It behooves those living in a progressive, liberal democracy to adapt to the social and political culture surrounding them.

The emigrants in these communities came for a reason. There was something lacking in their origin countries that Europe had. But they still cling to their own cultures which brought about the world they left. If they don't like the culture they moved to, maybe they should return and live the way they want.

Music, art, food, language -- these are all laudatory things for immigrants to celebrate and hold onto as they make their way in a new nation. But things that are directly at odds with the core culture into which you've moved have to be left behind, and are - at their heart - probably the very source of the problems in the older culture that inspired immigration in the first place.

But it helps if you can speak with the native population of the country you are moving to. I mean, if I were to move to Iran, I wouldn't expect anyone to do anything for me unless I spoke Persian or Farsi. And I wouldn't expect everyone to learn English to accommodate me.

It's a two way street. If they are citizens of a country, they should be citizens of that country.

treated as outsiders by the locals; therefore they have some reason to not entirely feel part of the community, and may stick together for protection.

It is only relatively recently that Muslims have been considered in this way as different from any other immigrants. Partly because of post-9-11 stereotyping by locals; partly because extreme Islamists have seen an opportunity for recruitment. Local hostility to immigrants, sometimes feeding into a certain conservativism and suspiciousness among immigrants, was present in Europe long before Islam became a particular focus. And I would say that even nowadays British people are almost as xenophobic toward East Europaean immigrants as toward Muslims.

'It behooves those living in a progressive, liberal democracy to adapt to the social and political culture surrounding them.'

Unfortunately not all Europaean communities fully fit that description, even nowadays. There are plenty of local neo-fascists and near-fascists who are anything but progressive democrats, and the economic situation hasn't helped (cf Greece where the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn is worryingly resurgent, and where e.g. 2/3 of Greeks admit to anti-Semitism); and there are also plenty of countries with some degree of mutual hostility between indigenous communities. Northern Ireland is a prime example in the UK, until very recently a focus for much terrorism and civil conflict, and to this day, not noted for much integration between Catholics and Protestants.

No excuse for those who follow violent religious extremists of any sort; but it's not an entirely simple situation.

Integrate and respect the culture you have moved into.

Why would he think it useful or proper for him to lecture Europe publicly on this topic at this time?

would support a twice elected liberal visible minority President...those were the days!

And he said a lot more than the Yahoo headline implies.

I would like to see the full quote, not a hacked part of a sentence.

I played the video at the link....38 seconds...said nothing of the sort in the video.

Let's monitor the reaction of his European audience to see how much tolerance and understanding comes from his lecture, shall we.

My prediction is that the reaction won't be at all likely to suggest a new tolerance and understanding across Europe.

Next up: To promote tolerance and understanding, David Cameron to address Americans on how to solve their racial problems.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-muslims-more-assimilated-in-u.s.-than-europe/article/2558793?custom_click=rss

President Obama said Friday that a major U.S. advantage in preventing terrorist attacks is that American Muslims are more assimilated than those in Europe seduced by terror networks.

“The United States has one big advantage in this whole process,” Obama said, reflecting on recent attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead.

“Our biggest advantage is that our Muslim populations, they feel themselves to be Americans,” he added in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House.

The attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo took center stage during the press conference by the two world leaders, as they focused on efforts to prevent a similar episode in the future.

“This phenomenon of violent extremism — the ideology, the networks, the capacity to recruit young people — this has metastasized and it is widespread,” Obama said. “And it has penetrated communities around the world.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110227731

*WARNING: BOG POST*

He's NOT chiding anyone, just speaking to our advantages in the area of immigration. There is nothing valid to complain about on his handling of the subject.

- And we know this from their emails, texts and phone conversations that we monitor.

we need to heed the advice ourselves