America Alone

I have been reading America Alone by Mark Steyn.

Steyn's premise is that Europe is going to be swallowed / subsumed into the Islamist Umma leaving America alone, as the only free and viable society in the world.

Steyn maintains this will happen because us lazy liberals are not breeding enough and that it is only the Muslims who are procreating at a sustainable rate. This coupled with a global Islamist agenda and an unsustainable economic future means we are headed for dark days.

Reading this book is rather like being cornered a lunatic clutching a bunch of statistics and making them all add up to the end of the world. And like most conspiracy theories it has a delicious streak of logic running through it. However, this book is a conspiracy or doomsday theory and nothing more.

I do not have the time nor tenacity to offer anything against Stein's set of statistics about our declining birth rate. But to assume that the UK, for example, is going to become a Islamic state is quite simply nuts. Why ? Because, at it's most basic level, there is not a global conspiracy by ALL Muslims to take over the world and if there were the 'good old boys' down at the local Yates Wine Lodge will indeed make sure the streets do run with blood before they are told to not shave again.

My real concerns with this book are not really with the main points above. What bothers me most is the constant criticism, within the book, of our basic libertarianism and society's foundations in relativism and multiculturalism. Steyn sees this is a weakness. To him we simply reign it back in; we control the media, we stifle free speech, close borders, force people to assimilate culturally.

Given the current climate, where my liberal counterparts are willing to march through London with banners stating "we are all Hezbollah now", along side asylum seekers in the UK who once they have been given refuge, freedom and opportunity by this country are then willing to commit indiscriminate mass murder within it. It pains me to say that there is a valid point to be made in highlighting our lack of resolve in the face of these fascists. It pains me equally to note that the loudest voices highlighting our inability to deal with this situation are right wing crypto-fascists, such Steyn, who declare multiculturalism as a folly and a weakness. Instead of the pinnacle of civilization it is.

The basic danger here is some are trying to fight fascism with fascism. I believe in freedom of speech and multiculturalism, Steyn and Bin Laden do not. Our enemy's enemy is not my friend.

So what to do ? Answers on postcard please, or maybe leave a note in the comments.

T