A Dead-End Party

Sometimes, I write for the benefit of Americans who have an interest in Germany.....sometimes for Americans who have an interest in Europe itself, and sometimes for the benefit of Germans.  This essay is for Germans.....particularly intellectual smart Germans.

In the big world of Islam or nationalities.....Sunnis and Shias should be noted as unmixable.  If you ran a immigration center in Germany and just thought all Muslims were one plain vanilla group....well....you are wrong.

Sunnis and Shias don't mix.  If you forced a group into one room for a little party, with cookies and cool-aid, and offered up general conversation on music, soccer, the weather.....within thirty minutes, it'd be obvious that the room is divided with Sunnis on one side and Shias on the other side.

Why this culture difference?  Well....1,300 years ago, there was this discussion after Muhammad died about the leadership for the religion, and some folks wanted a pure line that went to Muhammad's relatives and one wanted a pure religion line with people of the faith in charge.

But why just stop there?

Noticed how Kurds and Turks don't mix well....even though they are of the same region?

Ever noticed how you can mix some Kenyans into a party which includes some Nigerians and they don't really get together very well?

Ever noticed how Poles and Russians don't mix well?

Ever noticed how English and Scots don't mix well?

Ever noticed how Chinese and Japanese don't mix well together?

Ever noticed how Afghans and Pakistanis don't mix well?

So if you were going to run some mass immigration and refugee "party"....would it make sense to think about the consequences of various groups and how they'd fit into the "party"?

I realize there are a lot of university classes that enable an intellectual to realize some great base of knowledge and understanding.....but is there a class where you openly talk about the savage nature of getting ethnic groups to mingle?

In some ways, as an outsider observing how this immigration idea kinda took off and German leadership just stood there amazed at how it worked and talked about the wonderful side of Germans compared to those evil Nazis of the 1930s.....I come to see this whole event arranged as a dead-end party.

There were good intentions.  There were bold expectations.  There were lofty goals.  There were great barriers torn down.

But if you have 10-percent of society that has a permanent life-long enemy, and they happen to live across the street, or sit in the school desk next to you.....all this nice German behavior doesn't really change much of anything.

What usually happens at a dead-end party?  You reach a conclusion as the host at some point....that you really screwed up and should have reshuffled the invitation list.  In the big scheme of Germany?  Well....you do mostly nothing, and just keep hoping that no one notices that it's all become a dead-end party.  If they come to realize how things developed.....that's probably the end of your hosting responsibilities.