One quick point on the Norwegian massacre. Today Roger Cohen in the New York Times esteems the “successful integration” of Muslims in Europe (notwithstanding different values on marriage and women’s rights). James Fallows made a similar point on NPR on Saturday afternoon:
[A] a major theme in Western European and Scandinavian literature and journalism and movies over the last generation has been the strains of multi-cultural assimilation in parts of the world that are not used to that. In the United States, this has been our story through most of the U.S.’s existence. For good and for bad, this has been part of what we’ve struggled with. It’s a more modern struggle in many parts of Europe.
Good points. And I’d point out that this strain is also a significant one in Jewish-American life. Zionism is opposed to assimilation, and not just assimilation (which suggests Jews ceasing to be Jews), but opposed to Jewish integration into western societies. For instance, the president’s top adviser on the Middle East, Dennis Ross, was lately chair of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute in Jerusalem, which dedicated much of its efforts to fighting assimilation.
