broad brush, much tar

Submitted by BR (United States), Apr 9, 2008 at 23:35

Amin,

People like to use a broad brush. Its simple, when you're unhappy, its easier to blame your neighbour.

The fact is that a lot of oppressed mulsim people in Europe do this. Most of them came to Europe because they were trying to make a life. Almost by definition, they were largely illiterate and poor -- otherwise they wouldn't have had to run off to Europe.
Now, one generation (or half a generation) later there is a new generation of underprivileged youth born of poor, illiterate immigrant parents. By definition, they're not having a good time.

Who better to blame than their wealthier, better educated Western neighbours?
Religion has only as much to do with it as skin color, accent, or height would. Its just an easy marker to identify this hypothetical enemy.

Flip it around -- what does the average xenophobic westerner do when faced on the one hand with the tougher economic conditions that often occur cyclically? Why, blame it on the immigrants of course. Again, religion was only a convenient handle.

Now if *both* sides are making similar noises simultaneously, why you have a fun party. That's what we're seeing.

As a person of Indian origin, you probably see a little less of this than your Pakistani compatriots do (since Indians arriving in the west were typically better educated and their offspring just got a better education and less reason to grouse about imaginary grievances than their less educated Pakistani neighbours), but then again how many people can visually distinguish between an Indian and a Pakistani?

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".