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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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To: TomB
Thanks Tom!


41 posted on 12/10/2002 11:37:05 AM PST by Pokey78
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Comment #42 Removed by Moderator

To: TomB
In the advanced technocratic Euro-state, almost any issue worth talking about has been ruled taboo.

We’re not far behind on that front.

Great, great article.

The Eurinals are doomed.

43 posted on 12/10/2002 11:38:51 AM PST by dead
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To: knighthawk
Today we took another step towards the Islamic Republic of the Netherlands.

It may have been another step, but not towards an islamic republic. More like another step towards a violent confrontation after which islam will again be purged from the continent, IMO.

There is time to settle things peaceably, provided the multiculturalists are stifled and sensible policies enacted. But if pushed far enough, western man will eventually have had enough and push back.

44 posted on 12/10/2002 12:16:06 PM PST by skeeter
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To: Travis McGee
The Dutch are faced with an insurmountable obstacle, that of Being White. They may be damned tall, but they are most definitely very white. This condition precludes them from mustering any organized defense of their culture.

I've told a few people in the last year that, if they want to go visit Europe as they think it is, they better hurry it up. Been a few years since I was over there, and already it was like walking through the ME/NAfrica in many cities.
45 posted on 12/10/2002 12:24:38 PM PST by Semaphore Heathcliffe
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To: Semaphore Heathcliffe
Indeed.
46 posted on 12/10/2002 12:47:46 PM PST by Travis McGee
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To: MadIvan
You have probably read this Ivan...but wanted to be sure...an excellent article.

Cheers from Chile
47 posted on 12/10/2002 12:55:56 PM PST by Cuttnhorse
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To: Cuttnhorse
You have probably read this Ivan...but wanted to be sure...an excellent article.

I have to agree with Steyn - the Continent is an absolute mess - Britain will only gain if we move far away from anything they want.

If we move away, we'll be all right. If we tie our future to them, i.e., join the Euro, we'll be dead.

Regards, Ivan

48 posted on 12/10/2002 1:00:38 PM PST by MadIvan
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To: Cuttnhorse
BTT
49 posted on 12/11/2002 3:49:38 AM PST by Cuttnhorse
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To: Illbay; RJayneJ
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. - Mark Steyn

Absolutely, positively the Quote of the Week. - Illbay

Quote of the Day ping!
50 posted on 12/11/2002 4:04:36 AM PST by RonDog
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To: TomB
EU is pronounced "eeeewww"
51 posted on 12/11/2002 4:06:20 AM PST by ChadGore
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To: Travis McGee
Is the very idea of defending your culture now taboo?

Unfortunately, it's been taboo for us too... try defending America on a college campus from a wingnut liberal professor. It can be enormously fun at times, but it is tragic how too many good folks remain silent and allow them to brainwash a class.

The key really is to not be silent.

The silence of good people is killing Europe. And it nearly killed us after eroding us since the sixties. A little- even precious little dissent can do wonders and can reinvigorate a nation. But people have to overcome their embarassment at speaking out before it is no longer a matter of embarassment keeping people silent, but fear.

52 posted on 12/11/2002 4:28:46 AM PST by piasa
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To: Travis McGee
The tragic truth, is that 911 pushed us away from the precipice for a moment, and fired up people enough to get them to speak up for our country.

The question is, was 911 a hard enough lesson?

53 posted on 12/11/2002 4:37:57 AM PST by piasa
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To: RonDog
Thanks for the nomination! };^D )
54 posted on 12/11/2002 8:27:46 AM PST by RJayneJ
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To: piasa
NO, 9-11 was not a hard enough lesson for all of us.

one key will to not let the protesters take the streets unchallenged. We need to counter protest at every point.

55 posted on 12/11/2002 11:28:22 AM PST by Travis McGee
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