It was nice to get away from the internet and tv for over a week. Naturally the world kept turning, and an event like the one at Nice occurred. I made a comment a couple or more weeks ago about  immigrants who choose not to assimilate into the country they emigrate to. I've been reading comments about assimilation and wanted to clarify my thoughts.

Imo, assimilation doesn't mean adopting the host country's most common cultural practices. For example, assimilation in the U.S. doesn't mean becoming Christian. Or attending public school. Or even speaking the host country's language. (Though I do think it's a wise choice, as it greatly widens one's economic advantages.) What I mean by assimilation is abiding by a country's laws. The U.S. was founded on the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. It's also founded on free speech, a free press, free assembly, and due process. If any person--immigrant or citizens--doesn't accept these premises, he hasn't assimilated. (Thus I would argue that most criminals haven't assimilated. They don't abide by the right to life and property.)

The President himself postulated that 99% of Muslims don't support terrorist actions. Unfortunately, it's just another made up statistic. Far fewer than 1% of Muslims commit such acts. But a very significant percentage (25% or more in the U.S. alone) think that murder other than in self-defense is justified. It's a core belief. It has nothing to do with oppression and nothing to do with economic circumstances. It also isn't cowardice. (It certainly isn't courageous, though.) These people aren't afraid. They also are not psychotic. (Sociopathic? Maybe. But if so it's on an institutional scale.) These people simply believe it. It's a core belief accepted by hundreds of millions of Muslims, even if it's only exercised by thousands.

Thankfully a majority of Muslims do not agree with "honor" killings. What would be beneficial is for well-intended but ignorant people such as Ben Affleck to stfu and for Muslims who don't believe in honor killings (and terrorist actions) to denounce them clearly and loudly. We don't need to make excuses for terrorists--or call them silly names. Imo, we do need to recognize that we're fighting an ideology here. We aren't fighting a country or even a group. The specific group will just keep shifting (from the Taliban to Al Quaeda to ISIS). That's a tough thing to fight. Unfortunately, it's akin to fighting poverty or drugs. My guess is that it will prove to be just as difficult. You can't make someone not choose to do drugs. You also can't make someone not believe it's perfectly okay to kill someone who doesn't agree with your religion. It's also impossible to predict 100% of the time. Thus the idea that law enforcement should be able to thwart every terrorist action is entirely unrealistic. The bigger the planned action and the more terrorists involved, the greater the probability that law enforcement will be able to stop it. But we're starting to see more of the smaller type actions. They aren't as dramatic or as economically effective as 9/11, but I don't think that matters in their eyes. As such, we can likely expect many more such actions in the coming years. It might, however, be helpful for those Muslims who have assimilated into the U.S.--who do abide by this country's premises and laws--to become the loudest opponents of terrorist actions. After all, they're being lumped in with the terrorists when it comes to their religious beliefs. It sure wouldn't hurt for them to say why it's wise to assimilate to the laws of the U.S. and respect others' right to life. My guess, unfortunately, is that this won't happen to any significant degree anytime soon. Terrorist ideology is kind of like a virus--and likely just as difficult to eradicate.

I am uncomfortable with assuming that moderate Muslim Americans have a special obligation to speak out.  

1.  They do.  Far more than we give them credit for doing so.  It has become kind of bottomless pit, with no recognition that they speak out regardless of how much they do.  The major organizations send out the appropriate media releases every time.  It's no longer news.  And individuals have no more voice than non Muslim individuals.  

2.  The radicals don't give a flip what the moderates say any more than they really care whether we call them Muslims. The Islamists consider the moderates to be apostates and outside the faith.

3.  Every Muslim is just another person trying to get by.  As individuals they are no more responsible for what some other individuals do than you or I are , and I bet are sick and tired of being treated as if they are.

A couple days ago someone here was blasted by other posters for stating that he is embarrassed by what someone else said.  In this context the consensus was clear that we shouldnnot accept blame or responsibility for actions that our not our own.  

But then, we're not Muslims.