Posted on 01/05/2008 9:14:20 PM PST by reaganaut1
Several authors have published books on radical Islam’s threat to the West since that shocking morning in September six years ago. With “The Suicide of Reason,” Lee Harris joins their ranks. But he distinguishes himself by going further than most of his counterparts: he considers the very worst possibility — the destruction of the West by radical Islam. There is a sense of urgency in his writing, a desire to shake awake the leaders of the West, to confront them with their failure to understand that they are engaged in a war with an adversary who fights by the law of the jungle.
Harris, the author of “Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History,” devotes most of his book to identifying and distinguishing between two kinds of fanaticism. The first is Islamic fanaticism, a formidable enemy in the struggle for cultural survival. In Harris’s view, this fanaticism has acted as a “defense mechanism,” shielding Islam from the pressures of the changing world around it and allowing it to expand into territories and cultures where it had previously been unknown.
With few exceptions, Harris sees Islamic expansion as permanent. Although this point is arguable, he bravely attempts to make the case that the entry of Islam into another culture produces changes on every level, from political to personal: “Wherever Islam has spread, there has occurred a total and revolutionary transformation in the culture of those conquered or converted.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
thanks for the post. Look forward to reading.
Harris does not regard Islamic fanaticism as a deviancy or a madness that affects a few Muslims and terrifies many. Instead he argues that fanaticism is the basic principle in Islam. “The Muslims are, from an early age, indoctrinated into a shaming code that demands a fanatical rejection of anything that threatens to subvert the supremacy of Islam,” he writes. During the years that this shaming code is instilled into children, the collective is emphasized above the individual and his freedoms. A good Muslim must forsake all: his property, family, children, even life for the sake of Islam. Boys in particular are taught to be dominating and merciless, which has the effect of creating a society of holy warriors.
By contrast, the West has cultivated an ethos of individualism, reason and tolerance, and an elaborate system in which every actor, from the individual to the nation-state, seeks to resolve conflict through words. The entire system is built on the idea of self-interest. This ethos rejects fanaticism. The alpha male is pacified and groomed to study hard, find a good job and plan prudently for retirement: “While we in America are drugging our alpha boys with Ritalin,” Harris writes, “the Muslims are doing everything in their power to encourage their alpha boys to be tough, aggressive and ruthless.”
We need a full out war against Islam.
Not a war on ‘terror’, but Islam and the Koran.
Us or them. Our way, or theirs.
“Several authors have published books on radical Islam’s threat to the West..”
Don’t listen to these alarmists - none of our politicians, including the POTUS, have ever indicated that Islam is not TROP. Stick with our government, they know best.
Interesting moral clarity...
Ali is a brave, brave woman.
It’s all very well to try and understand Muslims, providing you have the time and the patience to put forth.
As for me, there are only two things about Islam that I am certain of; 1) they are serious when they say they want to convert the rest of the world to Islam or kill us trying, and, 2) I have absolutely no interest or intention of converting to Islam.
That being the case, I have already decided that it is indeed a war of civilizations, that the war is already underway, and that the Muslims will eventually lose.
The reason I am certain of that is because while the general public of most western nations are willing to let the liberal politically correct idiots have their way when things are going well and the inconvenience of allowing them their childish delusions is tolerable, there is a push-come-to-shove point in the makeup of any national group that when reached the masses of that country will react violently.
It’s already happening, albeit slowly in Europe. You can see signs of it in the Netherlands, in Denmark and even in France. It’s going to get worse as the Muslims keep pushing and new atrocities continue to occur.
It will happen in America as well. The recent murder of two teen-aged girls by their own father who was obviously acting under what he thought was divine interest is keeping Americans reminded just how brutal and intolerant Islam is.
Strangely (or not so strangely) jihad has not gotten very far off the ground in China or even in Russia — despite the large Muslim populations of both nations. The reason for that is obvious. Russians and Chinese push back when pushed — Hard! They send in the troops, break heads, kick butt and take names.
The same will eventually happen in other countries. Be sure of it. 9/11 didn’t set it off in America, but sooner or later there will be a “Boston Massacre” moment in the war... a catalyst that causes such universal revulsion against Islam that even the most infatuated brain-dead anti-American hedonist is either convinced (or stunned into silence) and when that happens, there is going to be total hell to pay — for the Muslims.
keep it simple. what if the local temp at mecca or medina was 1000 degrees C?
be careful what you wish for, NYT.
Thanks, Happy New Year!
Boy the readers of the NYT are going to be outraged at this book review. They get upset that Bill Kristol is now writing opinions for the NYT.
In recent days we have seen some amazing and heretofore unexpected movement away from the same-old drearily-predictable leftist pablum that the NYT had devolved into under the flawed stewardship of Pinch Sulzberger. In more ordinary times, we would have seen this book reviewed by a CAIR board member or by some other Saudi apologist - but certainly not by someone of the stature and with the insight of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Could this possibly be evidence that some adult or adults - perhaps one or more of the NYT's owners who care more about preserving their own unearned wealth than about engaging in the foolish Communist crusades that sprung from the renegade dreams of the childishly-undisciplined and unprincipled family member that they so unwisely put into the NYT's driver's seat - have finally become fed up enough with the disastrous financial bloodbath that has been the predictable and inevitable result of Sulzberger's Pravda-inspired editorial flight from truth and reason that they are now at this late date attempting to undo some of his damage and stanch the losses? Have they actually started to rein in some of his excesses and not-so-creative destruction of their 'franchise'? And, will it be too little, too late?
You know, I agree with you. There are a lot of folks who will sit and take it, especially here in the states, but when they get fed up all bets are off. The Muslims had better go back and watch “Red Dawn” a few times, and while watching, remember those average Americans their minions encountered on flight 193 that September morning.
btt
We need it but we won’t get it. A democracy cannot fight such an enemy. Look at the way we go about it. Nationbuilding in Iraq! The Islamic world must receive an action so violent and destructive that all of their military forces in zones even remotely hostile are destroyed so that Moslems everywhere understand that Allah does not will Islam to conquer in this century. Iraq should have been leveled. Bush I should have leveled Baghdad and left. He did not. Bush II should have leveled Baghdad and Basra and utterly destroyed all military assets in Iraq as rapidly as possible and colonized the oil fields. He did not. Now it has to be done to Iran and probably Arabia must be occupied and the mystique of Mecca unraveled. If we do not deal with Iran then well, make sure your grandchildren can write their Spanish in Arabic.
The populations of the West must recognize that this is a war of civilizations, even a large portion of the Left must recognize it. I am not so optimistic. The Left will support Islam right up to the point where their heads start coming off because Islam is anti-American and therefore allies in the Left's drive for power.
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