Reply #49: Well, [View All]

[manic expression]

I didn't see this until now, so sorry my reply is delayed.

To me, you don't sound like an asshole; I hope I haven't either.

I think that your relatives have a right to expect better treatment from their countries. There is no excuse for prejudice, and as long as people do not speak out, anti-Semitism will continue to inflict Europe as it has for such a long time. I think that there is a responsibility for the country taking the immigrants to treat them just as anyone else (it's a little rude to egg the house of a person that just moved in the neighborhood). Living in a country is no free ticket for discrimination against anyone.

I'm not Muslim, but I specifically know a Muslim who has gone to the UK and I've heard it's a lot worse there than in America.

It's culture shock more than governmental shock. Also, racial profiling is pretty widespread. If you live in Iran as an Iranian, if you don't do anything really "bad", you're fine; if you live in Britain/Europe as an Iranian, you will face prejudice. What worth is free speech if you're worried about being harassed by the police or having your place of worship vandalized? That is the basis of the complaints. Also, realize that the Civil Rights Protesters were, in essence, complaining.

Muslim girls can date whites, it just depends on the family. However, as a personal example, I know of a Muslim father who refused to have a peer student tutor his daughter because he was Hindu. This is an extreme example, and it is different for each situation/family. Remember, honor killings were very rare in Iraq, but after our invasion, they are commonplace. Also, many cultures do similar things (husbands need to be baptized in a certain church to take part in a wedding and so on).

There are really no terrorists in the Muslim community as much as there are no terrorists in the Christian community. There may be hardliners, but the terrorists are insane sadists who aren't even a part of the Muslim community. There is no extra responsibility on the part of Muslims. It is impossible to weed out the terrorists in such a community, this endeavor would be like me trying to weed out secret KKK members in PA (I don't live there, but there's a strong KKK presence there).