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Goodbye Europe (Steyn Alert)
The American Enterprise Online ^ | 12/5/02 | Mark Seyn

Posted on 12/05/2002 3:15:51 PM PST by TomB

I find it easier to be optimistic about the futures of Iraq and Pakistan than, say, Holland or Denmark. What's wrong with the Islamic world is relatively straightforward. With Europe, it's harder to foresee any happy endings. The good news is we won't have to worry about another Hitler or Mussolini because, on present reproductive trends, the Italians and Germans are going to be out of business in a couple of generations. Few people have ever been in less need of lebensraum. Instead, the European Union figures it will require another 50 million immigrants in the next few years just to maintain a big enough working population to fund the lavish social programs its vast retired army of baby boomers expects to enjoy.

The main source of European immigration is Muslim youth from North Africa and the Middle East. Whether these are the chaps to keep Hans and Pierre in the style to which they've become accustomed is a moot point: According to some Scandinavian statistics, 40 percent of those on welfare are immigrants. And, while it's not true that every immigrant on welfare is an Islamic terrorist, it's a good rule of thumb that every Islamic terrorist in Europe has been on welfare, living in radicalized ghetto cultures with nothing to do but sit around the flat plotting the jihad all day. Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed, who recently held a pro-Osama rally in London, has demanded the imposition of Islamic law in Britain, and at one time called for the assassination of then-Prime Minister John Major. Given that it's Mr. Major's ministry, and now Tony Blair's, that has financially supported Sheikh Omar ever since he arrived 15 years ago, that seems a tad ungrateful.

In defiance of traditional immigration patterns, Europe's young Muslims are less assimilated than their parents and grandparents. Instead of becoming more European, they're becoming more Islamist. If the "root cause" of September 11 is Islam's difficulty with modernity, we shouldn't be surprised that this manifests itself less in Indonesia than in Holland, the epitome of the boundlessly tolerant post-nationalist state, a liberal utopia of cannabis cafés and gay marriage--for now. Sheikh Omar's demand for the imposition of sharia doesn't seem so absurd when you consider that in 20 years the majority of the Dutch under 18 will be Muslim.

A multiculturalist society has a hard time even discussing these things. In the advanced technocratic Euro-state, almost any issue worth talking about has been ruled taboo. Continental voters, faced with a choice between Eurodee and Eurodum, have been turning elsewhere. The beneficiaries of this tune-out, in Italy, Belgium, Denmark, and elsewhere, don't have much in common--some are maverick magnates, some fascist nostalgists, others gay hedonists. What unites them is what they're against: the traditional European cultural consensus that's now sleepwalking its way to suicide.

In Holland, a militant vegan killed the flamboyant homosexual nativist Pim Fortuyn during the election campaign. Surely the first time in Dutch political history that a fruitarian had killed a fruit Aryan. This murder is an apt summation of what Marx would call the "internal contradictions" of the rainbow coalition.

Popular politicians who survive their campaigns shouldn't expect a congratulatory telegram from the grandees at the European Union. In February, the Belgian foreign minister, speaking on behalf of the E.U., threatened sanctions against Italy if its citizens voted for Umberto Bossi's Northern League. Those Continentals who attacked President Bush for presuming "to tell people who they can vote for" when he gave an anti-Yasser Arafat speech forget that in Europe they do it all the time.

Before it too offended the E.U., the perfect emblem of the post-war European state was Austria, where regardless of how you voted you wound up with the same center-left-right coalition government. That was the whole point. Europe's post-war political structures were specifically designed to stifle the populace's baser urges. Indeed, Europe has been so focused on what went wrong in the past it's been blind to what might go wrong in the future. The future is now here. A collapsed birthrate, accelerating immigration, lavish welfare, an evasive political culture, phony transnational structures: For Europe, this is the Perfect Storm.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: steyn
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"Surely the first time in Dutch political history that a fruitarian had killed a fruit Aryan."

Unbelievable. How does he do it?

1 posted on 12/05/2002 3:15:51 PM PST by TomB
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To: Pokey78
Another gem.
2 posted on 12/05/2002 3:17:20 PM PST by TomB
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: knighthawk; dennisw; TomB

Welcome to EURABIA.


4 posted on 12/05/2002 3:22:49 PM PST by Travis McGee
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To: TomB
In Holland, a militant vegan killed the flamboyant homosexual nativist Pim Fortuyn during the election campaign. Surely the first time in Dutch political history that a fruitarian had killed a fruit Aryan.

Absolutely, positively the Quote of the Week.

5 posted on 12/05/2002 3:25:54 PM PST by Illbay
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To: TomB
"Surely the first time in Dutch political history that a fruitarian had killed a fruit Aryan."

Unbelievable. How does he do it?

I almost gagged laughing it this myself.

6 posted on 12/05/2002 3:25:57 PM PST by Right Wing Professor
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To: TomB
I've argued with Canadians and Europeans on-line who are more afraid of Bush and the "Christian Right" than they are of radical Islam. This piece should be required reading for those people. But as Steyn points out, "Almost any issue worth talking about has been ruled taboo." Those allegedly super-smart Europeans are committing cultural suicide, they are throwing everything away, and they simply haven't a clue what awaits them.
7 posted on 12/05/2002 3:26:43 PM PST by Steve_Seattle
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To: scholar; Bullish
Ping
8 posted on 12/05/2002 3:27:04 PM PST by knighthawk
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To: TomB
Continental voters, faced with a choice between Eurodee and Eurodum, have been turning elsewhere

Great description of the EU.

A collapsed birthrate, accelerating immigration, lavish welfare, an evasive political culture, phony transnational structures: For Europe, this is the Perfect Storm.

When people don't feel positive about the future, they are less likely to have children. Unless Europe pulls itself out of the destructive spiral of socialism, these trends will not only continue they will accelerate.

9 posted on 12/05/2002 3:28:20 PM PST by Badger1
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To: TomB
I'm sending this quote to all my friends! :-) I'm also going to Holland next year, where I'll close my eyes to everything but the tulip festival and the art museums!
10 posted on 12/05/2002 3:28:58 PM PST by Tax-chick
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To: TomB
DO NOT - ever - eat while reading a Mark Steyn column, or you will be cleaning your monitor after you start belly-laughing...
11 posted on 12/05/2002 3:30:40 PM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: Travis McGee
Today we took another step towards the Islamic Republic of the Netherlands.

Today we celebrate Sinterklaas, it's a festivity for children (the guy was saint). But today also was the sugarfest, the end of ramadan. So in 25% of the schools in the Randstad (the Rotterdam-Amsterdam-Utrecht area) put Sinterklaas on another day, and celebrated sugaerfest instead. And in some schools they removed the cross from the headgear of Sinterklaas, because 'some people could take a cross as an offense'.

And this from the same people (the apologists) who claim that islam is a tolerant religion.
12 posted on 12/05/2002 3:32:31 PM PST by knighthawk
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To: TomB
It's a recurring theme in the Bible that when people abandon God, they lose their political freedom. I think over the next few decades, Europe will (again) see how true that is. People who can't learn from the Hitler experience are probably unteachable. Traditional religious belief is much stronger in the U.S.A, and I think that is one factor that makes us take the Islamic threat more seriously.
13 posted on 12/05/2002 3:33:51 PM PST by Steve_Seattle
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To: TomB
sleepwalking its way to suicide

Man! Does Steyn have a gift for wordsmithing!!!

14 posted on 12/05/2002 3:35:08 PM PST by America's Resolve
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To: Pokey78
ping!
15 posted on 12/05/2002 3:42:44 PM PST by BullDog108
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To: TomB
Bump for another great Steyn piece.
16 posted on 12/05/2002 3:47:29 PM PST by Guillermo
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To: TomB
Surely the first time in Dutch political history that a fruitarian had killed a fruit Aryan.

Oh my goodness, that has to be a candidate for Quote Of The Year.

17 posted on 12/05/2002 3:56:28 PM PST by Dr.Deth
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To: Tax-chick
I'll close my eyes to everything but the tulip festival and the art museums!

I wonder how long it will be before that infidel art is destroyed by Islamists?

18 posted on 12/05/2002 4:17:29 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
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To: TomB
A collapsed birthrate, accelerating immigration, lavish welfare, an evasive political culture, phony transnational structures: For Europe, this is the Perfect Storm.

I swear, if I didn't know Steyn was talking about Europe, I would have thought he was talking about the United States!!

19 posted on 12/05/2002 4:37:54 PM PST by Gritty
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To: aruanan; wimpycat; discostu; PeaceBeWithYou; RadioAstronomer
A little intentional silliness (with serious commentary woven in) as opposed to the unintentional silliness of our friend.
20 posted on 12/05/2002 4:46:53 PM PST by TomB
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