Dutch mistakes?

Submitted by Niels (Spain), Mar 7, 2006 at 14:14

I am getting so tired of all this muslim bashing! YES, there are still many hurdles to be taken to emancipate muslims in european societies, and there´s a very long way to go, but it pisses me off that virtually ALL of europe´s muslims are being perceived as a threat, as a trojan horse ready to slowly take over and annihilate european society. This will never happen!

Call me utopian, but in my opinion it´s mainly just a small group of marginalised ,under-privileged youths that has turned militant..isn´t it the same as young central americans in California who as a result of their underprivileged status ended up in streetgangs?

Still the large majority of immigrants there toil for a few bucks an hour under a burning sun picking grapes..the same for europe´s muslims, most are hardworking honest people, their parents invited to come by european countries in the 60´s and 70´s to do the dirty work we didn´t want to do ourselves anymore..why do I read so little about the myriad of success stories which are taking place as well;talented young muslim poets and writers,policy makers and entrepreneurs: an emerging western-muslim intelligentsia!

I am from amsterdam and have grown up amongst people of all races and denominations and personally I think it is a blessing for Holland we are embracing multicultural society. The dutch haven´t been tolerant to militant islam, what a nonsense! We just didn´t know it existed in our country, we might have been eluded by our own naivity and thought we could keep the "dark forces" out, well, that´s true, but now reality caught up with us and we will face the challenge and make it work. Militant islam is a plague, but you can´t fight it with blaming all muslims for it´s evil, you have to show an alternative to the militants and guide the youths "from the wrong side of the track" who are being lured by it´s violent message. The challenge can be met by the efforts of visonary people like Amsterdams mayor, Job Cohen.

Militant islam is as intolerant as is militant judaism or militant christianity: it seems to be simply incompatible with modern western society. Theo van Gogh was killed by a madman, a man without remorse or humanity. Yes, they exist in Holland, but they exist everywhere, including the US.

The US a beacon of hope?? What a joke!! The US is often put down as the saviour of humanity by individual americans,the very vestiges on what is actually may have been founded, but hasn´t the US degenerated into another purveyor of imperialism, just as many european countries before them?..why do americans always consider themselves the good guys while it´s government allegedly actively encouraged and supported bloody military regimes around the globe, as long as it suited there interests! Sorry for the rant, I actually admire the US in many aspects, but people there seem to be biased and consider the rest of the world a somehow lesser place.

Those native dutchmen that are leaving Holland have problems with facing reality in a world of globalization. The first bicycle in their village got stolen, let´s emigrate to New Zealand! That people are leaving Holland in troves because they feel threatened is a myth. It is a small congested nation, expensive and with an awful climate..aren´t those the real reasons some people opt for leaving?

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