We now come to another subtle apologia for Islam, one that seems to be equal parts smokescreen and red herring.
It was repeatedly invoked by the (Muslim) side arguing in favor of Islam during a recent Oxford Union debate on whether the West is right to be suspicious of Islam. It was, can be, and often is expressed by questions and observations as follows:
Why do you only focus on a few Muslims in the West but ignore the vast majority who are good and law-abiding citizens?
Just because there are a few bad apples, we cannot halt immigration from the Muslim world—since the majority of those entering are good and hardworking, and it would not be fair to them.
Even if some Muslims—a minority—do bad things in the West, the majority do good things for the West. (One of the Oxford Union debaters said, for example, that Muslims are overrepresented in the UK’s healthcare sector—an indicator, apparently, of their purported sense of altruism.)
To all such claims, I respond with my “100 Muslim Candies” analogy. It homes in on the only relevant questions and shows why Islam simply has no place in the West—assuming Western leaders actually care about their people, that is.
Imagine a jar of 100 candies. Some of them are tasty and safe; others are bland but also safe; some will make you ill; others will make you violently sick and hospitalize you; and others are straight up poison—they will undoubtedly kill you.
You have no idea which candy is which, or even how many of each type is in the jar. Worse, depending on the “climate,” good candies can turn sour without notice.
Would you eat from this jar? Would you give it to your loved ones to eat from? Indeed, would you give it to anyone—short of your mortal enemy—to eat from?
If your answer is no, then you have inadvertently confirmed that Islam has absolutely no place in the West.
Consider how this analogy works:
The “tasty and safe” candies represent those Muslims in the West who truly are “moderate” and seek to assimilate and contribute to society;
The “bland but also safe” candies represent those Muslims who don’t necessarily contribute but are also not radical or out to subvert the West;
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