Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Europe Reacts

Here are some interesting comments from the magazine “The Week” concerning Europe’s reaction in the aftermath of London’s terror attack.
Europe reacts: What do we do about our Muslims?
We can no longer avoid admitting that Western civilization is under assault, said Ezio Mauro in Italy’s La Repubblica. How naive we were four years ago when, “with easy compassion,” we proclaimed, “We are all Americans.” The truth is that the Islamic fanatics aren’t targeting America alone, but all Western democracies. We look at a television image from London of a body lying on a stretcher, “and we feel that it could be us, for we, too, are civilians, we, too, are Westerners.”

Now do we see what we’re up against? asked Magdi Allam in Italy’s Corriere della Sera. Many in the West “refuse to recognize the aggressive nature” of Islamic terrorism. The apologists see terrorism as reactive, a “plausible if illegitimate response” to Western slights. Those who insist on blaming the West have it half right—Western countries are at fault not for being too harsh with Muslim countries abroad but for being too lenient with their Muslim populations at home. Britain was a prime example of a country that let radical Islamists “live in separatist communities, fostering religious hatred.”

In Italy as well, the Islamists have been coddled for far too long, said Vittorio Feltri in Italy’s Libero. Italy funds the construction of mosques and takes down public displays of Christian imagery “to avoid offending a culture that considers ours inferior.” Why are we continuing to “show tolerance to those who have none?” It’s time we admitted that we are living in a state of emergency, “or better, a state of war.” Wartime demands extreme measures. It may be necessary to “destroy the bridges of friendship with a people that produces terrorists.”
Interesting? People are starting to wake up but will we see an intelligent response led by sane leadership or will it be fertile grounds for a demagogue? David Pryce-Jones warns about the growth of Britain’s fascist party which has picked up seats in the last election because of the failures by the UK’s main three parties to confront the Islamic threat.
Unfortunately, misguided British government policies that simultaneously make the country a haven for Muslim extremism while stoking white, working-class resentment with their perceived favoring of the larger Muslim community only exacerbate this problem. … Inexorably, those who privilege Muslims on the one hand, and Islamists on the other hand, are combining to shift public opinion toward the counterresponse of violence, which is to say fascism. Wedded to their parliamentary democracy, the British have always rejected foreign political imports like communism and fascism. No fascist party member has ever won a seat at Westminster, and today's fascists, the British National Party (BNP), fare no better. Under the impact of rising Islamism, however, and invigorated by the well-meant but foolish patronizing of Muslims by the authorities, the BNP has now acquired a few seats on local municipalities.
Bat Ye’or warned about Europe’s swings from far left to xenophobic fascism. Many countries have laws making Islam a protected religion exempt from criticism. This only leads to discussions in private far from the open air that forges an accurate and balanced perspective. Laws and cultural taboos – like political correctness – beget that which they fear, irrational hatred.

Since Islam is new to most people in the West, the knee jerk response to stifle criticism with charges of bigotry, fails to allow the natural investigation, deliberation, and on-going debate required for a sane assessment. An open inquiry cannot start with a conclusion – for example: stating that Islam is as good as other religions and has been hijacked. We need an honest inquiry open to wherever the facts may lead. A positive prejudgment is a prejudice as much as a negative prejudgment.

6 Comments:

Blogger beakerkin said...

The hysterical response from the left is illustritive. I discussed ending immigration from Muslim countries and a typical deranged leftist cries genocide.

If the Zinn model is good enough for Western Civ then it should be applied to Islamic Civ. The Islamo boosters need to learn about Jim Crowe dhimmi culture, slavery and whole sale massacres . The myth that the West has wronged Islam is a lie and feeding mental illness.

When you get a chance the idiots on the left need a reminder about the reality of the Soviet Nazi non agression pact. Commies aligned with Nazis is not a slogan it was a fact.

7/20/05, 2:23 AM  
Blogger Always On Watch said...

Back in the late 1960's, the radio played a current hit entitled "The Snake." The lyrics related the story of a woman who saw an ailing, poisonous snake; the beauty of the snake was such that the woman threw caution to the wind, took the snake in, and nurtured it back to health. Once the ungrateful snake was healed, he bit the woman. As she was dying, she protested the injustice of the snake's having killed her despite her actions. The snake called the woman "silly" and said, "You knew durn well I was a snake before you took me in."

Of course, that old tune wasn't about Islam in Europe, but it could well serve as an allegory for the Islamification of Europe. Many Westerners find themselves drawn to what Patai termed "Araby," but the ideology of Islamism is, in reality, a snake like the one abovementioned.

We've got to stop kidding ourselves about Islam! The left will never come to the realization that there is such a thing as evil, or at least they won't until they get the death bite.

Beak,
While I don't, as yet, take the left to task on my blog, you are on target when you point out that subversiveness from the quarter is making the problem--and the DANGER--infinitely worse. And far too many of the leftist dumbasses don't even know that they are engaged in self-destruction! It seems to me that others of them actually are "in on it," in a quest for power.

7/20/05, 7:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Beakerkin: "The hysterical response from the left is illustritive. I discussed ending immigration from Muslim countries and a typical deranged leftist cries genocide."

This exact same thing happened to me twice yesterday. A colleague (leftist) at work asked me what I would do to combat terrorism and I stated the first thing I would do would be to limit Muslim immigration to the west. He surmised that my solution was genocide and "ethnic cleansing". Later in the day, when the topic arose again, one of my family members said I was just like the Nazis. These were responses to a suggestion to limit immigration into the west. My response to the colleague, who rejected my suggestion, was, "Well then, there will be a great deal of bloodshed."

Also, at the beginning of the conversation with my colleague, I asked him if he knew anything about Islam and Muhammed and he promptly said, "So obviously you think 1 billion people on this planet are evil."

It is quite exhausting really to try to discuss all this rationally while simultaneously trying to defend oneself against charges of being a Nazi and a proponent of genocide and ethnic cleansing. When these charges come from close family members there is the added shock of realizing that one's own family members don't know you at all. I should add that my entire family is Democrat, as I always was as well, and that every one of them is unwilling to discuss whether Islam itself might not be the problem.

My conclusion about the long-term implications of this sort of political correctness and refusal to see "what is" rather than what one wishes to be the case? What I told my colleague - "Well then, there will be a great deal of bloodshed." I could have added, "and the blood will be on your hands, not mine" but I didn't, because I'm not a deliberately cruel person and because they simply wouldn't even grasp what I was talking about.

Caroline

7/23/05, 1:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I should add, this post by Wolfgang Bruno is prescient, and completely in agreement with Jason's post:

Clash of Fascisms

Caroline

7/23/05, 1:26 PM  
Blogger Jason Pappas said...

I know how you feel, Caroline, I’ve been through the same thing. It’s bizarre! How does ending entry from Islamic countries become genocide? In today’s world we see genocide in the Sudan … and it’s by Muslims. I could go on but we know the story.

I generally gently mock my friends’ weird pronouncements in the hope that they’ll get a grip on reality. At least I try to plant the seed of doubt. Here in NYC it comes as a shock that not everyone thinks the way they do.

Thanks for that link – it was great. I’ll have to read more from his blog. Who is he?

7/23/05, 2:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jason - The only thing I know about Wolfgang Bruno is that he is a European and a regular contributor at faithfreedom.org. He isn't very prolific, apparently, but each of the posts on his blog has appeared on faithfreedom as well, here:

Wolfgang Bruno

Incidentally, your blog is excellent. And I think you are correct in stating that people are starting to wake up. A mere 7-8 months ago, it seemed rare to see Islam itself identified as the problem, except at sites like faithfreedom and jihadwatch. Now I am having a hard time keeping up with the sheer number of blogosphere posts confronting the question. Each attack on the west - 9/11, the Van Gogh murder, and now the London bombings - should perhaps be seen as a cloud with a silver lining if it serves to wake people up. The violent jihadists are idiots. Islam undoubtedly would have quietly prevailed through demographic jihad if some of its adherents weren't so trigger happy.

Caroline

7/23/05, 3:54 PM  

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