Posted on 01/11/2002 12:38:48 AM PST by Byron_the_Aussie
Scimitar Society
(reader's letter to the Australian conservative magazine Quadrant, December 2001)
Sir: I am writing to add my voice to yours in respect of the editorial "Compassion, Illegal immigration and Hypocrisy" (October 2001). But I would also like to say that I take umbrage with the terms elite and intellectual that recur so frequently throughout the editorial.
Journalists and schoolteachers, together with a few academics in disciplines like sociology, education, anthropology and political science, do not constitute an intellectual elite, so much as a coterie of reciprocating collaborators of narrow dogma, used to repress the thoughts of those who have a deeper and longer view. Such persons who have managed to corner the market on presentable opinion include Mike Carlton, Michelle Grattan, Jennifer Hewitt, Mark Riley and even, disappointingly, Tony Jones and Maxine McKew,(these are all Australian media leftists and liberals ) who have half-baked views on historiography and contextualisation. At the same time, those who do present a longer view, like Geoffrey Blainey or Roger Sandall (Australian conservative historians) , are predictably dismissed as narrow or bigoted or constructivist, given to an abuse of discourse.
These so-called intellectual elites are particularly selective themselves in denouncing categorically a word like crusade, while demanding a sensitive interpretation of jihad. It is apparently forgotten that the crusades of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries were attempts to regain holy places taken by marauding Saracens under the banners of their early jihads. It is rarely remembered that the supposedly gracious and gentle Saladin had 330 knights slaughtered after the Battle of Hattin in 1187 because they would not submit to the faith of Allah.
It was because of pirating Muslims that southern Europe was trapped in the dark ages, and that Spain was overrun and the Spanish Catholics oppressed until the Reconquista gradually drove out the intruders. This campaign was not complete until the year Columbus embarked on his voyage to open up the New World to the advances and benign influences of the West. It is unlikely you would find many native Americans who would appreciate the loss of the extra twenty or thirty years of life that westernisation brought them, or the loss of the televisions or beer or tenpin bowling so they could return to the tepee and the buffalo hunt.
The intellectual elite dogmatists may forget the Muslim depredations that have continued through from the time of the hegira, while calling on their publics to acknowledge the wonderful work of Averroes or Avicenna, yet again forgetting that most of what they published stemmed from the minds of Western thinkers like Aristotle, Archimedes and Hypatia.
I also feel it is important to support the stance taken by (Australian minister for immigration) Mr Ruddock and the Liberal-National (current, conservative )government on illegal immigrants and refugees. It is unreasonable that those who recognise the imposition of such groups and seek to resist it suffer the criticism that dogs them, either because of biased politicking, or uncritical concern for human rights issues. Terms like racist, parochial, redneck, simplistic, xenophobic and Hansonite have recently come to dominate the press electronically and in print. All such terms seem to be code for saying it is wrong to disagree with the self-appointed politically correct.
The disregard shown by boat people from the Middle East for Australian laws and protocols does not seem to be an aberration, buy typical of 1400 years of interaction between these people who have raped and pillaged and taxed and even stolen Christian youth to form the nucleus of their armies as janissaries.
I have had dealings with many Middle Eastern people in the school system, I have noted their behaviour in public places, and read reports and statistics that substantiate views concerning an endemic lack of respect for the Australian community. At the same time, the high levels of intolerance apparent in Middle Eastern countries for Kurds, Buddhists and Christian evangelists, the willingness to submit to autocratic patriarchy, and their age-old conflicts between Shiites and Sunnis, among other entrenched societal intolerance, justifies an open culture like Australia being reluctant to accept immigrants from these cultures. It seems only reasonable to me that a community should be entitled to retain its integrity and its traditions, and so safeguard the well-being of its citizens, from invaders who do not respect its borders.
It is unfortunate that the United Nations has become a tribunal for channeling charges against the OCED, and for ignoring the atrocities, corruption, racism, bigotry and obstructive inequities in the majority of developing countries, except to lay responsibility for them at the door of "neo-colonialism".
In view of the many instances throughout history of the propensity of different groups to behave aggressively towards others, or in ways that are unacceptable to others, I am stunned at the presumption and temerity whereby writers like (notorious Aussie liberal) Mike Carlton feel they can so easily lump any people who are opposed to the invasion of Australia and other civilised countries by boat people. By "civilised" I mean those nations where rule of law prevails in a spirit of tolerance for difference. But this same characteristic does not necessitate self-destruction through permitting socially incompatible groups into a community.
To be aware of the ramifications of a lax policy towards these sea nomads is not to link oneself with (conservative Buchanan-style Aussie politician) Pauline Hanson, but to be aware of what has happened and what conditions will be exacerbated if the insipid views of Carltonites prevail. Further, to use a term like Hansonite as pejorative is to sweep away the thought-out views of a large segment of the population. That no other spokesperson than the semi-literate Hanson has stepped forth is a reflection on the censorship and social strictures imposed on free thought and expression by the Carltonites who are presently in power.
Despite claims to the contrary which have appeared in the press, there is nothing farcical about denying entry to members of a lunatic culture that originated in a holy war. From the time of Mohammed’s pilgrimage, Muslims have been dominating Middle Eastern and Central Asian regions with the scimitar, imposing a closed society, and an oppression of different viewpoints to rival only newspapers like the Australian. The closed Islamic society was born in jihad; the Christian, Western societies were born in a spirit of charity. It is suicidal to allow entry of members of an intolerant culture that will threaten us when they are able and oppress us as they are used to being oppressed.
Take note: nearly every Islamic culture is impoverished. Even Turkey at the height of its power only accrued wealth through invasion and levying of high taxes on its subject peoples. Their closed societies and closed minds prevent invention and reflection. The Afghani boat people are a small part of the problem that is already evident in the anti-social activities of other Islamic groups in Australia. Their children of Islamic families do not apply themselves, whether because of culture or some inherent malfunction. Any survey honestly conducted would reflect a lack of success among Muslims academically and in other areas of human endeavour, except terrorism.
So let them sail back to their deserts and their mosques and their camels and their tents-and terrify each other. And let the intellectual elite in the media and the education and sociology faculties form communities of tolerance and openness in accordance with their values; perhaps they may still be in existence as such in six or seven months.
Greg Deane
Ryde, New South Wales
Australia
Prompted to post this article after reading 'Islam studies required in California district.'
In the interests of balance.
Intolerance, racism, ignorance and prejudice at it's finest. What else can I say.
With a belated 'thank you' to Mrs Byron, for retyping this from the magazine, for posting.
I wish I could your share your confidence in the good will of their motives, Cat.
My view is, not all cultures have the same value. Some are better than others. PC and lib acquaintances are shocked when I say that, but then I ask, 'do you value, say, the north African culture, more than our own? Great. Considering having your daughter circumcised?'
You could say, 'Byron, sorry I trolled through the whole piece in a search for one sentence to hang some PC fingerpointing on. My ability to actually digest and reflect on deeper articles is limited, because I went to a state school in California. Hope you understand.'
LOL at your reply in #12.
Yes there are things from other cultures I admire, and would even like to adopt into our own. The Japanese respect for their elders, for instance.
And then there are other cultures where I find little to admire.
I thought so too? Sorry to Cat, if my reply gave another impression. I'm a bit wound up, if the truth be told; exasperated, with constantly reading and hearing that our shared values and history are racist, homohobic, genocidal etc. This latest insanity, with Californian kids dressing up as Muslims...if our society's so riven by racism, intolerance, 'gender inequality' and all the rest, how come so many people want to immigrate to Australia and the US?
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