golfrewind.com

Interesting read:

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/inte...418930,00.html

Some choice paragraphs:

Europe today finds itself trapped in a posture of moral relativism that is undermining its liberal values. An unholy three-cornered alliance between Middle East dictators, radical imams who live in Europe and Europe's traditional left wing is enabling a politics of victimology. This politics drives a culture that resists integration and adaptation, perpetuates national and religious differences and aggravates such debilitating social ills as high immigrant crime rates and entrenched unemployment.

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An act of inclusion. Equal treatment is the democratic way to overcome traditional barriers of blood and soil for newcomers. To me, that means treating immigrants just as I would any other Danes. And that's what I felt I was doing in publishing the 12 cartoons of Muhammad last year. Those images in no way exceeded the bounds of taste, satire and humor to which I would subject any other Dane, whether the queen, the head of the church or the prime minister. By treating a Muslim figure the same way I would a Christian or Jewish icon, I was sending an important message: You are not strangers, you are here to stay, and we accept you as an integrated part of our life. And we will satirize you, too. It was an act of inclusion, not exclusion; an act of respect and recognition.

Although I agree with him, I find it amusing that his reasoning here sounds a lot like when I had to explain to my girlfriend why her BIL, Dad, and uncles picked on me a little and "hazed" (just drinking) me at a family party when I first met them. I told her I was the ****New Guy), and as soon as I proved myself worthy of taking a joke and being able to have fun with the guys, I'd be accepted into the group/family. I took at as it was meant to be taken, and now get along great with all of them. A lot of (especially male) social groups work this way, I've found, like sports teams, clubs, and fraternities. You quickly find out that the people who can't take a little ribbing are probably not ones who you want to join your little society.

Now, apply this on a macro level, and you get what we had with the Muslim cartoons. Were they a little offensive? Sure. But that's kinda the point; to live in a civilized society, you have to deal with the offensive as well as you deal with the in-offensive. A lot of American Muslims proved themselves (in my eyes) as quite civilized people, by reacting the way people should: peacefully protesting, writing letters, etc. A lot of European and Middle-Eastern Muslims proved themselves to be incapable of living in a modern society (again, IMO), by wildly overreacting and causing bodily and property harm in response to cartoons in a newspaper. To me, this opens my eyes as to what types of people you really want joining your society.