Replies

Questions to ponder…

1. What does the writer mean when he says, “with the manufactured “refugee crisis”…?

2. What are the problems in Sicily from the author’s point of view? What led to those problems?

3. How might Sicily solve those problems? What parallel do any of these Sicilian issues have with US issues at present? How might the US solve these issues/problems, should they arise here?

4. In #5 above, what does the writer mean by “…the number of new migrants exceeds the country’s capacity to cope…”

5. Are the Sicilian Mafia displaying Islamophobia? (Islamophobia or anti-Muslim sentiment is the prejudice against, hatred or bigotry towards, or fear of the religion of Islam or Muslims. The term entered into common English usage in 1997.)

6. Give your opinion of #A above. Under #B, what is your opinion of the author’s statement of “to do nothing is not an option?”

1. The conditions taht have created this exodus of self-described refugees are no different than various flare-ups throughout the Middle East and Africa for the last 25 years. The fact that a disproportionate number of young men are entering Europe all at the same time is something new, and appaently coordinated.

2. Having a full one-quarter of the population as recent, unassimilated immigrant from an incompatible, aggressive and often criminal land creates problems by itself, but also is interfering with the "livelihood" of the established and culturally compatible power centers, both official and unofficial.

3. Whenever there is a dominant power center, even a brutal dictatorship, some degree of check on that power will arise, unless a people are willing to commit suicide. The response might be good and healthy and productive, or it might be poisonous and make a bad situation worse. In the United States before FDR, a string business class was a very effective check on the appetite of government, though with a risk of being a danger in its own right as the businesses consolidated.

In medieval Europe, the power kings were largely checked by the power of the Church. In all cases, a strong traditional culture checks centralized power as it unites the people, and is not undermined quickly or lightly. The Deweyites and Fabians have done an effective job in wearing down American cultural traditions where words like Freedom don't mean the same things that they used to, and certainly not the same things to different people. A culturasl revival of traditional culture (in Italian, the religion, language, arts, cuisine, traditions) enshrined, with men taking respnsibility. In the U.S. a Judeo-Christian morality, with emphasis on individual rights,e specially property and family rights, and a return to natural law values in families. Once again, men as man have to take the lead. The farther it goes, the more violence will have to take place to return to equilibrium.

4. I hope explained in responses to above.

5. Any word that ends with "-phobia" must be an irrational fear of hatred of the opbject of teh phobia. We do not talk of "quicksandphobia" becauswe it is rational to be afraid of being in quicksand. If the mafia types were so phobic, they would not have been willing to do business with the foreigners and Muslims.

6. I'm not sure where the "A" and "B" come from, nro where in the article the "To do nothing" quotation is found. I will simply say that in a non-suicidal/dying culture, when the power bases of the region will not assert themselves, someone or something will. Frankly, I am surprised there hasn't been more vigilante-ism in the U.S. In Germany we are seeing refugee centers burned down, and the in Italy, the mafia is a pre-existing institution that can easily be repurposed and gain more power by taking on unpopular enemies.

Such organizations have their own evils, of course, but some protection from outside enemies or in some cases chaos and anarchy, is better, even if there is a criminal element. When Ivan the Teriible when a little wild, he left Russia, and was ultimately asked back because things got worse.