After WWII, there was a massive reshuffling of ethnic groups throughout Europe. In a way, Hitler’s belief that racial “purity” was a good thing won the day. Everybody – including Jews – was more or less stuffed into a specific geographic area that was made as ethnically homogeneous as possible.
Europe stuck to this arrangement for decades, and the result was a lasting peace that was only broken in the areas where ethnic groups were not divided by national borders.
Now it seems that Europeans have decided they are ready to ditch the post-war state of affairs and venture into a greater ethnic diversity. But the historical memory of the war is still strong. Europeans are trying to retain many of the features of the post-war ethnic homogeneity even as they invite a growing number of immigrants.
The result is a creation of “states within states”, ethnic enclaves of disaffected, confused immigrants who are distrusted by the locals and feel alienated from both the old and the new countries. This is not A recipe for producing high crime rates. It’s THE recipe.
Half-measures only produce monstrosity. If you want ethnic variety, you need to embrace it completely and not try to control it through measures that belong back in 1948. There is a great example of the US and Canada where everybody is from someplace else but ethnic ghettos are diminishing, not growing.
Europeans are not managing to make a definitive choice between their post-war hangups and a desire to catch up with North America. Both the American and the post-war European models work. What doesn’t work is a clunky, artificial hybrid of the two. The hybrid model Europe is creating right now is, tragically, likely to lead back to some of the shameful experiences of the pre-1948 Europe.
Clarissa's Blog 
It really feels like Europe’s been searching for an underclass we could design as Other these past few years, and that now in the Syrian migrants we’ve found it.
LikeLike
“There is a great example of the US and Canada where everybody is from someplace else but ethnic ghettos are diminishing, not growing.”
The new Syrian refugees are already having problems adapting to Canada and some wish they could go back to the refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan rather than stay in their current Toronto hotel accommodation (paid for by the federal government).
“Johnson said people are struggling to address basic issues such as winter boots to go outside, for children who have never before experienced a Canadian winter.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/programs/metromorning/syrian-refugees-hotel-toronto-1.3418220
LikeLike
NG, I was impressed by
\Another lady asked to return and the Canadian Embassy said: ‘There is no way you guys can return now.'”
Are they forbidden from leaving or is the embassy simply unwilling to pay for the return tickets? Either way, this lady may be a case of failed immigration in the end, if she already wishes to leave and probably raises her children (if she has them) with this attitude. It’s easier to pay for her return ticket than for results of immigration failure down the road.
LikeLike
See my new post on the subject. This is absolutely infuriating to me because Canada has a great record of accepting and integrating immigrants from all over the world. But now all of a sudden that experience is thrown out of the window to create this horrible situation.
The refugees are saying they were happier in camps back in Jordan and Lebanon! For shame! Canadians have been patting themselves on the back for their kindness and this was the result?
Ridiculous. Simply ridiculous.
LikeLike
I just finished a post about this. Uncanny!
LikeLike
The Habsburgs seemed to manage running a large multi-ethnic state better than anyone else in Europe has since. Maybe the solution is to find Franz Joseph’s heir and appoint him Emperor.
LikeLike
Gosh, maybe that’s what Merkel ‘ s secret dream is.
LikeLike
Did the Europeans — either the citizens on the street or at government level — actually consciously “decide” to do this? Or has the situation been forced on them by both a series of bad planning (inviting all the Muslim Gastarbeiter into Germany for decades) and out-of -control international events (like the Syrian refugee deluge)?
LikeLike
You saw how eagerly Europeans have been hiding from themselves the events in Cologne and all of the excuses they’ve been making for the crimes of the immigrants. Of course, this is precisely what the overwhelming majority wants. I’m seeing the same thing in Canada where people are going nuts with their sense of importance and self-righteousness over the refugees.
LikeLike
I don’t know any Canadians, but the Europeans that I’ve talked to are not pleased about what many of them see as the creeping, inevitable Islamization of European culture. Concerns like theirs are the driving force behind the rise of far-right nationalist parties in some European countries.
Many of them are also dismayed that when they make some common reference to WWII or the early post-war decades, the younger generation stares at them blankly, as if the discussion was about a totally unknown world.
LikeLike
\ It really feels like Europe’s been searching for an underclass we could design as Other these past few years, and that now in the Syrian migrants we’ve found it.
Clarissa has written a lot about people in Europe desiring to feel superior and condescend to somebody. However, what about being subconsciously motivated by aggression and a desire for a common enemy? The EU project is very new and refugees help to strengthen / define new European identity by serving as the contrast / Other. In other words, serving as a (potential) common enemy.
Also, every person has a natural, built-in level of aggression. In times of peace and the EU project, enemies were lacking, so some Europeans may deep in their hearts desire to find a few (not truly threatening) ones to hate and attack.
LikeLike
That’s what I read once:
\ Lorenz clearly adopts a hydraulic model of aggression. Within animals, including ourselves, aggressive energy accumulates like the buildup of a need for sex or food. If blocked, this energy may be redirected to substitute objects, or it may explode on those nearby. If no adequate aggression-releasing stimulus is at hand, one will be actively sought. Aggression thus comes from within. We do not learn to be aggressive. It is in our nature.
https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/CIP.CHAP2.HTM
Thus, migrants may be welcomed as providing “adequate aggression-releasing stimulus.”
May be, I am overanalyzing the issue, of course.
LikeLike
I think you are definitely on to something here. I also sense a lot of aggression, and the mellifluous ones might actually be ev ed N angrier than those who march with Pegida. I think this has something to do with feeling lost in a world where identity categories are eroding so fast and risk is rampant. Creating a clear and visible hierarchy might provide a sense of being grounded, knowing who one is.
LikeLike
More cheerful news:
The Danish TV channel TV Syd reports that a 17-year-old girl from Sønderborg on Wednesday night was assaulted and attempted raped by an immigrant.
The girl now risk being fined because she protected herself against the assailant with pepper spray when he tried to pull her pants off to rape her.
Use of pepper spray is illegal in Denmark, and the girl now risks being charged with violation of the Firearms Act.
It is illegal to be in possession of, and using pepper spray, so she probably will be charged, says head of the Sønderborg police, Knud Kirsten.
http://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.2429/a-17-year-old-girl-was-sexual-assaulted-risks-punishment-for-protecting-herself.html
LikeLike