Nah, this guy isn’t racist, just realistic.
The assiduously courted invasion usually rests on a curious idealism that I find hard to credit in adults. The notion is that we are all just people, brothers under the skin, that all we need is love and understanding, black and white together, kum bah ya; only a few reactionary forces need to be stilled to bring about universal bliss. This happy thought doesn’t surprise me among students in high school. Politicians aren’t.
Has no one noticed that diversity doesn’t work? Putting together peoples with little in common begs for trouble, usually with success. It is the chief source of the world’s bloodshed and enmity.
Now, this is interesting, given that the United States was built by people with a whole lot of differences. I’d be willing to bet that the things Mr. Reed is saying here were said about the parents and grandparents of lots of us — and probably about the parents and grandparents of a lot of the xenophobes at Men’s News Daily.
Moslems in particular are poison. A failed civilization, Islam sends its unsuccessful, thus double failures, to Europe. They gravitate to slums because they can do nothing else. Cohesive, angry, ineffectual, with no loyalty to their new home, they neither flourish nor assimilate. Resentment grows among them. And so the cities burn.
Which is interesting. In the United States, the hostility of Islam is often attributed to American support of Israel. Beyond doubt, there is truth in this. It does not explain the riots in Paris, the papered-over violence in other European countries, the Islamic terrorism in Russia and in southern Thailand, the anti-Christian fighting in East Timor, or the terror in Kashmir. Moslems are trouble.
But he’s not racist!
Immigration is not prima facie a bad idea. It depends on who you let in. Some immigrants can assimilate. If for example the United States allows the entry of moderate numbers of reasonably educated Chinese, nothing untoward will happen. The Chinese share such crucial European traits as studiousness and respect for law. In fact they are superior to the white population in both respects. Consequently they arouse little hostility and not a little admiration. They may congregate for a generation or so in Chinatown, but the term designates a place where a lot of Chinese live, not a hostile ghetto.
Other immigrants cannot assimilate. Most especially practitioners of Islam cannot prosper in Europe. Watch.
…because it’s not like anyone ever said these same things about Chinese immigrants. (And let’s just throw it out there that relying on positive racial stereotypes is still racism).
What the French need to do, but won’t, is to send the army into the Islamic slums, round up the whole lot, and put them ashore on the beaches of North Africa with a box lunch and a coupon for three free Dunkin Donuts. It isn’t a pretty answer. It’s a lot prettier than what seems to be coming down the pike.
Yes, he actually said — in a few more words — “Send ’em back to Africa.” No mention of the fact that the French walked themselves into areas of North Africa not so long ago and “civilized” the population there. But I suppose a bunch of white Europeans taking over an African nation, sucking up its natural resources, throwing a wrench in its social structure and generally leaving a huge mess behind isn’t the same as some brown people trying to make a better life for themselves.
This guy’s argument is racist and xenophobic to the max. Does he represent the mainstream right? Of course not. But what’s scary is that there are lots of conservatives in this country who are probably nodding their heads in agreement with him.