Is Europe As We Have Known It Beginning To Disintegrate?
The Weekly Standard reports on an unpublicized incident of unprovoked racial violence in Paris on March 8th. National identities seem to be hanging by a mere thread in countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands. As immigrant "minority" groups grow in strength (particularly Black & Arab Muslim) they have begun flexing their muscle and letting the rest of their "countrymen" know how much they dislike those who have treated them so condescendingly for so long.
It appears that for many folks living in France, the term "Frenchman" no longer functions as a description of national citizenship. The new terms are "Jews" "Arabs" & "Galois" (ie. the Charles DeGaulle/Maurice Chevallier stereotypes...you know...the ones who have always prided themselves as being "the French"). It appears that, within many European nations, people are no longer thinking in terms of "we" Germans but in terms of "us" (who live in Germany) vs "them" (who live in Germany).
Many of these new groups do not have any desire to "go native." They not only want to preserve whatever they perceive as their own beliefs, culture and values but they want to remain distinctly different than the culture and people of the country in which they happen to be living.
Slowly but surely, an ever-increasing number of European immigrants have not only completely rejected traditional European culture but publicly despise it.
The murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh last year, shot, stabbed and slashed to death on a crowded, public street in Amsterdam in bright daylight by a young Muslim man points out the volatility of these feelings. The murderer, when apprehended, did not deny that he had killed the man and did not express any regret about it, either. He felt that the film director had insulted the honor of Islam and deserved to die. He had only done his moral and religious duty in dispatching him to hell.
What happens when thousands....perhaps tens of thousands of similarly-minded people start to act out these sentiments?
The report on the Paris violence may well be a precursor of even greater conflict and confrontation to come.
Clearly the Arab Muslim communities pose the greatest threat to the political, economic and social stability of Western Europe. Many local Imams regularly preach that Europe must and will become a Muslim continent. Given the continuing influx of Muslims into Europe and their high birthrate compared to the negative birthrate of the historically European peoples, something is going to have to give sooner or later. It looks like it is starting to happen sooner!
I have read somewhere that by 2030, Muslims could potentially become the majority population of......Sweden! Yes, I said, "Sweden!" Say good-bye to those thin, trim, long-haired, blonde, tanned, blue-eyed Scandinavian girls. If some of the "new Europeans" have their way they will be wearing burkas in less than 25 years.
I am not trying to sound some sort of alarm (for that alarm has already gone off and nations are either trying to deal with it, as in the Netherlands; compromising with it, as in Spain; pretending that "it will never happen to us because we're the French," as in.....well....France; or simply being too overwhelmed by a dizzying myriad of social fragmentations to know what to do with any of it, as in Germany).
I am also not trying to stir up distrust, hate or bigotry against Arabs or Muslims. I am simply pointing out that it is the (mostly Arab) Muslims who are becoming the primary provocateurs (the French do seem to have the vocabulary for this sort of thing, don't they?) of social unrest and conflict throughout Western Europe.
It is vital that we in the United States should strive mightily to prevent this sort of "Balkanization" of the population to occur here. There must be a concerted emphasis (in education especially) to balance out the current bias towards "diversity" with at least an equal dose of "unity." As Lincoln once famously said (paraphrasing Jesus), "a nation divided within itself cannot stand."
As I have said many times as a church Pastor, what holds us together as a church is our unity of faith. It is what we hold in common that unifies us...whether as Christian believers or as members of a bridge club or as citizens of a nation. "Diversity" always divides and separates people from one another into "us" and "them." Unity turns everyone into a "we."
Whatever it is that has inspired us to say, "We, the people of the United States of America...." must be distilled and taught and ingrained in every one of us regardless of what our age, race, faith or culture might be....
Lest the streets of Houston, Deerborn, Manhattan and Seattle quickly begin to look like the streets of Paris on March 8, 2005. And I don't mean Watts and South-Central LA going up in flames. I am talking about Bel Air and Beverly Hills.
Personally, I see common cause between those (in Paris) who vent their spleen on those they refer to as "little white people" and those (in Colorado) who prefer the phrase, "little Eichmanns." Even though, ironically, the former would undoubtedly be very happy to rid the world of the latter as well. And that frightens me all the more.
And I am, by nature, an optimist!
It appears that for many folks living in France, the term "Frenchman" no longer functions as a description of national citizenship. The new terms are "Jews" "Arabs" & "Galois" (ie. the Charles DeGaulle/Maurice Chevallier stereotypes...you know...the ones who have always prided themselves as being "the French"). It appears that, within many European nations, people are no longer thinking in terms of "we" Germans but in terms of "us" (who live in Germany) vs "them" (who live in Germany).
Many of these new groups do not have any desire to "go native." They not only want to preserve whatever they perceive as their own beliefs, culture and values but they want to remain distinctly different than the culture and people of the country in which they happen to be living.
Slowly but surely, an ever-increasing number of European immigrants have not only completely rejected traditional European culture but publicly despise it.
The murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh last year, shot, stabbed and slashed to death on a crowded, public street in Amsterdam in bright daylight by a young Muslim man points out the volatility of these feelings. The murderer, when apprehended, did not deny that he had killed the man and did not express any regret about it, either. He felt that the film director had insulted the honor of Islam and deserved to die. He had only done his moral and religious duty in dispatching him to hell.
What happens when thousands....perhaps tens of thousands of similarly-minded people start to act out these sentiments?
The report on the Paris violence may well be a precursor of even greater conflict and confrontation to come.
Clearly the Arab Muslim communities pose the greatest threat to the political, economic and social stability of Western Europe. Many local Imams regularly preach that Europe must and will become a Muslim continent. Given the continuing influx of Muslims into Europe and their high birthrate compared to the negative birthrate of the historically European peoples, something is going to have to give sooner or later. It looks like it is starting to happen sooner!
I have read somewhere that by 2030, Muslims could potentially become the majority population of......Sweden! Yes, I said, "Sweden!" Say good-bye to those thin, trim, long-haired, blonde, tanned, blue-eyed Scandinavian girls. If some of the "new Europeans" have their way they will be wearing burkas in less than 25 years.
I am not trying to sound some sort of alarm (for that alarm has already gone off and nations are either trying to deal with it, as in the Netherlands; compromising with it, as in Spain; pretending that "it will never happen to us because we're the French," as in.....well....France; or simply being too overwhelmed by a dizzying myriad of social fragmentations to know what to do with any of it, as in Germany).
I am also not trying to stir up distrust, hate or bigotry against Arabs or Muslims. I am simply pointing out that it is the (mostly Arab) Muslims who are becoming the primary provocateurs (the French do seem to have the vocabulary for this sort of thing, don't they?) of social unrest and conflict throughout Western Europe.
It is vital that we in the United States should strive mightily to prevent this sort of "Balkanization" of the population to occur here. There must be a concerted emphasis (in education especially) to balance out the current bias towards "diversity" with at least an equal dose of "unity." As Lincoln once famously said (paraphrasing Jesus), "a nation divided within itself cannot stand."
As I have said many times as a church Pastor, what holds us together as a church is our unity of faith. It is what we hold in common that unifies us...whether as Christian believers or as members of a bridge club or as citizens of a nation. "Diversity" always divides and separates people from one another into "us" and "them." Unity turns everyone into a "we."
Whatever it is that has inspired us to say, "We, the people of the United States of America...." must be distilled and taught and ingrained in every one of us regardless of what our age, race, faith or culture might be....
Lest the streets of Houston, Deerborn, Manhattan and Seattle quickly begin to look like the streets of Paris on March 8, 2005. And I don't mean Watts and South-Central LA going up in flames. I am talking about Bel Air and Beverly Hills.
Personally, I see common cause between those (in Paris) who vent their spleen on those they refer to as "little white people" and those (in Colorado) who prefer the phrase, "little Eichmanns." Even though, ironically, the former would undoubtedly be very happy to rid the world of the latter as well. And that frightens me all the more.
And I am, by nature, an optimist!
posted by Bird of Paradise at 10:56 PM
<< Home