Saturday, November 06, 2004
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Amsterdam's Muslim deputy mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb (another fun fact: the mayor is Jewish) addressing his fellow Muslims in an Amsterdam mosque shortly after the murder of Theo Van Gogh:
For people who do not wish to share the fundamental core values of our society is no room in a society like the Dutch one.Yesterday's New York Times editorial:Everyone who does not share these values is best advised to make his or her conclusions and leave. It just can’t be that someone demands all of us to respect his viewpoints and at the same time refuses to respect the viewpoints of others.
Urgent efforts are needed to better manage the cultural tensions perilously close to the surface of Dutch public life. The problem is not Muslim immigration, but a failure to plan for a smoother transition to a more diverse society. One very real danger is that the public trauma over the van Gogh murder may lead to a clamor for anti-Muslim policies that could victimize thousands of innocent refugees and immigrantsIndividual responsibility versus government planning. Which do you think is more likely to make a difference? And since when must we make room for ideological murderers in a "diverse society"?
