Posted on 11/17/2006 11:57:34 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Mark Steyn, a Canadian journalist and columnist widely read in the United States and Great Britain, whose current book, "America Alone," is an alarming portrait of a rapidly rising Islamic Europe, has served his cause better than he could have hoped.
Not only does his book convincingly demonstrate the catastrophic demographic consequence of Europe's descending birth rate and ascending Muslim population, it did one thing more. The only review of it that I could find in Canada's largely liberal print media showed unmistakably that the liberal Western world has no solution to the problem. It is utterly baffled. It doesn't know what to do.
Steyn, of course, is not alone in sounding this warning. The renowned journalist, atheist and anti-clerical Oriana Fallaci, who died in September at New York (after, curiously, praising the thinking and approach of Pope Benedict), became so assertive in her warnings about Islam in Europe she was accused in her native Italy of vilipendio (vilification) of religion by an Italian anti-Catholic. She coined the term "Eurabia" and dedicated her last years to describing its alarming growth.
In Britain, London Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips this year produced the terrifying "Londonistan," focusing particularly on the seemingly irresistible Islamic menace in her country where superficially good British lads with unmistakable regional accents are in fact dedicated to the destruction of their neighbors.
Steyn, however, with his gift of devastating sarcasm and eye for absurdity in high places, has produced an entertaining, if frightening, read, making some obvious though rarely confronted points, such as:
Since a core objective of Islam is an autocratic theocracy, Muslims cannot embrace democratic government without fundamentally compromising their religion and thereby ceasing to be Muslims. Any working accommodation with Islam is therefore impossible, as France, Britain and Germany are painfully discovering.
However, Europe will not be defeated by Islam, but by its own failings, particularly by its failure to produce children. When the time comes for the great Muslim takeover, it won't face any serious resistance because practically no one under the age of 60 will be there to do the resisting. Steyn's book soared immediately to the Canadian best-seller list and was running No. 3 on Amazon. Canada., though the country's ultra-liberal biggest book retailer drastically under-stocked it, for reasons it found difficult to explain.
What intrigued me, however, was how the liberal media would respond to it. Typically, up to this date anyway, the Toronto Star and most of the old Southam chain have ignored it. The Globe and Mail, however, faced up to the challenge. The reviewer they chose was William Christian, a much-published professor of political science from Guelph, Ontario. He writes a very strange review. It consists of two elements – a ferocious denunciation of Steyn's book – "possibly the most crass and vulgar book about the West's relationship with the Islamic world I have ever encountered" – and a recitation without comment of some of the alarming demographic and theological facts that Steyn presents.
Now this is mystifying. Look at the awful things this man is writing, says the reviewer. How crass! How vulgar! But you want to take Dr. Christian by both shoulders and demand: "Yes, but are they true? And, if they are not true, why don't you say so? And if they are true, what do you suggest we do about them?"
In short, Dr. Christian's clear responsibility as a reviewer was to respond at least minimally to the validity of Steyn's assertions. In not one fragment of one sentence does he do so. The conclusion is inescapable: He doesn't say, because he doesn't know. He doesn't provide an answer, because he hasn't got one. His solution to the Muslim threat is to pretend it isn't there. His silence betrays his poverty. He is flummoxed, and he is furious with Steyn for having exposed this fact.
But this bewilderment is not confined to Christian. What's notable is that no one in the entire phantasmagorias realm of modern liberaldom is responding to it. The alarms are being sounded and the reigning authorities can do nothing more than denounce those who sound them. Which of course is Steyn's main point. Those in charge do not know what to do. They have built a society that doesn't work, and they hate people who point this out.
But realizing this is surely the first step in building one that does work, and that is what Steyn obviously seeks to do.
Awesome. Thanks for posting!
I think that half the people who voted dhimmicrat in the last election are capable of seeing the error of their ways. Until they do, however, it's not even a question of "America Alone" but rather: "Conservative Americans Alone"
When I finish my tour here in Afghanistan one of the first things I'm going to do is buy this book.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
I'm guessing that Steyn hasn't been booked on the Today Show or Good Morning America to discuss his book.
That this reviewer in Canada did not bother to respond to the demographic arguments is not surprising, because there is no response to them. Facts are facts, and only a combination of higher native birth rates and less Muslim immigration will save Europe from ultimate disaster and destruction.
The Pelosi-Planned Parenthood connection (Briefly summarized) As a result of the November elections, Nancy Pelosi will become the first woman to be speaker of the House. Pelosi will thus exert a tremendous amount of influence over legislation and over funding for various projects. With that in mind, we take note of the fact that Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, served in her career as deputy chief of staff for Ms. Pelosi, and has been influential in Ms. Pelosi's successful rise to power.
We expect, then, that Planned Parenthood will put on a big push this year for more and more taxpayer money. Now is the time for pro-lifers across the country to immediately begin contacting your members of Congress and insisting that government funding of Planned Parenthood be cut. We do not want any government money going to PP and now is the time for action. American Life League will make use of the thousands of names that have signed our petition against Planned Parenthood funding to let congress know the American people do not want any money going to PP. We currently have over 25,000 signatures, but we need many more. In addition to contacting your members of Congress, we need you to sign the petition at
www.StopPlannedParenthoodTaxFunding.com http://www.stopplannedparenthoodtaxfunding.com.
We also need you to get everyone you can to sign. The more signatures we get, the more of a chance we will have to stop the flow of money to Planned Parenthood.
"Those in charge do not know what to do. They have built a society that doesn't work, and they hate people who point this out."
Excellent point. I have noticed this about "leaders" in general over the last 20+ years. They ignore or spin problems they can't (or won't) solve. Especially when confronting the problem would shatter their worldview. The socialtist, free trade, the grow-at-any-cost. and pro-immigration crowd comes to mind. Also, look at the so-called Environmentalists who are absolutely silent about the invasion from the South and its consequences.
Actually, PP has so much money that they probably don't really need public money - it's just a way of getting Americans to be forced to contribute to their disgusting aims, as well as a way of extending themselves into neighborhoods and social groups under the cover of "government programs."
Bill Gates, the Hewletts, the Packard Foundation and a ton of others have made "population control" their priority in their huge donations; just this summer, Gates set up a foundation with an endowment of more than $1 billion to keep the money flowing to PP and similar groups. What's he going to do when he wipes out his next generation of customers?
Steyn bump! Not surprising the left is either in a tizzy or a coma over "America Alone".
This is a very poor description of Fallaci. I would describe her religous views as agnostic moreso than atheist and I have never come across an anti-cleric position of hers.
What she was mostly was a fierce defender of western values and western culture. As such I found a deep appreciation for Christianity in her writings even if she had personal difficulties accepting the mystical elements of Christ.
Otherwise this is a good review of one of FR's most beloved thinkers.
"It's hateful!"
"Okay. But is it untrue?"
"It's hateful!"
In sum, it is considered hate speech in liberal Dhimmiland. And that is enough to discredit it. The truth is irrelevant.
It is a bizarre high crime in the liberal legal code: the crime of intolerance toward those whose ideology demands that they kill or subdue you..
Steyn's book is excellent...funny and frighting at the same time. His treatment of the coming population crash of Europe and muslim takeover is sobering.
This is the first review of Steyn's book that I have read...apparently it is being purposely ignored by the dinosaur press.
Political Correctness needs to be taken out behind the barn and shot.
"Leftists can't imagine a world with larger families around."
That's because a mother of six or seven children is not going to be able to hold down a job. And the government has grown fat on taking practically all of a women's paycheck in taxes, thus making her worse than a medieval serf, who only paid a third of his earnings to the lord of the manor.
It would also be the end of their religion of Feminism, because with more women at home depending on their husband's paycheck, their mantra of equality of pay would have few takers.
The Left has a huge stake in preserving the current system of two wage earners, one for the family and one for government, and neglected children. When the kids are typically screwed up, there is a need for more government services to control them. It's a great boost to government domination when the family unit is destroyed.
You shouldn't point out that the emperor has no clothes. It's just not the thing to do.
Psst.. the emperor has no clothes!
BTTT
I just emailed the link to some of my family and friends. I hope they sign it, and pass it on. Thanks for posting it.
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