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Mark Steyn: Multiculturalists are the real racists
National Post ^ | Aughst 20, 2002 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 08/20/2002 5:24:03 AM PDT by Clive

Last Thursday, in Sydney, the pack leader of a group of Lebanese Muslim gang- rapists was sentenced to 55 years in jail. I suppose I ought to say "Lebanese-Australian" Muslim gang-rapists, since the accused were Australian citizens. But, identity-wise, the rambunctious young lads considered themselves heavy on the Lebanese, light on the Australian. During their gang rapes, the lucky lady would be told she was about to be "f- --ed Leb style" and that she deserved it because she was an "Australian pig."

But, inevitably, it's the heavy sentence that's "controversial." After September 11th, Americans were advised to ask themselves, "Why do they hate us?" Now Australians need to ask themselves, "Why do they rape us?" As Monroe Reimers put it on the letters page of The Sydney Morning Herald:

"As terrible as the crime was, we must not confuse justice with revenge. We need answers. Where has this hatred come from? How have we contributed to it? Perhaps it's time to take a good hard look at the racism by exclusion practised with such a vengeance by our community and cultural institutions."

Indeed. Many's the time, labouring under the burden of some or other ghastly Ottawa policy, I've thought of pinning some gal down and sodomizing her while 14 of my pals look on and await their turn. But I fear in my case the Monroe Reimers of the world would be rather less eager to search for "root causes." Gang rape as a legitimate expression of the campaign for social justice is a privilege reserved only unto a few.

Mr. Reimers, though, will be happy to know his view is echoed across the hemispheres. Five days before 9/11, the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reported that 65% of the country's rapes were committed by "non-Western" immigrants -- a category which, in Norway, is almost wholly Muslim. A professor at the University of Oslo explained that one reason for the disproportionate Muslim share of the rape market was that in their native lands "rape is scarcely punished" because it is generally believed that "it is women who are responsible for rape."

So Muslim immigrants to Norway should be made aware that things are a little different in Scandinavia? Not at all! Rather, the professor insisted, "Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes" because their manner of dress would be regarded by Muslim men as inappropriate. "Norwegian women must realize that we live in a multicultural society and adapt themselves to it." Or to modify Queen Victoria's wedding-night advice to her daughter: Lie back and think of Yemen.

France? Well, I can't bring you any ethnic rape statistics from the Fifth Republic because the authorities go to great lengths not to keep any. But, even though the phenomenon of immigrant gang rape does not exist, there's already a word for it: the "tournante" -- or "take your turn." Last year, 11 Muslim men were arrested for enjoying a grand old tournante with a 14-year old girl in a cellar.

Denmark? "Three quarters of rapes are carried out by non-Danes," says Peter Skaarup, chairman of the People's Party, a member of the governing coalition.

Well, you get the idea. Whether or not Muslim cultures are more prone to rape is a question we shall explore another day. What's interesting is how easily even this most extreme manifestation of multiculturalism is subsumed within the usual pieties. Norwegian women must learn to be, in a very real sense, less "exclusionary." Lebanese male immigrants, fleeing a war-torn wasteland and finding refuge in a land of peace, freedom and opportunity, are inevitably transformed into gang rapists by Australian racism.

After September 11th, a friend in London said to me she couldn't stand all the America-needs-to-ask-itself stuff because she used to work at a rape crisis centre and she'd heard this blame-the-victim routine a thousand times before. America was asking for it: like those Norwegian women, it was being "provocative." My friend thought the multiculti apologists were treating America as a metaphorical rape victim. But, even so, it comes as a surprise to realize they do exactly the same to actual rape victims. After the O.J. verdict, it was noted by some feminists that "race trumped gender." What we've seen since September 11th is that multiculturalism trumps everything. Its grip on the imagination of the Western elites is unshakeable. Even President Bush, in the month after September 11th, felt obliged to line up a series of photo-ops so he could declare that "Islam is peace" while surrounded by representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an organization which objected, on the grounds of "ethnic and religious stereotyping," to the prosecution of two men in Chicago for the "honour killing" of their female cousin.

On this "Islam is peace" business, Bassam Tibi, a Muslim professor at Goettingen University in Germany, gave a helpful speech a few months back: "Both sides should acknowledge candidly that although they might use identical terms these mean different things to each of them," he said. "The word 'peace,' for example, implies to a Muslim the extension of the Dar al- Islam -- or 'House of Islam' -- to the entire world. This is completely different from the Enlightenment concept of eternal peace that dominates Western thought." Only when the entire world is a Dar al-Islam will it be a Dar a-Salam, or "House of Peace."

On the face of it, that sounds ridiculous. The "Muslim world" -- the arc stretching from North Africa through South Asia -- is economically, militarily, scientifically and artistically irrelevant. But, looked at through the prism of Norwegian rape or French crime, the idea of a Dar al-Islam doesn't sound so ridiculous. The "code of silence" that surrounds rape in tightly knit Muslim families is, so to speak, amplified by the broader "code of silence" surrounding multicultural issues in the West. If all cultures are of equal value, how do you point out any defects?

As I understand it, the benefits of multiculturalism are that the sterile white- bread cultures of Australia, Canada and Britain get some great ethnic restaurants and a Commonwealth Games opening ceremony that lasts until two in the morning. But, in the case of those Muslim ghettoes in Sydney, in Oslo, in Paris, in Copenhagen and in Manchester, multiculturalism means that the worst attributes of Muslim culture -- the subjugation of women -- combine with the worst attributes of Western culture -- licence and self-gratification. Tattoed, pierced Pakistani skinhead gangs swaggering down the streets of Northern England are as much a product of multiculturalism as the turban- wearing Sikh Mountie in the vice-regal escort at Rideau Hall. Yet even in the face of the crudest assaults on its most cherished causes -- women's rights, gay rights -- the political class turns squeamishly away.

Once upon a time we knew what to do. A British district officer, coming upon a scene of suttee, was told by the locals that in Hindu culture it was the custom to cremate a widow on her husband's funeral pyre. He replied that in British culture it was the custom to hang chaps who did that sort of thing. There are many great things about India -- curry, pyjamas, sitars, software engineers -- but suttee was not one of them. What a pity we're no longer capable of being "judgmental" and "discriminating." We're told the old-school imperialists were racists, that they thought of the wogs as inferior. But, if so, they at least considered them capable of improvement. The multiculturalists are just as racist. The only difference is that they think the wogs can never reform: Good heavens, you can't expect a Muslim in Norway not to go about raping the womenfolk! Much better just to get used to it.

As one is always obliged to explain when tiptoeing around this territory, I'm not a racist, only a culturist. I believe Western culture -- rule of law, universal suffrage, etc. -- is preferable to Arab culture: that's why there are millions of Muslims in Scandinavia, and four Scandinavians in Syria. Follow the traffic. I support immigration, but with assimilation. Without it, like a Hindu widow, we're slowly climbing on the funeral pyre of our lost empires. You see it in European foreign policy already: they're scared of their mysterious, swelling, unstoppable Muslim populations.

Islam For All reported the other day that, at present demographic rates, in 20 years' time the majority of Holland's children (the population under 18) will be Muslim. It will be the first Islamic country in western Europe since the loss of Spain. Europe is the colony now.

Or as Charles Johnson, whose excellent "Little Green Footballs" Web site turns up dozens of fascinating Islamic tidbits every day, suggested: "Maybe we should start a betting pool: Which European country will be the first to institute shari'a?"


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: banglist; culturewars; discrimination; diversity; marksteyn; marksteynlist; muhammadsminions; multiculturalism; pc
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1 posted on 08/20/2002 5:24:03 AM PDT by Clive
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To: Pokey78
bump
2 posted on 08/20/2002 5:27:01 AM PDT by Clive
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To: Pokey78
Wow! I beat you!
3 posted on 08/20/2002 5:29:14 AM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: Constitution Day
You sure did!
4 posted on 08/20/2002 5:33:52 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: Clive
"Maybe we should start a betting pool: Which European country will be the first to institute shari'a?"

Put me down for $10 on France :)

5 posted on 08/20/2002 5:34:34 AM PDT by Lorenb420
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To: knighthawk
Islam List material.
6 posted on 08/20/2002 5:34:47 AM PDT by aristeides
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To: MeeknMing
Send this one to your legislators NOW!!! What a great piece.
7 posted on 08/20/2002 5:34:53 AM PDT by FreedomPoster
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To: Clive
I believe Western culture -- rule of law, universal suffrage, etc. -- is preferable to Arab culture: that's why there are millions of Muslims in Scandinavia, and four Scandinavians in Syria.

Very well said!

Owl_Eagle

” WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"


8 posted on 08/20/2002 5:37:18 AM PDT by End Times Sentinel
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To: knighthawk
Denmark? "Three quarters of rapes are carried out by non-Danes," says Peter Skaarup, chairman of the People's Party, a member of the governing coalition.


9 posted on 08/20/2002 5:38:55 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: MeeknMing; Clive; Pokey78; doglot
Or as Charles Johnson, whose excellent "Little Green Footballs" Web site turns up dozens of fascinating Islamic tidbits every day, suggested: "Maybe we should start a betting pool: Which European country will be the first to institute shari'a?"

I seem to remember a thread being posted a while back that linked to this site.
It was subsequently deleted.

Do any of you recall this?

10 posted on 08/20/2002 5:46:14 AM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: Clive
Another excellent Steyn column.

He puts into words what everyone thinks but is afraid to say:

"I believe Western culture -- rule of law, universal suffrage, etc. -- is preferable to Arab culture: that's why there are millions of Muslims in Scandinavia, and four Scandinavians in Syria."

Why, oh why, are so many afraid to vocalize this most obvious truth?

And he makes a point that is vital for all to realize and act upon:

Europe is the colony now.

I suppose some feel that turnabout is fair play, but Europe need not accept it like the multiculturalists advise the Norwegian girls to do.

We must proudly proclaim the superiority of Western culture, and preserve it with all our powers. Multicultrualism must be at last discarded as one more failed utopian ideology.

11 posted on 08/20/2002 5:46:55 AM PDT by B Knotts
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To: Clive; Snow Bunny; Alamo-Girl; onyx; Republican Wildcat; Howlin; Fred Mertz; dixiechick2000; ...
Mark Steyn: Multiculturalists are the real racists

Excerpt:

After September 11th, a friend in London said to me she couldn't stand all the America-needs-to-ask-itself stuff because she used to work at a rape crisis centre and she'd heard this blame-the-victim routine a thousand times before. America was asking for it: like those Norwegian women, it was being "provocative." My friend thought the multiculti apologists were treating America as a metaphorical rape victim. But, even so, it comes as a surprise to realize they do exactly the same to actual rape victims. After the O.J. verdict, it was noted by some feminists that "race trumped gender." What we've seen since September 11th is that multiculturalism trumps everything. Its grip on the imagination of the Western elites is unshakeable. Even President Bush, in the month after September 11th, felt obliged to line up a series of photo-ops so he could declare that "Islam is peace" while surrounded by representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an organization which objected, on the grounds of "ethnic and religious stereotyping," to the prosecution of two men in Chicago for the "honour killing" of their female cousin.



Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

12 posted on 08/20/2002 5:47:03 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: MeeknMing
>>Three quarters of rapes are carried out by non-Danes<<

The conquerors always take the local women, what's news about that?

13 posted on 08/20/2002 5:50:09 AM PDT by Jim Noble
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To: Clive
BUMP
14 posted on 08/20/2002 6:00:59 AM PDT by RippleFire
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To: Jim Noble
>>Three quarters of rapes are carried out by non-Danes<<

The conquerors always take the local women, what's news about that?

I was merely pointing a reference to the Netherlands to a FReeper from the
Netherlands, FRiend.......


15 posted on 08/20/2002 6:04:26 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: monkeyshine; ipaq2000; Lent; veronica; Sabramerican; beowolf; Nachum; BenF; angelo; ...
ping
16 posted on 08/20/2002 6:07:24 AM PDT by dennisw
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To: Clive
Powerful reporting! When will we see these facts on the American news media? Rhetorical question, of course. I am reading this column while I listen to people call into C-SPAN this morning to respond to:

Is criticism of Islam bigotry? Yes or no.

The question is prompted by the decision of the University of North Carolina to assign a text on the Koran as the required summer reading for incoming freshmen.
17 posted on 08/20/2002 6:11:19 AM PDT by maica
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To: RippleFire
Great article. I really wonder how the feminists view this seeing as how they think it is a womans right to walk the streets at all hours dressed like a tart, drunk, and if a guy hits on her, cry sexual assault and put him away for 20 years. And I wonder why people are afraid to state the obvious. These muslims are barbarians,,I don't know if all are, but these rapists are. They know it is not done in the west, they cannot plead cultural forces made them do it, they do it because they disrespect us, or the men who run these countries. And it seems with good reason. I tell you that all they understand is power. And when met with a limp response, they will get worse and worse.
18 posted on 08/20/2002 6:13:50 AM PDT by cajungirl
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To: Constitution Day
Or as Charles Johnson, whose excellent "Little Green Footballs" Web site turns up dozens of fascinating Islamic tidbits every day, suggested: "Maybe we should start a betting pool: Which European country will be the first to institute shari'a?"

I seem to remember a thread being posted a while back that linked to this site.
It was subsequently deleted.

Do any of you recall this?

Not offhand. If anything comes to mind I'll let you know.

In the meantime, from your link, this little tidbit caught my eye......

Farrakhan Mouths Off Again

Fresh from his whirlwind tour of the world’s totalitarian hellholes, during which he smooched the powerful butts of Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe, Screwy Louie is in Atlanta, ostensibly to support Cynthia bin McKinney.

"The president of the country seems to be drunk," he said Sunday at the Hillside Chapel & Truth Center on Cascade Road in Atlanta. "He seems to be drunk with the power. This is a greatest country on Earth and the greatest country in the history of the world, but if she is not careful, she will go the way of Rome."

The Nation of Islam leader has virulently criticized American policies in the Islamic world, from the war in Afghanistan to heavy support of Israel. He condemned all violence in both his sermon and an interview with the Journal-Constitution, but he warned that Bush's policies -- especially any war with Iraq -- would alienate the country from the Muslim world and Europe.

Americans should see Palestinians blowing themselves up to kill Israelis as a sign of Israeli oppression, he said, which he characterized as a political, and not religious, issue.

"America is hated now," Farrakhan said. "We need to sit down at the table and dialogue and not slaughter each other."

He “condemned all violence,” BUT Palestinian suicide bombers are “a sign of Israeli oppression.” See, that’s not really violence. Anything that kills Jews is fine by Lewis “Judaism is a Gutter Religion” Farrakhan.

19 posted on 08/20/2002 6:26:11 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: FreedomPoster
"Send this one to your legislators NOW!!!"

Why? Most of them wouldn't understand it and those that do wouldn't care.


20 posted on 08/20/2002 6:29:15 AM PDT by sinclair
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