The End of Tolerance

Newsweek ^ | 02-26-06 | Stefan Theil

[jecIIny]

The End of Tolerance Farewell, multiculturalism. A cartoon backlash is pushing Europe to insist upon its values. By Stefan Theil Newsweek International

March 6, 2006 issue - The world has long looked upon the Dutch as the very model of a modern, multicultural society. Open and liberal, the tiny seagoing nation that invented the globalized economy in the 1600s prided itself on a history of taking in all comers, be they Indonesian or Turkish, African or Chinese.

How different things look today. Dutch borders have been virtually shut. New immigration is down to a trickle. The great cosmopolitan port city of Rotterdam just published a code of conduct requiring Dutch be spoken in public. Parliament recently legislated a countrywide ban on wearing the burqa in public. And listen to a prominent Dutch establishment figure describe the new Dutch Way with immigrants. "We demand a new social contract," says Jan Wolter Wabeke, High Court Judge in The Hague. "We no longer accept that people don't learn our language, we require that they send their daughters to school, and we demand they stop bringing in young brides from the desert and locking them up in third-floor apartments."

What's going on here? Weren't the Dutch supposed to be the nicest people on earth, the most tolerant nation in Europe, a melting pot for minorities and immigrants since the Renaissance? No longer, and in this the Dutch are once again at the forefront of changes in Europe. This time, the Dutch model for Europe is one of multiculturalism besieged, if not plain defunct.

[jecIIny]

As I said on a number of other posts. The Islamists have shot themselves in the foot. Europe may not be exactly militant but this has been a cold shower for them. There is something very close to a sea change in public opinion on the other side of the pond. Anti-Americanism is no longer in style. And Europeans are no longer ready to buy the line that Islam is just another peaceful and misunderstood religion.

[lndrvr1972]

Too bad they do not shoot themselves in the head.. It would really help the rest of the world.

[Fiddlstix]

Well, they're finally waking up to reality.
'Bout time.

[fizziwig]

Its called an Epiphany....they see a bad moon arising!

[Old Sarge]

Europe has forgotten the Moors, and the Ottomans, and Constantinople.

The Arab Street refers to Saladin in the present tense. Today, we're more concerned if Brad and Jen will get back together.

[GSlob]

Multiculturalism is a baboonery.

[Fred Nerks]

Thanks for posting this! I'm so happy I feel as if I died and went to heaven...

Hey, everybody, islam has really finally totally utterly (what took so long?) cr*pped in its nest and the Dutch are not going to take it any more...can the rest of europe be far behind?

I knew when I saw this sign the message was a two edged sword:

WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? BURN CARS? LOL!

[The Worthless Miracle]

Good post. You got it. The europeans seem timid and tolerant, but they are only human and these muslim nuts are just not going to be able to storm in and take over.

[Lancey Howard]

LMAO!!!
This is a full-country version of the old, "A liberal is a conservative who hasn't been mugged yet".
Well, the scumbags have been mugged. Liberal hypocrites.

[ccmay]

The Arab Street refers to Saladin in the present tense.

Yes, and they are still well and truly pissed off that Ferdinand and Isabella drove them out of Andalusia five hundred years ago. That seems to be one of Osama's particular bugbears.

-ccm

[Just Lori]

....Until such double standards can be abolished and a new equality established, Europe's new toughness will feel like forced integration. "It's a form of creating a second-class citizenship," says Tariq Modood, director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship in Bristol. "All the burden of change is placed on the immigrant." And if that's not to be the case, then Europeans will almost certainly have to accord Muslim faiths the same status accorded Christianity—including, perhaps, a media that voluntarily refrains from publishing needlessly offensive images of the Prophet, not under duress from abroad but out of greater respect for local religious sensibilities.

The burden of change belongs on the immigrant! If an immigrant doesn't want to accept the laws and social norms of the country to which they immigrate, they don't belong there!

[marc costanzo]

- - The Nature of Tolerance - -

It is a 'blank check' for wrongdoing !

Absolute Tolerance is the complete abolition of Moral Discipline -{self-restraint, self-denial, etc}

In this age of Political Correctness and Multiculturalism,
TOLERANCE is the velvet glove of the though police .
End result: no common sense about border immigration policy, and the devaluation of the Western Heritage .

Tolerance is the shield that Liberals, Leftist, Feminists,
Canadians, and the French, have allowed these Third World Barbarians to effectively colonize Western Nations for the
past 40 years !

TOLERANCE is cowardice in the face of the enemy,

the last refuge of the appeasers,

whether they be the Quislings or Vichies

or the Hollywood Libs of today !

[marc costanzo]

>>Europe has forgotten the Moors, and the Ottomans, and Constantinople. <<

Liberals in Europe and here in America have also forgotten about the marauding pillaging Saracens !

These Muslim brigands sacked the city of Rome in the 10th Century ! A whole hundred years before the 1st Crusade !

[Icelander]

(in theory, they were "guest workers" who would one day go home), LOL!!!!

[Tzimisce]

It's ironic that Muslims reject western culture - multiculturalism (the idea that different cultures can live side by side) IS a western ideal.

When Muslims advocate "multiculturalism" what they really want is everyone to convert to their culture.

[Outland]

"The burden of change belongs on the immigrant! If an immigrant doesn't want to accept the laws and social norms of the country to which they immigrate, they don't belong there!"

Now if only the U.S. would understand this in regard to the Mexican illegals.

[jordan8]

Muslims in Europe isn't a Muslim program, it's a leftist program and it will continue as long as it serves the purposes of the ruling elite. Most of these so-called tough new rules are in fact ways of defending an increasingly chaotic multiculturalism, fooling the natives into thinking something is changing when the basic program remains the same. It's all eloquently laid out in the final paragraph of this story: "Being German can no longer be defined on ethnic lines," says Bernd Knopf at the Integration Commissioner's office. It's an open question whether Germans, Dutch, or Danes will ever truly accept a multiethnic, multireligious "Germanness," "Dutchness" or "Danishness." But given the immigrant and demographic trajectories of Europe's future, there is little choice but to try.

As far as a sea change in public opinion, who cares? What's the public got to do with it? The American public has bitterly complained about immigration for decades, it hasn't meant a thing. And it's even worse in Europe where you face jail (or assassination) if complain too much about immigration.

[Just A Nobody]

EXCELLENT!!! Thanks for the ping!

[Jeff Chandler]

>>Multiculturalism is a baboonery.<<

I think you coined a new word.

[Fred Nerks]

Good heavens! I nearly forgot you!

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