As for non-spam deleted comments, I have only deleted 2 comments I thought were inappropriate so far, and I hope I don’t have to in the future :-)

I try to moderate comments at least once a day.

i just came from 2 months on exchange at a technical university in Delft, Holland. engineering schools are more or less political and social vacuums but i had a few off campus excursions and got to see a little bit.

i was visiting a gym in the east end of the hague and had to walk about 5km to get there. i ended up passing through some kind of muslim ghetto, and all of a sudden the world was totally different. nowhere were there the 8-foot tall blond dutch that roam everywhere else. nor anyone else for that matter, save people I assumed from appearances to be islamic. halfway through the area, a man started to yell at me in some language; at the time everything i heard sounded like drunken pirate garble so i can’t say what he was speaking.

i made it through without trouble, but it stands out in my mind as the clearest cultural/religious barrier i saw in europe. whereas other national tensions didn’t seem to escalate beyond the kind of superficial rufflings and half-taunts that canadians enjoy with americans, there was a whole different FEEL about the muslim/non-muslim interface.

anyway, that may be stating the obvious. its the only 2 cents i have.

I support the fast and – as smoothly as possible – the welcome integration of these communities, through naturalization or extension of political rights to Muslims (and all other newcomers) in those areas to which they migrate. This will increase their stake in those communities and encourage political and personal dialogue between them on a more equal and productive basis. We must overcome the racism and rampant ignorance which lies behind discourses of “immigrant crime waves” and “unreforming illiberal fundamentalists” as the dominant symbols of these very diverse communities.

I don’t think it is a trivial point, however, to think long and hard about the many contradictions between our strong instincts towards toleration and sympathy for a diversity of cultural practices and the many real instances in which these instincts contradict directly with our equally firm convictions and support for liberal enlightenment values of equality.

I think, for example, we are losing the battle (as the existence of people such as shakuhachi plus most libertarians and many moderates in our various homelands) in trying to deal with these contradictions and convincing people like shakuhachi or other exclusionists, racists, and anti-immigration populists that the solution is not to portray these newcomers as evil barbarians whose failure to assimilate to the “civilized host culture” exhibit some kind of incorrigable natural feature of their ethnic or religious groups.

It is an uphill battle and unfortunately, ignorance still holds the day.

dude, are you serious? You dont know what they are writing but they are ‘clearly far-right’? Thats strikes me as a little narrow (well, very narrow).

“I thought you dealt with them pretty well on the ‘drawings’ post. To be honest though, I’m not sure how much dialogue there is to be had with these people – be careful.”

LOL. What is it exactly that muninn should be careful of? Repetitive Strain Injury from typing replies to ‘Japanese far-rightists’?

“I have a feeling we’re dealing with fascists here: the ‘Muslims are taking over Europe’ theme is one of the favourites for neo-Nazis and fellow-travellers around Europe these days (I’m guessing this is what they’re talking about in Japanese).”

So no race or culture has ever taken over or dominated another? I find your skepticism amusing, especially when considering the history of Islam.

I thought you dealt with them pretty well on the ‘drawings’ post. To be honest though, I’m not sure how much dialogue there is to be had with these people – be careful.

On the subject in hand, I must say that I found the Korea Times editorial had a typically patronising tone, although the Hankyoreh editorial was much better. It is indeed good to see this sort of topic being discussed openly in Korea. Of course the diversification of Korea will mean change, but the fact is no society ever stays the same, or ever had a ‘pure’ culture, however many nationalist myths we might invent to say it did.

I don’t believe there is such a thing as “移民が増えすぎて”