354
PARTISAN REVIEW
critics are not racists, any more than critics of Nazi or Stalinist ideology
are racists. And as an ideology, furthermore, Islamic fundamentalism is
something that people can be drawn away from. Some of those who
arrive in Europe as fundamentalist Muslims do indeed change their
stripes, shedding narrow dogma and dangerous prejudices and learning
to value tolerance and practice pluralism. It does not seem excessive to
suggest that Western European immigration authorities (who have a
superfluity of potential immigrants to choose from, and who are already
in the habit of weeding out candidates on economic and other grounds)
should begin to concentrate on screening for adaptability, accepting
only those who seem likely to make an effort to fit in-and admitting
them only tentatively, on the condition that they indeed adapt to demo–
cratic ways both outwardly and inwardly.
This adaptation should be encouraged in every way possible. Muslim
immigrants should not only be taught the language of their adopted
country; they should be comprehensively educated in the ways of
democracy. They must learn-no small order-to think for themselves,
to read critically, to question. Most important, they must learn to ques–
tion those things they have been taught to regard as most sacred. And
they must be encouraged to see themselves as free individuals in a free
land rather than as members of a straitjacketing subculture whose reli–
gion obliges them to take their marching orders from autocratic com–
munity leaders.
Finally, these immigrants must be thought of-and must be encour–
aged to think of themselves-as full and equal members of the societies
in which they live. European natives must appreciate what an accom–
plishment it is for people to become functioning members of societies
radically different from the ones in which they were born. Those who
do make the adjustment successfully deserve the utmost respect. To per–
sist in calling them immigrants after they have been living and working
in a country for years (and, even more outrageously, to use the same
word to describe their European-born children and grandchildren) is
not only offensive and insulting but staggeringly counterproductive.
As for those who, after a period in the West, make it obvious that
they are unwilling or unable to adapt, they must be sent home and
replaced by deserving individuals who
can
adapt. This may appear
extreme, but there is no reasonable alternative. For at stake in all this,
ultimately, are the basic freedoms of all Westerners-not only women
and homosexuals, but everyone, including Muslims and former Mus–
lims who wish to live in a place where they can be themselves. At stake,
indeed, is Western civilization.
