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Comment by mjcohen | Hacker News Reader

One thing that I believe democracies have to beware of is Muslim immigrants forming isolated, self-contained communities that avoid connection with outsiders.

If that makes me an Islamaphobe, then so be it.

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A major reason people form isolated communities is because they are rejected by the wider community in the first place. Phobia of people different than oneself needs to be actively addressed, and positive cross cultural interactions need to be actively encouraged.

Diasphora enclaves form when you let in enough people of one group to organically form large self contained communities in the first place. Can't integrate when there's no pressure / reason to integrate. But this applies to all cultures, which Canada takes in large numbers, and self organize in the few cities where immigrants can feasibly start a new life. Their kids will integrate better. I don't have an issue with multiculturalism / enclaves, but the number and calibre of immigrants we've been taking on has been diminishing, which is not on the immigrants, but it's looking like policy failure.

> A major reason people form isolated communities is because they are rejected by the wider community in the first place

It it though? Or is it just easier for immigrants to just not assimilate / integrate, which is no doubt a lot of effort? That hypothesis is equally compatible with the evidence, but somehow people always seem to immediately jump to the native population being racist as the primary reason, without evidence.

Why don’t you say the same about Hasidic Jewish communities? Or you wouldn’t be so okay to be labeled antisemitic?

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