Aug.
9, 2009 update: Steyn's pessimism is penetrating the Muslim world,
where it has a rather more positive impact. For one example, see
"الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية الإسلامية" by columnist Hasan 'Asiri in
today's Al-'Arabiyanewspaper. After going through the requisite
numbers, however, 'Asiri ends on a less-than triumphant note:
السؤال الأكبر: عندما يحكم المسلمون الأرض هل سيكونون قادرين على بناء
الحضارة؟ أم أن السيطرة ستكون عددية فقط؟
Big
question: When Muslims rule the Earth, will they be capable to build
civilization? Or will their rule only be one of numbers?
Mark Steyn, political columnist and cultural critic, has written a
remarkable book, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
(Regnery). He combines several virtues uncommonly found together –
humor, accurate reportage, and deep thinking – then applies these to
what is arguably the most consequential issue of our time: the Islamist
threat to the West.
Mr. Steyn offers a devastating thesis but presents it in bits and
pieces, so I shall pull it together here.
He begins with the legacy of two totalitarianisms. Traumatized by the
electoral appeal of fascism, post-World War II European states were
constructed in a top-down manner "so as to insulate almost entirely the
political class from populist pressures." As a result, the
establishment has "come to regard the electorate as children."
[FULL]
