The iron fist in the velvet glove
I've always insisted that the current wave of Europe-is-doomed moaning is a load of bunk -- that regardless of what some simplistic demographic projections may suggest, Europeans in the long run will not just sit passively and do nothing while they are out-bred and ultimately enslaved by a vicious but small (presently 17 million out of the total EU population of 450 million) Muslim minority. In this essay, Ralph Peters makes the case very effectively.
There are things to dislike in Peters's rhetoric. His disdain for Europeans and their "viciousness" is palpable; it may be that he does not know how violent the history of the rest of the world has been (reading about the Muslim conquest of India would be a good place to start). And his minimization of the Europe-wide onslaught of Muslim thuggery, rape, and intimidation to "burning a couple of cars" is unconscionable. Nevertheless, his core point is solid. Whether European, Muslim, or whatever, we humans are basically chimpanzees with enlarged brains; and like our wild cousins, we are prone to explosions of rage and violence when we feel seriously threatened or under attack. The blood-soaked chronicle of human history bears witness to this again and again. The world has seen countless huge massacres which were reactions to provocations far milder than the behavior the Muslims in Europe have been exhibiting.
In this connection, there is another point I think is significant, though Peters only touches on it momentarily.
The proposition has yet to be empirically tested, but I suspect that we atheists can be among the most vicious chimps around once we recognize that we are being seriously threatened. Think about it logically. I don't believe I'll get an afterlife if I lose this life. I don't believe I'm ever going to be "judged" by some all-powerful supernatural entity. I see no virtue whatsoever in turning the other cheek or "loving" my enemies. If I'm convinced that my life or the lives of people I care about are in danger, I have no such considerations to restrain me from taking whatever action I believe is necessary to survive, no matter how violent or unjust it is.
Most Europeans are either atheists or else so secular in mentality that they might as well be atheists for all practical purposes. Many Americans think that this inevitably dooms them, in some never-clearly-defined way, to spinelessness in the face of the Islamic threat. I am convinced that time will show the very opposite.
There are things to dislike in Peters's rhetoric. His disdain for Europeans and their "viciousness" is palpable; it may be that he does not know how violent the history of the rest of the world has been (reading about the Muslim conquest of India would be a good place to start). And his minimization of the Europe-wide onslaught of Muslim thuggery, rape, and intimidation to "burning a couple of cars" is unconscionable. Nevertheless, his core point is solid. Whether European, Muslim, or whatever, we humans are basically chimpanzees with enlarged brains; and like our wild cousins, we are prone to explosions of rage and violence when we feel seriously threatened or under attack. The blood-soaked chronicle of human history bears witness to this again and again. The world has seen countless huge massacres which were reactions to provocations far milder than the behavior the Muslims in Europe have been exhibiting.
In this connection, there is another point I think is significant, though Peters only touches on it momentarily.
The proposition has yet to be empirically tested, but I suspect that we atheists can be among the most vicious chimps around once we recognize that we are being seriously threatened. Think about it logically. I don't believe I'll get an afterlife if I lose this life. I don't believe I'm ever going to be "judged" by some all-powerful supernatural entity. I see no virtue whatsoever in turning the other cheek or "loving" my enemies. If I'm convinced that my life or the lives of people I care about are in danger, I have no such considerations to restrain me from taking whatever action I believe is necessary to survive, no matter how violent or unjust it is.
Most Europeans are either atheists or else so secular in mentality that they might as well be atheists for all practical purposes. Many Americans think that this inevitably dooms them, in some never-clearly-defined way, to spinelessness in the face of the Islamic threat. I am convinced that time will show the very opposite.
Labels: Islam, Western Europe
posted by Infidel753 at 4:43 AM
2 Comments:
I hope you're correct, Infidel, but there's also a nihilistic strain running through Europe, and that gives me pause. It's one thing to fight for life, but what if you don't place all that much value in living? I'm not saying it's a majority view, but it is there. I'm concerned it's presence is overrepresented in the power structure of Europe, namely Brussels. I hope, for all our sakes, I'm wrong.
Oh, the European elite (including not just the EU but the national governments and the media) is mostly hopeless. What I'm counting on is the ordinary people. Unless you actually go there, you hear very little about what they think -- compared with the US, the European elite is smaller, much more homogenous in its thinking, and keeps a much tighter grip on the press, and alternate channels of expression such as blogging are several years behind the US in their development. It's very easy for an American to get the impression that the passivist politically-correct mentality of the elite is all that exists in Europe. But those who do manage to hear what ordinary people think know differently. And those people ARE beginning to make themselves heard. If the political system continues to suffocate them, eventually they'll take to the streets.
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