By Paul Weiser
The one absence which makes both our most serious current problems so difficult to solve is a sensible final objective, an acceptable end-state for them. Once we determine our goals we can work sensibly toward them; without, we thrash about fruitlessly.
Our two besetting problems are Islam and illegal (specifically Mexican) immigration. We seem unable to decide what to do about them; if we can bring ourselves to understand that one is a religion and the other an ethnicity, our objectives in dealing with them - hence the necessary actions - become clear.
America deals with difficult religions - Mormons, native animists and the like - by turning them into denominations. This involves a certain rounding-off of the sharp edges (no more scalping, polygamy, or treating the women as livestock) but in the end all get along peaceably worshipping a Great Spirit concerning Whose nature they agree to disagree.
Difficult ethnicities receive similar treatment: Italians become slightly more animated Americans, Germans a bit fussier about terms and litter, Jews and Orientals more studious than the norm. They have their dragon dances and St. Patrick’s Day parades, but at all other times speak standard English and blend seamlessly with their fellow-citizens.
The end-state, then, must be Islam as denomination (headscarves for Friday mosque only, women liberated, burqa restricted to the Ramadan parade as a joke) and Mexican ancestry as an ethnicity with its five words of Spanish everyone knows (gracias, mañana, hacienda, peon, and bueno) to go with Gesundheit, gung-ho, and sayonara). Nothing more can be tolerated, no special sensitivities or demands for ballots in “their own” language. Mexicans must become unhyphenated Americans, and if Islam cannot modernize itself peaceably it will be necessary to denominationalize it, worldwide, as was done with the Mormons: by threat of and applied armed force.
None of Your Lib (NOLIB) is a weekly column, appearing
each Monday. Email responses and requests
to Paul Weiser
- be sure to specify in the body of the message that
your mail is to NOLIB. Some past articles are in the
NOLIB archives, and you are also invited to
visit
my home page. All responses
are appreciated,
and may be incorporated into succeeding columns in whole
or in part unless the sender requests otherwise. And of
course, the opinions expressed are those of the columnist and
may
not reflect the views or opinions of gte.net.