Douglas Murray’s “What are we to do about Islam?”
This speech is the most sobering thing I’ve read lately about the War on Terror. Its theme of the weakness of the relativistic West in facing militant Islam is familiar, and Murray’s point of view is distinctly European, but in reading it I could not help but worry about just how far relativism has eroded the self-confidence of America’s elites, and their willingness to defend American values over the long term. Certainly the recent actions of their European counterparts, as explained by Murray, has been cowardly and appalling. An arresting excerpt:
Relativism has one over-riding consequence, and that consequence is the history of Europe over the last forty years. Giving equal attention and respect to all-comers, not only can relativists (the politically correct) not defend their own, they end up drawing a parity across cultures, faiths and behaviours which diminishes the good, and elevates the malignant. When we stare in disbelief at tolerance of the intolerable and the slow turning of that tolerance into acceptance and then acquiescence in evil, we are seeing Europeans acting out the last stages of nihilist philosophy. It is a way of looking at – and acting in – the world which will ruin Europe if we do not rid ourselves of it. Ridding ourselves of our rotten thought-world is the first step (and one in which everyone can take part) towards protecting ourselves from the threats which face us. It is one of the practical ways in which citizens can fight a war which is so far waged and triumphed in only by our military.
Murray closes with some recommended changes in European public policy, including this: “All immigration into Europe from Muslim countries must stop.” Here’s a question for discussion: What would be the reaction to such a proposal in terms of immigration into the US?
(If you’d like to read more of Murray, click here for a short talk on neo-conservatism he gave last fall to the Manhattan Institute.)
The problem with curbing Muslim immgration to Europe mirrors our own problem of curbing Latin American immgration to the US. The Europeans have glutted themselves on socialism, but have not produced enough children to sustain their socialist experiment. No children means no homegrown workers to generate the tax base necessary pay for aging Europe’s government funded systems.
The only question is who would scream “RACIST!” loudest: the Dems or the factions within the GOP that have grown addicted to cheap labor.
Giving equal attention and respect to all-comers, not only can relativists (the politically correct) not defend their own, they end up drawing a parity across cultures, faiths and behaviours which diminishes the good, and elevates the malignant.
Except of course when it comes to “teaching the controversy” of ID vs Evolution, then Relativism is just fine and dandy, no need to parse out whether or not ID is worthy of consideration.
[snicker, grin, just kidding guys ... it's ajoke, heh]
there is no way to stop it ….we need a great depression or a war or the bird flu to make americans born in america work like a mexican who is not legal….we used to farm watermelons and we could not find american kids, much less adults, who would do that kind of work for 6 dollars an hour…guess who we had to turn to?