Rioting in the streets

Submitted by michael (United States), Aug 10, 2008 at 13:38

And thank you for your response, Jennifer. I'll agree with you one one point. Fundamentalist Islam, or Islamism, is closed minded. Whereas much of American thought (excluding some of our own fundamentalists) is open minded.

So we get to debate our ideas freely on this site (thanks, DP) while open debate in much of the Islamic world is unwise, and even physically dangerous. These folks still take blasphemy very seriously, while we are a tolerant and inclusive people.

But I'm not sure we'll be perishing from incrementalism. Those 100-150 million fundamentalist Islamists are mostly staying at home. The Muslims who end up in America tend to be educated, secular, liberal and middle class. There are many where I live, and they are about the last people you'd ever expect to cause trouble. Far from being discontent or disdainful of America, they're mostly putting their kids through medical school. What about the radical element?

Typically radicals are young, male and college educated. Certainly there must be a few of them in this country, just like we have a few angry young black men at Howard, and a few angry young white men at Berkeley. Conceivably such people might decide to blow something up. And if they did, it would be a matter for the police. Are they going to be seizing the streets of Pleasantville, Iowa, and rending the very fabric of America? I thinkest not.

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