When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do

Do you remember the days when everyone was drooling over multiculturalism? Nothing seemed quite so modern as constructing a society around multiple cults to multiple deities. That its adherents did not notice that they were selling a postmodern version of pagan idolatry should not surprise us. These were not the best and the brightest.

But, you know that. 

In America the Biden administration and the academic media-driven left has been trying to ram diversity down everyone’s gullet. 

In Europe, the situation is slightly different. In the first place Europe is not a homogeneous cultural entity. In the second place, the problem in Europe is Muslim migrants. In America the problem has been, at least until recently, South and Central American migrants.

One needs to mention that the current situation in the Middle East has shown American that there is a large politically active coterie of Muslims in America and that they are not shy about showing off their intolerance, especially their anti-Semitism. Since they pay no price for their appalling behavior, they continue to attack Jews. 

Meanwhile, back in Europe, the elections for the European Parliament decisively repudiated decades of immigration policy. In France and Germany, anti-immigrant parties outpolled the more traditional political parties.

Writing in the New York Times, Roger Cohen calls it a return to nationalism and one would be hard put to disagree.

Cohen’s point is well made. It’s not just about migrants, but about migrants who refuse to assimilate, who do not adopt local customs, and who insist that everyone treat them as though they belong-- to a superior culture:

At the heart of the rapid rise of the nationalist right, with its view of immigrants as a direct threat to the essence of France, there appears to lie a growing feeling among many French people that they are no longer at home in their own country.

That feeling, a vague but potent malaise, has many elements. They include a sense of dispossession, of neighborhoods transformed in dress and habits by the arrival of mainly Muslim immigrants from North Africa, and of lost identity in a fast-changing world. 

The modern migrant wave began when German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened her country’s doors to Muslim refugees. We note in passing that she was a right of center politician, not a leftist:

Almost a decade ago, Angela Merkel, then the German chancellor, immortalized the words “Wir schaffen das,” or “we can do  this,” as she admitted more than one million Syrian refugees to Germany. 

Again, Cohen mentions that migrants are not working to belong to the local culture. As is happening in Sweden, migrants are bringing crime and chaos. And then they complain that they are not being welcomed.

Once the core theme of the xenophobic right, the push to control or stop migrants has moved toward the center of the political spectrum. The view of immigrants as diluting national identity, freeloading on social safety nets and importing violence has spread, often fed by thinly veiled bigotry.

Note the last phrase. Why is it necessary to add the notion that French citizens are bigots. When migrants import criminal violence, Cohen seems to be suggesting that they are not responsible for their behavior. As an old saying has it, certain groups are never at fault. We can add that certain groups are always at fault.

Why this shift? Western societies of ever greater inequality have left many people behind, fueling anger. In France, a social model that worked well for a long time has been unable to resolve the problems of lost hope and poor schools in suburban projects where many immigrants live. This feeds further frustration. Tensions flare regularly between Muslims and the police.

Sadly, Cohen cannot quite figure out why the police might be more suspicious of members of a group that commits a disproportionate number of crimes.

What does this have to do with growing inequality? Migrants who come to a foreign country are obliged to adopt the cultural habits of the local citizens. 

Don’t we recall the immortal words of a fourth century bishop of Milan-- that would be St. Ambrose: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.