It's probably best to read the article that I'm commenting on before reading my commentary on it. The commentary, like many other things, works best in context.

Here's the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/books/30garner.html?pagewanted=1

I'd just like to point out that the way Muslims are being portrayed in this article and the book it discusses is the exact same as the way Jews were portrayed in antisemitic European propaganda in the 1920's and 30's. It even has some of the exact same arguments. The Jews too, from the time of the diaspora through the holocaust were cast as outsiders, cultural invaders, and were generally ostracized wherever they went. They were also accused of refusing to assimilate the culture of their new European homes. Largely it was true. Jews generally married other Jews, they opened Jewish businesses, and most unnervingly to their European Christian neighbors, they refused to accept Christianity. Despite the unease they inspired in their Christian neighbors, the vast majority of Jews were far from dangerous. The fear and anger of Europeans against Jews culminated in the holocaust, but eruptions of organized violence against Jews were fairly common throughout the middle ages through to the 20th century. From the expulsion of Jews from Spain in the 1490's (they weren't asked politely to leave), to pogroms against Jews all over eastern Europe.

"Through decades of mass immigration to Europe’s hospitable cities and because of a strong disinclination to assimilate, Muslims are changing the face of Europe, perhaps decisively. These Muslim immigrants are not so much enhancing European culture as they are supplanting it. The products of an adversarial culture, these immigrants and their religion, Islam, are “patiently conquering Europe’s cities, street by street.”"

Certainly, the demographics are far different. Lots more Muslims are immigrating to Europe nowadays than Jews ever did throughout the time they were wandering around the map looking for someplace hospitable. The Muslim ghettos in Paris and London and Brussels are far larger and more populous than the Jewish ghettos ever were. But then, the population of Europeans is far larger as well. The argument that European culture is being supplanted is alarmist in the extreme, and borders on hate mongering. This argument also depends on the assumption that European culture can be supplanted at all, and is so weak in and of itself that it may be compromised by an immigrant minority. And to be sure, that's what the Muslim population in Europe is, a minority. I'm not arguing that it's not a potentially dangerous minority, after all it's been demonstrated on several occasions how violent some of these people are willing to get. The estimate the article asserts of the percentage of radicalized Muslims in Europe is 10%, which is a fuzzy guess at best, and is also alarmist. If there was an authority who could accurately say what percentage of the Muslim population in Europe is radical to the point of committing mass violence, you can bet that that group would have been rounded up and incarcerated long ago.

The point I'm trying to make here is that 100% of Muslim immigrants in Europe, and I venture to say 100% of humans in the world, only want to live their lives in the best way they know how. For the most part, people want to live their lives peacefully. I certainly do. Some, however, feel that the best way to make their lives better is to make everyone else think the same way they do. These people are not all Muslim, by the way. They come in all shapes, colors and sizes, and their actions range from strapping dynamite to themselves and blowing up train stations, to invading countries and installing new governments and economic systems, to knocking on your front door at 8:00am on a Saturday morning. But again, these people are a minority compared to the vast majority of people who just want to live in peace with their families and friends. To demonize a whole culture in the way that this book, and a lot of other propaganda we seem to be being fed lately does is work against the interests of the vast majority of people who want nothing more than to live peacefully. If we take what happened to the Jews in Europe over the last 900 years as an example of the kind of racially and religiously motivated violence and hatred a newcomer to European culture can expect, then it seems like the Muslims are just going through the "hazing" stage of their population's life in Europe. But when my Jewish brothers and sisters and their friends who aren't fans of the violence perpetrated against Jews say "never again," they should remember that that "never again" is for everyone. The propaganda that led to the violence against Jews should never be repeated either, for fear that the holocaust-style violence may recur.

Protection from extremists of any stripe requires vigilance; not racist, alarmist paranoia that's being espoused by this particular author. Let's govern ourselves by reason and compassion, rather than paranoid fear.