Diamondeye wrote:
I'm not French you fool, so I can't be xenophobic about Muslims in France.
I didn't say you were xenophobic. I said you're doing the same thing they do. The idea that this time is any different than the past is untrue, by and large.
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"Read your history" is the cry of intellectually laziness.
DE wrote:
The only thing "just wrong" is you lecturing on things you haven't bothered to learn anything about first.
they have long had a Muslim minority but now they have "no-go zones" everywhere and indications are that not only are recent immigrants not assimilating as past ones did, but are actively un-assimilating some of those already there. [/quote]
No go zones "everywhere"? There are issues, but they do not have no go zones "everywhere".
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"Xenophobic", by the way, is just "Racist" with a fig leaf over it. At best it's a slovenly approach to discussion, at worst it's simply an attempt to denigrate your opponent rather than address the issue. It is not a word that has any place in serious discussion. If someone is being "xenophobic" you should be able to explain the problems without resorting to hastily-concealed ad-homs.
That is incorrect. The term is apt. No, it doesn't correlate directly with racism, though it's related. It's about fear of influx of people with different cultures, primarily. Racism is rooted in the belief that other races are either inferior or have undesirable qualities; xenophobia is rooted in the fear that the influx of "others" will result in changes to culture or societal makeup / economic issues, etc. It's not directly a factor of a negative view of the people, though it can certainly lead to that.
Getting back to the point, these cultural pockets of non-assimilated people, typically not aligned well with authorities and frequently hotbeds of crime, are exactly what drives the xenophobic fears. This is not without reason, but it's nothing new. This has occurred throughout history, following famine, war, or economic hard times. There are exceptions, but largely, people have assimilated over only a handful of generations. The obvious examples are conquerors; they don't assimilate well.