I agree with your statement if it was a single (or a limited number of) species of antibiotic resistance bacteria.
But, the problem seems to be that they'll be acting more like a gang (where each gang member is a species of bacteria) by multiplying and transferring their weapons (in this case, antibiotic resistant MCR-1 gene) among different bacteria species by means of horizontal gene transfer[1].
Here, horizontal gene transfer means bacteria don't need to carry the "general pathogenicity" as parts of its genome and transfer to future generations (by sexual/asexual re-production)[2]. They only have to be good (and will be damn good by MCR-1 gene) at whatever pathogen they carry. "Horizontal gene transfer" will take care of the rest.
I think we'll get a better idea of the problem I'm trying to explain if we look at it from "Unix philosophy" perspective which "favors composability as opposed to monolithic design"[3]. I hope that I'm decidedly proven wrong in this regard. But, it's just a hope.
Note:
I don't have any formal education/background in medical sciences.
It's clear that it's a psychological thing. If I were you, I would go watch 'Good Will Hunting' movie (and watch it again if I think I had already watched it) and substitute Hunting's negative 'personal experience' with 'mathematics related experience' and assume that I'm 'Will Hunting' (while watching the movie :-).
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My personal experience is little different. I didn't have any negative experience/memory when I was learning mathematics (and science) at school; instead, I always felt comfortable with any STEM related course/subject. But I had a very miserable experience when I had to learn English as a second language[1] at school.
At that time, I started strongly believing in the idea that no matter what I do, I will never be able to learn English as ESL as it always felt like an alien subject (literally :-)) and there was nothing I can use to get a handle on it. No wonder, I felt nervous and hopeless in my English classes.
Somehow I was able to reach college (in my country it corresponds to the grade 11-12 of high school education in most western countries) with shear brute force[2]. In the 11th grade, for the very first time, I had an English language teacher who gave me some hope that one can learn and overcome all language related problems. Though he only taught English literature (which can be more intimidating when one is at beginners' level with lots of self-doubts and anxiety), his teaching style was really inspiring[3] and it changed my whole perspective about learning a new language. Later on, I realized that it wasn't my (or other students who couldn't afford tuition fees of private ESL teachers) faults that couldn't learn the language, it was the teachers' fault as they were not really qualified to be English language teachers, at the very first place.
Now I feel quite comfortable with English language[4] and afore-mentioned story is only a memory now, one from the distant past.
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1- to be precise, it was my third language I had to learn at school in a non-English-speaking country; I lived in a deprived part of the country and had a financially humble background.
2- memorized anything English related to get into the next class and didn't let any English language related handicaps stop my progress.
3- at-least that's how I felt at that time. I distinctly remember, some of the students, I personally knew, were only finding insignificant flaws in his English language related skills.
4- I'm very far away from being an expert in English language but I'm very happy with my progress I've made till now.
> If I had to guess it's probably because they look a lot different than most Pakistani's...looks are usually the strongest influencer when it comes to discrimination.
A large majority of Hazaras identify themselves as 'shia muslim'[1]. While those, who target and kill Hazaras in Pakistan, belong to different sunni[2] militant/terrorist groups (for example, taliban, lashkar-e-jhangvi[3], their affiliated groups and offshoots in Pakistan) as they consider all 'shia muslim' heretics and fair to be killed. Since Hazaras look different and easily recognizable from a typical Pakistani, they are easy targets for their terrorist activities.
> I wonder why more of them don't go to Tajikistan/Uzbekistan/Kyrgyzstan where they would fit in ethnically. Probably because the socio-economic conditions there are still pretty poor, and the majority of their (usually very large) families are in Afghanistan/Pakistan/Iran.
I think you are not very far off the mark in your assumption here. :)
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[1] I'm a Hazara from Baluchistan, Pakistan.
[2] Btw, not all sunni muslims are extremist and after shia muslim. It's mostly follower of one particular sunni muslim sect (in Pakistan particularly): Deobandi ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deobandi)
But, the problem seems to be that they'll be acting more like a gang (where each gang member is a species of bacteria) by multiplying and transferring their weapons (in this case, antibiotic resistant MCR-1 gene) among different bacteria species by means of horizontal gene transfer[1].
Here, horizontal gene transfer means bacteria don't need to carry the "general pathogenicity" as parts of its genome and transfer to future generations (by sexual/asexual re-production)[2]. They only have to be good (and will be damn good by MCR-1 gene) at whatever pathogen they carry. "Horizontal gene transfer" will take care of the rest.
I think we'll get a better idea of the problem I'm trying to explain if we look at it from "Unix philosophy" perspective which "favors composability as opposed to monolithic design"[3]. I hope that I'm decidedly proven wrong in this regard. But, it's just a hope.
Note:
I don't have any formal education/background in medical sciences.
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[1] http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-30...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_gene_transfer
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy