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"... where I live there are virtually no visible Muslims. Lots of Mennonites, Amish, and the like, but no Muslims."
And where I live, there are all three. It was just a little astonishing, at first.
Of course, I had moved here from Princeton,N.J. at least four years prior to 9/11. The after affects were also astounding, how greatly dispirited (depressed) that latter population when we were out shopping together in the same supermarkets. I recognized the reaction as often described in literature that comes out of the experiences described by Jews enduring the Third Reich. It is also common among African Americans who experience our culture in the same way. That reaction, to a common plight among minorities experiencing the same discrediting and disparaging on an almost daily basis,often induces extreme choices of behaviour to compensate. A good way to sample that would be to take a look again at the film: The Pianist,by Roman Polanski,which starred Adrien Brody. Yes, take a look again and see if you don't recognize the connection.
I make no scientific or any other claims for this. It is simply an observation that has been accumulating over seventy years.
