I haven’t read Steyn’s book, but will try too. However, a title like ‘America Alone : The End of the World as We Know It’doesn’t really suggest a rational exploration of the facts. It suggests a man walking down the street with a sandwich board reading ‘The End is Nigh!’. We do face a very real threat from Islamic terror (as tragic events around the world have illustrated). However, in some regards too much hysteria has greeted the doubtless dangerous threat of Islamic terrorism from some quarters. Just a few points if I may:
1)The facts remain that in the UK immigration from Eastern Europe is forming the largest body of migration at present.
2)The UK’s muslim population is 2-3%. Their higher birthrates will have likely been swamped by the influx of Eastern Europena workers alone.
3)Having commuted into London (or ‘Londonistan’) for the past three years I have come to see it as a truly international city. Most immigrants to the UK live in the area of London. However, immigrants I have seen have been from Eastern Europe, Western Europe, China, Africa (a really diverse bunch). Muslims are a small minority even in London. The fact that they tend to ghettoise can give false impressions sometimes.
4) Britain has been dealing with far more sophisticated and lethal terrorism than that tragically directed against us by Islamists in the past and has always prevailed. Sometimes authors such as Steyn seem to forget that terrorism existed before the tragic events of 9/11. Please don’t get me wrong. 9/11 was an act of unspeakable horror and tragegy and my heart goes out to you in the US for it. However, as a general rule Islamic terrorism was easily as prevalent in the 1970s (if not more so) than today.We must keep alert to the threat no doubt. But hysteria will get us nowhere. One must ask why Steyn only saw fit to sell his apocalyptic vision after the War on Terror began. If the threat was so clear, then why didn’t he publish his work before the tragic events of 9/11?