Why no riots in the US?
Seems like every other country in the world with a sizable Muslim/Islamic population, and even a few that are a majority, have had major if not violent riots over the 'war' on terror the US is almost unilaterally waging.
The biggest protest, let alone a riot of any kind, was over Mexican illegals.
Why has the US, the country that declared and is largely waging alone the 'war' on terror that, no matter how you slice it, still targets primarily Muslims and Islamists, why have we not had any riots of our own? We haven't even had any real major protests, not of Muslims or Islamists anyway. More white yuppies in California have protested the war that Muslims and Islamists combined, I'd feel pretty safe in saying.
There's only a few explanations for the lack of similar action here in the US. Some on the left will say they're too scared, that they're terrified of being labeled 'enemy combatants' or arbitrarily arrested, beaten or tortured, but I find that explanation too pat.
Some on the right, believe it or not I had one person somewhere, can't remember who or where, but some right of center soul actually told me that Muslims/Islamists don't have to riot or protest because they've scared the American people, media and government into leaving them alone lest they become suicide bombers en mass, but I find that explanation to be stupid.
So they aren't scared of us and we aren’t scared of them. Make no mistake that I believe there is more than a little intimidation, real or imagined, in the US Muslims/Islamic population, I just don't think it rises to the level of why we've not had any riots or major protests.
They certainly wouldn't be unorganized, any group of people of any similarity worth their salt have a frickin' lobby in this country, certainly any ethnic or racial minority is going to have some kind of social network. If they wanted to be organized they easily can be.
I would count out laziness as not a relevant choice. So I can't think of much more than my opinion on it, which is that the US does a very good job of integrating people into our society, no matter the perception that we're separate or different.
France has an "official" language. It pretty much fosters bitterness and resentment in their minority populations. Not that they have to learn French, but that it's written in law and religiously enforced. They're also largely alienated by the French born population. They pretty much park them out in slums on the outskirts of cities, I mean, who wants to look at a bunch of poor slobs, am I right?, where they get more bitter and pissed off until the throw a freakin' riot and burn shit down.
As much as some people might want to pack up the poor and ship 'em out of town, that would be a bad thing, just as France and most European countries that operate largely the same are finding out too late.
As well, despite the whining some do over our perceived overly generous welfare system, you really do need to work to get anywhere in our system. In this way, capitalism is a dynamic that forces people to interoperate with the general population on their level, and are thus integrated into society. While I firmly believe that government can do more but it needs to be targeted, I in no way want an overly comprehensive system that doesn't require any interaction or effort what so ever with the general society like in most European countries. There is a happy ground between the two extremes, and for the most part, we do hit it.
While America was founded largely along a certain racial and ethnic/religious line, the diversity we required over the generations has turned into our greatest strength. Everybody has a different perception of what America is and stands for, but the one commonality has been that everyone counts.
And I have no illusions over government abuse of power or how bad government can be when it wants to be or people let it be, but in the end we correct it together. When you start restricting access, when you start limiting opportunities, you start limiting our growth and diversity and strength. We lose cohesion, we lose that commonality that binds us. We lose that thread, and it all comes unraveled.
Anyway, that's what I think.
The biggest protest, let alone a riot of any kind, was over Mexican illegals.
Why has the US, the country that declared and is largely waging alone the 'war' on terror that, no matter how you slice it, still targets primarily Muslims and Islamists, why have we not had any riots of our own? We haven't even had any real major protests, not of Muslims or Islamists anyway. More white yuppies in California have protested the war that Muslims and Islamists combined, I'd feel pretty safe in saying.
There's only a few explanations for the lack of similar action here in the US. Some on the left will say they're too scared, that they're terrified of being labeled 'enemy combatants' or arbitrarily arrested, beaten or tortured, but I find that explanation too pat.
Some on the right, believe it or not I had one person somewhere, can't remember who or where, but some right of center soul actually told me that Muslims/Islamists don't have to riot or protest because they've scared the American people, media and government into leaving them alone lest they become suicide bombers en mass, but I find that explanation to be stupid.
So they aren't scared of us and we aren’t scared of them. Make no mistake that I believe there is more than a little intimidation, real or imagined, in the US Muslims/Islamic population, I just don't think it rises to the level of why we've not had any riots or major protests.
They certainly wouldn't be unorganized, any group of people of any similarity worth their salt have a frickin' lobby in this country, certainly any ethnic or racial minority is going to have some kind of social network. If they wanted to be organized they easily can be.
I would count out laziness as not a relevant choice. So I can't think of much more than my opinion on it, which is that the US does a very good job of integrating people into our society, no matter the perception that we're separate or different.
France has an "official" language. It pretty much fosters bitterness and resentment in their minority populations. Not that they have to learn French, but that it's written in law and religiously enforced. They're also largely alienated by the French born population. They pretty much park them out in slums on the outskirts of cities, I mean, who wants to look at a bunch of poor slobs, am I right?, where they get more bitter and pissed off until the throw a freakin' riot and burn shit down.
As much as some people might want to pack up the poor and ship 'em out of town, that would be a bad thing, just as France and most European countries that operate largely the same are finding out too late.
As well, despite the whining some do over our perceived overly generous welfare system, you really do need to work to get anywhere in our system. In this way, capitalism is a dynamic that forces people to interoperate with the general population on their level, and are thus integrated into society. While I firmly believe that government can do more but it needs to be targeted, I in no way want an overly comprehensive system that doesn't require any interaction or effort what so ever with the general society like in most European countries. There is a happy ground between the two extremes, and for the most part, we do hit it.
While America was founded largely along a certain racial and ethnic/religious line, the diversity we required over the generations has turned into our greatest strength. Everybody has a different perception of what America is and stands for, but the one commonality has been that everyone counts.
And I have no illusions over government abuse of power or how bad government can be when it wants to be or people let it be, but in the end we correct it together. When you start restricting access, when you start limiting opportunities, you start limiting our growth and diversity and strength. We lose cohesion, we lose that commonality that binds us. We lose that thread, and it all comes unraveled.
Anyway, that's what I think.
posted by opus512 at 10:01 PM
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