Reply to Nicholas

Submitted by Octavio Johanson (Italy), Feb 23, 2006 at 09:54

"Sit back and watch the fury that will be levelled against this comment". I hope that people will not allow that fury to intimidate you. In any case, it is Amir and his buddies who need to go back to their countries, not you. "Nigeria, Palestine and Pakistan would also be good places for them to emigrate". I agree. But I think Afghanistan would be better. "Amir and Harrak are both comfortably living in the West". That is exactly the point! They can afford to be critical because they are allowed to enjoy the freedom and prosperity of Western society. The West is not a monolithe: Catholics, Protestants and Jews are all different and they believe in different things. But these three groups share a secular view of public life and a committment to pluralism. Amir and his buddies are jealous of our freedom.

The funny thing about people like them is that they live in the West and, in many cases, they have adopted a Western life-style. I have met a lot of people who dress like Westerners, live in the West, and have an Islamic agenda. There are a lot of young men who dress like Americans (or Europeans), listen to rock music, wear baseball caps, and support Bin Laden. There is only one solution: send them back to the places where they cannot wear those baseball caps. Send them back to the countries where their religion and culture is dominant. Just send them home. There is nothing like home.

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