"Norway Didn't Give in to Islamophobia, nor should France"

[cemaphonic]

56. This is a really good point

It goes both ways too. While we don't always live up to it, mainstream American culture respects our "melting pot" cultural imagery, and while ethnic/racial/religious relations aren't without (often significant) strife, our national identity is tied to our civic institutions instead of any particular ethnic or religious group. Meanwhile much of Europe is still struggling to get beyond its history as a collection of ethnic nation-states, so immigrants have a much harder time assimilating there, even if they desire to.

Plus, the UK and especially France are still dealing with baggage from the colonial era. Justifying colonial domination of Algeria by telling them that they are full and equal French citizens, and then herding them into highrise tenement ghettos for a couple generations when they try to take advantage of that citizenship, you're going to get some pretty pissed-off people that will be attracted to extremist ideology.