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[Denzil_DC]

11. "People on DU don't hate all Muslims"

We must be logged on to different forums. And apparently you're a spokesperson for "people on DU".

A large number of posts over the past month or so have heavily featured broadbrush condemnation of Muslims. I'm not really going to have to trawl away and pull up some of the many such quotes to prove that point, am I?

Yes, some have tempered that with a more nuanced critique. You were careful to use the word "some" just now, for instance, but now you're extrapolating an attack on a gay bar or festival by Islamic migrants in Europe? And putting words in DU people's mouths at some future point to complain of homophobia and misogyny? There's no discussion possible there. This isn't a zero-sum game: "You're an Islamophobe." "No, you're a homophobe/misogynist."

In addition to what the OP quoted, many of the stories about immigrant atrocities in Europe that have been cited have come from the UK right-wing press, a number of them second- or third-hand via similarly right-wing sources in Europe. The UK is in the run-up to a referendum on Europe at the moment, and papers like the Mail, Express etc. are only too happy to capitalize on any story they can find that stirs up anti-Europe feelings, and Muslim immigrants are in the firing line at the moment for obvious reasons. And those sources get quoted freely here and used as the basis for hundreds of comments. It didn't seem to phaze some folks when a couple of us pointed out that the major second-hand source for one story was Breitbart UK.

There's no doubt that some really horrible things have happened and the authorities have been caught on the back foot in coping with the situation. Sitting an ocean away and opining on it doesn't help anyone. Comparing what's happening in Europe with the US doesn't make much sense since you don't share land borders with the countries affected, and you have strict vetting of refugees from the current wars, and very strict quotas.

There's also no doubt that there are vested interests that would love to propagate the idea that Muslims and non-Muslims simply cannot live together. One would be ISIL, another the racist European right. I'm lucky enough to live in a country that so far seems to disprove that myth.

I live a lot closer to mainland Europe than you do and have to pay a keen interest in current affairs because of the job I do. I'm blowed if I'd feel comfortable making some of the gross generalizations that some DUers come out with on a daily basis about the situation and what people "over there" think etc.