth - not just a portion, but the whole planet… [Muslims are] under an obligation to do their utmost to dislodge [non-Muslims] from political power and to make them live in subservience to the Islamic way of life.” Lest we forget, Mawdudi's writings influenced Sayyid Qutb, who in turn inspired bin Laden.
Some readers may recall Bari’s awkward evasions regarding the preaching of supremacist hatred during John Ware’s Panorama documentary, A Question of Leadership. Others may recall Dr Bari’s assertion, made last year, that while there are “a few bad apples in the Muslim community”, “negative attitudes” towards Muslims would result in Britain being faced with “two million Muslim terrorists — 700,000 of them in London.” Again, like his predecessor, Bari has the knack for undermining his own arguments and turning protestations of victimhood into barely-veiled threats. And this is the man who presumes to lecture others on the importance of how one seems.
-----------------------------
Notice the quote:
In April 1939, Mawdudi wrote: “Islam requires the Earth - not just a portion, but the whole planet… [Muslims are] under an obligation to do their utmost to dislodge [non-Muslims] from political power and to make them live in subservience to the Islamic way of life.”
What makes anybody with even a smidgen of intelligence believe that Muslims feel any different today?
in an islamic world you, as an infidel will eat crap and die the billions of grateful muslims will starve to death at a slower rate.
john w. the article said that in about thirty years the average italian would not have aunts , uncles or cousins, something along that line, because they are not reproducing. this is what happens when we (humans) have a great deal of wealth and want mostly for ourselves.
jmorrison... Steyn writes so many different places that I am unable to track where I read what. I was impressed with his demonstration of math and demographics.
"Steyn writes so many different places that I am unable to track where I read what. I was impressed with his demonstration of math and demographics.
Posted by: John W at June 19, 2007 5:08 PM"
I think this is the article you are looking for:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007760
"In April 1939, Mawdudi wrote: “Islam requires the Earth - not just a portion, but the whole planet… [Muslims are] under an obligation to do their utmost to dislodge [non-Muslims] from political power and to make them live in subservience to the Islamic way of life.”
Posted by: irwin daisy at June 19, 2007 3:51 PM"
There was another guy looking for "lebensraum" in 1939, but fortunately he only wanted Europe and Russia and, even more fortunately, our grandparents woke up just in time.
Do you think our current leaders will?
Everyone blames the lefties, the politicians, the muslims but why does not everybody advocate the stop to Canada's OPEN immigration policy.
There are only 5 countries in the world with an OPEN immigration policy, all english speaking, the US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
We can't have a policy that says 'No Muslims" Politically not correct, it would never sell.
Our policy should be based only on letting in immigrants who are immediately good for Canada, ie, they speak a national language, have money or a profession or trade desired attractive for Canada. Its so stupid to allow immigration to people who won't condemn terrorism or even like or support our culture.
One Ottawa dept made a study resulting in their conclusion that "Canada does NOT need more immigrants" Most scientists in the world say we have to lower the planets population to survive. Why not start in Canada?
Instead of blaming everybody else, why not promote the above policy to your MP and any columnist?
ET, Steyn comments on democracy seem to fully support yours on the impact of islam on the west.
Since the president unveiled the so-called Bush Doctrine--the plan to promote liberty throughout the Arab world--innumerable "progressives" have routinely asserted that there's no evidence Muslims want liberty and, indeed, that Islam is incompatible with democracy. If that's true, it's a problem not for the Middle East today but for Europe the day after tomorrow. According to a poll taken in 2004, over 60% of British Muslims want to live under Shariah--in the United Kingdom. If a population "at odds with the modern world" is the fastest-breeding group on the planet--if there are more Muslim nations, more fundamentalist Muslims within those nations, more and more Muslims within non-Muslim nations, and more and more Muslims represented in more and more transnational institutions--how safe a bet is the survival of the "modern world"?
Not good.
I would like to contrast this story with my personal history. I married a Chinese woman who had been living in Canada for 12 years. After marriage, we lived with her brother, his wife, and their young daughter (5 years old). Her brother often said that their daughter, "DJ", was to be raised as a Canadian. This was in no way a rejection of her Chinese heritage, but an acceptance of her home. DJ went on to university, and has since graduated in computer science, and has a job programming. She is engaged to marry a white man in the next year.
Her family is grateful that they could enter Canada (they came from the Philippines), and that they could raise their daughter in a country where law and order did not depend on how much money you had, or who you could pay off. (One of my wife's brothers remains in the Philippines; he lives behind 10-foot walls topped with broken glass and razor wire, and has a 24-hour guard armed with an AK-47) Her dad often said "DJ will be a Canadian".
These are the immigrants Canada needs; they are smart, they work hard, and they buy into Canadian values (i.e. study hard, work hard, pay your taxes, make money, leave your neighbours alone).
My two daughters are both very high achievers in school, and I expect them both to do well in their careers, whatever they choose.