Friday's Food for Thought

There is a piece by Mark Steyn that is making waves in the blogosphere this week which I have been reluctant to post.

However, I've put it here in case you haven't seen it yet. It's lengthy and it requires patience and some contemplation, so if you just skim it, upon first glance you may dismiss it as an overly alarmist, nativist, Pat Buchanan-type ranting about how the West is being overtaken by non-whites. In fact, although I love Steyn, I think he pushes the envelope a little too far sometimes for effect, and so I didn't really read it in any considered way until today. However, that's not what he's saying. What he IS saying is basically this:

1. Due to declining birth rates, the West, especially Europe, is going to need more immigration to make our social programs sustainable.
2. Birth rates in the Muslim world are three fold what they are in the West.
3. By virture of population flows, a lot of the immigrants that will move here will be from Muslim countries.
4. And while not all Muslims are terrorists, all those who preach radical Islam are indeed Muslim.
5. Therefore, there is a strong chance that in the medium to longer-term future, social unrest like what we saw in France and Australia recently will occur more frequently across the West.

Now, I don't think Steyn's message here is that Western citizens need to breed more to stave off some kind of Judeo-Christian/Islamic clash of civilizations, although it may appear so on first glance. The message is that with the rise of moral relativism and multiculturalism, when we refuse to say that some cultures - not races - are in some ways, superior than others, combined with immigration from predominantly Muslim countries, it's going to be hard to refuse calls for things such as Sharia law in our courts. In other words, immigration is necessary, but the West has to better assimilate those who arrive here. The West needs to unapologetically stand up for the traditions, values and institutions of Western society (like equality of the sexes, freedom of religion and the rule of law for example) instead of being all soft and cuddly while suggesting that all cultures are equally virtuous for fear of not appearing to be intolerant.

When we have crimes like this and this going on in the name of religion, we have to forget about nonsense like "cultural affirmation" and the like. Rather, we need to stand up and declare those kinds of practices as being morally wrong and completely unacceptable based on our societal traditions. In these cases, it's GOOD to be judgmental.

Now before you go calling me a racist, wouldn't it would be naive to think that all those who will emigrate northward and westward from Islamic societies in future years reject these kinds of practices I linked to above and embrace freedom? Some, but certainly not all, will, and with radical Islamism gaining strength all around the globe, we need to demonstrate more than ever that there are some parts of Western society and culture that are worth defending and preserving if those traditions are to survive and thrive.

(Hat tip: Fred.)