Monday, February 2, 2009

A Review of Mark Steyn’s America Alone

Mark Steyn’s book America Alone has been a New York Times best-seller, and a number 1 seller in Canada. Steyn is a well-known syndicated columnist. Many people accept the central thesis of this book. Many other best-selling books have made a similar argument, such as While Europe Slept by Bruce Bawer, Londonistan by Melanie Philips, and Eurabia by Bat Ye’or. What is America Alone’s central thesis? Well, the book is called America Alone, but in fact it is mostly about Europe.

According to Steyn “much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most Western European countries”. In Europe “native populations are ageing and fading and being supplanted remorselessly by a young Muslim demographic. The EU will need to import so many workers from North Africa and the Middle East that it will be well on its way to majority Muslim by 2035”. Europe’s population will before long be “very old or very Muslim”. Either way Western Europe is almost certainly doomed. Europe is in the middle of a “population death-spiral” that has in turn bred "civilizational exhaustion," leaving Europeans unprepared to fight for their ways. "Islam is now the principal supplier of new Europeans and Muslims are profoundly changing Europe. Islam has youth and will, Europe has age and welfare. In 2005 European males aged 20-40 outnumbered Muslim males of a similar age by 18:1. By 2025 this ratio could drop to a mere 2:1”. Europeans are “too enfeebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia. The average European Muslim has 3.5 children, whereas the average native woman has 1.5. Europe's successor population is already in place and the only question is how bloody the transfer of real estate will be. Europe is dying and America isn't”. Europe, says Steyn, is facing increasing violence from its Muslim population – such as the murder of Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands by a Muslim extremist. Europe could soon be run by Muslim fundamentalists and Islamicists.

So, that is a summary of Steyn’s argument. Scary stuff eh? No wonder the book has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the US and Canada, and no wonder so many people are worried. Personally, I’m tempted to flee Europe right now this minute before the Muslim hordes take over the place.

Now, if Muslims are taking over Europe, we might reasonably ask, what proportion of the current population of the European Union is Muslim? Steyn never mentions this figure - a peculiar omission in a book which is about Muslims taking over Europe. So what proportion of Europeans are Muslim? 4%. Yes, that’s it: 4% maximum. 3% according to the CIA factbook. These 4% are going to take over the other 96%, according to Steyn. (The world as a whole, by the way, is about 24% Muslim. So Europe is a relatively Muslim-free corner of the world).

And what about this 4% figure anyway? It includes anyone who can possibly be considered a Muslim: secularised Muslims, moderate Muslims, traditional Muslims – as well as the hordes of swivel-eyed Jihadists galloping over the horizon to conquer Europe any second now. But surveys show time and again that a large majority of European Muslims do not want to live in a Muslim fundamentalist state. This is hardly surprising, since a majority of Muslims in the world also do not want to live in Muslim fundamentalist states – that’s why most Muslim fundamentalist states can only maintain their power by brutally oppressing the local Muslim population. Anyway, how Islamicists intend to establish an oppressive Muslim caliphate in Europe against the opposition of a majority of Europeans and against a majority of European Muslims, has yet to be given a persuasive explanation by Mark Steyn. But that does not stop him predicting it will happen.

If anything, the endangered species in Europe is not the non-Muslim Europeans, but the continent's Muslim immigrants. Muslim Europeans are, on average, poorer than other Europeans, more unemployed, less educated, subjected to discrimination and marginalised from positions of power. Steyn insists that countries such as the Netherlands and France are being submerged under an avalanche of Muslim lawlessness. But Muslims in these countries are relatively peaceful. The murder rate in America is 247% of what it is in France and 383% of what it is in the Netherlands. If you ask me, Americans like Steyn who are worried about violence should be fleeing their dangerous nation to go in live in peaceful countries like France and the Netherlands.

OK, I’m sure Steyn would concede that Europe is only 4% Muslim at the moment. But Steyn insists that Muslim Europeans are having more babies than non-Muslim Europeans. That 4% figure that he never mentions is going to grow, enabling Muslims eventually take over the continent. For example, the average Muslim in France, Steyn tells us, has 3 times as many children as the average non-Muslim French woman. He doesn’t tell us where he got this statistic. The fertility rate in France is 1.98 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_fertility_rate ). So the average Muslim woman in France is having well over 5 babies, according to Steyn. Now, most Muslims in France come from Muslim countries in North Africa like Algeria and Tunisia. What are the fertility rates of these countries? Well the fertility rate in Algeria is 1.82. In Tunisia it is 1.73. In both cases, the fertility rate is less than France. Now, unless the fertility rate of Muslims emigrating to France is suddenly shooting up by 300%, it cannot be the case that Muslims in France are having three times as many children as non-Muslim French. “Every Muslim woman in Western Europe is producing 3.5 children” Steyn instructs us. Like Germany for example? Most German Muslims come from Turkey. The fertility rate in Turkey is 2.14.

Question: Are Muslims in Germany suddenly having 3.5 babies each once they move to Germany or is Mark Steyn talking through his hole?

Answer: Mark Steyn is talking through his hole.

Is it the case that Europe is facing "demographic disaster"? The European Union, with its population of 450 million, is one of the most densely populated corners of the world. What about that low fertility rate? Actually, fertility rates are falling everywhere, including in the Muslim world. Steyn warns that fertility rates in Europe are below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. Well, a list of non-European countries where fertility rates are below the replacement rate includes – China, Japan, Australia, Iran, Sri Lanka, Burma, Lebanon, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan (and also American non-Hispanic whites by the way). All these countries have fertility rates below the replacement level. Almost everywhere else, fertility rates are falling fast – thankfully, given that the world is overpopulated. In general, the more wealthy and urbanised a country is, the lower its fertility rate is. The reason Europe has relatively low fertility rates is because it is wealthy and urbanised. For example, the countries in the world with the lowest fertility rates are Hong Kong and Singapore. Is Steyn worried about their future? If he is then he doesn’t even mention them. He just drones on endlessly about Europe. In any event, demographic predictions are notoriously inaccurate. Basing policies on dubious demographic extrapolations has been a favourite technique of sophists and cranks since at least the time of Malthus. To do so now, at a time when technological developments and increased mobility could alter populations in unforeseeable ways, is particularly feeble.

Final Question: is Mark Steyn a scaremongering fool indulging in Islamophobic fantasies in order to try and scare Europeans into accepting the anti-Muslim neocon foreign policies that he favours?

Answer: yes he is.

30 comments:

  1. Dear BB

    In my rush to read your daily dose of wisdom, I mistakenly typed the following:

    www.brianbarrnigton.blogpot.com

    only to find the following:

    "WELCOME to an easy to navigate MEGA-SITE of Bible, Christian, church & religious information, sermons & studies. Includes the audio & written Bible, sound doctrine, prophecy, a photo tour of Israel and spiritual warfare. If it's in the Bible, it should be here. Among the Web's most complete Christian sites, by God's mercy (app. 6000 pgs & 4000 subjects). A few minutes reading this page could PROVE to you the Bible is true."

    Ha! I thought, BB would never put his name to this nonsense!
    Imagine my surprise then, when I corrected my mistake and found that today, you were discussing the anti-Muslim musings of Mark Steyn.... Coincidence? Surely not!

    Do you think the Christian right (or indeed Mark Steyn) has been alerted to the atheist leanings of your blog and in an attempt to brainwash the minds of those who clearly cannot type, have registered a blog domain that will certainly receive traffic intended for yours? (As I am sure that of all your virtual followers, there must be many more like me who are typographically challenged from time to time)

    Yours etc

    Lil Miss Typo

    ReplyDelete
  2. A few readers have contacted me to ask why I have such a beef with Mark Steyn, the well-known American conservative pundit who frequently dines with George W. Bush. Well, myself and Steyn go back a while. A while back I sent Mr. Steyn an email, and he took time out from his frequent lunches with George W. Bush to respond. A vigorous exchange followed, in which Steyn demanded to know my address so that he could send me death threats, and accused me of sexual impotence. He also devoted the “Letter of the Week” section on his website to series denunciations of me written by his fawning readers. Below is a lengthy but surprisingly entertaining sample of the Steyn-Barrington exchanges.

    (Unfortunately, since the below exchange of views, Steyn’s star seems to have fallen somewhat – he has lost many of his column syndications, and his patron Conrad Black has been thrown in jail for Criminal Fraud. Steyn has also been investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for propagating hatred against Muslims. And the American electorate has turfed out the Republicans. So it looks like Steyn will be spending less time dining in the White House, and more time visiting his chum Conrad Black in jail.)

    MAIL FROM BARRINGTON TO STEYN:

    Dear Mark Steyn,

    If, as you say, demography is destiny then surely the Jews would have been doomed a long time ago? Also, would it not mean that the future of Israel (a few million Jews surrounded by hundreds of millions of Arabs) is far more precarious that the future of European Union (where there are 15 to 20 million Muslims in a continent of 450 million people)? Should your primary focus of concern not be Israel rather than Europe?

    Brian Barrington
    Dublin, Ireland

    MARK REPLIES:

    On Israel, you're right: demography is not on their side. As I said in the Telegraph a couple of years ago, the question is whether having survived the Holocaust they can now survive surviving the Holocaust. But on your broader point, as I always say, I'm not making predictions. I'm talking about who's being born right now in French and Dutch and Austrian maternity wards. It may well be that in 30 years time Muslims, like Italians, will be down to one designer kid per yuppie couple. But by then, for Italians, it will be too late. This course has to be corrected within the next five to ten years, if it's to be corrected at all. Europe has a long history of dealing effectively with troublesome minorities. But troublesome majorities are a tougher challenge.

    MAIL FROM BARRINGTON TO STEYN:

    Hi Mark,

    The point of my mail from last week was that demography is NOT destiny. Israel is the regional superpower, despite its tiny population.

    Now, let's look at the coming Muslim majority in Italy (and Europe). There are 58,103,033 people in Italy, 987,751 of whom are Muslims. That is 1.7% of the population. This is not a majority, nor is it about to become one. The pizzerias are safe. The figure for the European Union as a whole is 4% Muslim. This is a far smaller proportion of the population than, say, America's black (13%) or Hispanic (13%) minorities - proportions which are also set to grow.

    Brian Barrington, Dublin, Ireland

    MAIL FROM BARRINGTON TO STEYN:

    (This mail was prompted by Steyn’s hectoring response to a polite Muslim correspondent who pleaded for an end to Steyn’s anti-Muslim diatribes).

    Dear Mark,

    The sign of a small man is that he sucks up to those in power and bullies those who are powerless. If you were a Muslim, or lived in a Muslim country, then your anti-Muslim rants might have some integrity. You would deserve credit if you took a stand against American foreign policies that are wrong. Everyone knows that criticising others is simple - criticising oneself is the difficult thing. Muslims might be prepared to listen to a measured and well-intentioned critique from a non-Muslim. But your particular brand of anti-Islamic diatribes, in so far as they have any effect at all, can only serve to radicalise Muslims further. My point is not that non-Muslims should never criticise the Islamic world. My point is that people can tell the difference between criticism that comes from someone who wishes them well, and criticism that comes from someone who does not.

    The way you write about Muslims reminds me of the way some Brits used to write about the Irish. When the British government stopped lecturing the Irish ("the Paddies are all mad"), and seriously addressed the causes that lead many ordinary Irish people to sympathise with the IRA, the support from ordinary people that made the violence possible declined, and the violence also declined.

    Best wishes,

    Brian Barrington
    Dublin, Ireland


    MARK REPLIES:

    So "the sign of a small man" is that he "bullies those who are powerless"? Would that be like the Muslim men who went along to the schoolyard of one of those Danish cartoonists' daughters? Oh, no, wait, I get it. I'm the "small man" because I only "bully the powerless", like Islam. Can I forward my death threats to your street address? After all, I readily agree I don't have real integrity or courage – certainly not the integrity or courage to take a brave stand in the way that, say, an Irishman in present-day Dublin having the courage to criticize US foreign policy demonstrates his integrity. Who was it said that "criticizing others is simple"? Oh, wait, it was you, though you're not alone in elevating that to the be all and end all of EU foreign policy. Perhaps one sign of "a small man" is that he calls other people small men. As Ira Gershwin's favorite Russian mistranslation of Porgy And Bess went, "Little David was impotent but oh my…"

    Oh, and which member of the British government in the last four decades has said "the Paddies are all mad"?


    MAIL FROM BARRINGTON TO STEYN:

    Hi Mark!

    You're right that the people who went along to the schoolyard of one of those Danish cartoonists' daughters are, at the very least, small men and bullies.

    You're also right that my criticisms of American foreign policy are not evidence of any bravery or integrity on my part. Oh, no, wait, I made no such criticisms. If I had, I hope they would have been serious and risen above the level of pointless provocation. But even if my non-existent criticisms of American foreign policy had NOT risen above the level of pointless provocation, they would not exactly have qualified as bullying of the powerless.

    You say: "Perhaps one sign of 'a small man' is that he calls other people small men. As Ira Gershwin's favorite Russian mistranslation of Porgy And Bess went, 'Little David was impotent but oh my…'

    These are interesting remarks, especially in the context of your numerous references to Osama Bin Laden's tiny penis.

    Oh, and which member of a European government "in the last four decades" has argued that criticising US foreign policy should be the be all and end all of EU foreign policy?

    Please forward any death threats (along with a signed copy of your latest book) to the attached address.

    All the best

    Brian Barrington


    LETTER OF THE WEEK ON STEYN'S WEBSITE:

    Dear Mark,

    Your Irish correspondent, Brian Barrington wrote, "Muslims might be prepared to listen to a measured well-intentioned critique from a non-Muslim."

    My sister attends a small church in London Ontario. They have, for the last decade been sponsoring Christian refugees from the Sudan. One of the Sudanese women from her church lived in a village in southern Sudan with her husband and their five children.

    Several years ago the Muslim militia flew into her village, rounded up all the men, loaded them on their troop plane, flew them over the village and forced them to jump from the plane in front of their wives and children. They all died.

    The women prayed the soldiers would fly away. But it was not to be. They came back and, noticing her baby, they pulled him out of her arms and, in a Herodian display of evil cut off her breasts. She survived but had to suffer watching her child die a slow agonizing death with no sustenance. She now lives in London Ontario with her remaining children.

    Every one of the dozens of refugees their church has sponsored has a similar story to tell. There is nothing "measured" or "well intentioned" about this kind of behaviour and it's very difficult, to be "measured" in response. Indeed a "measured" response to such evil would be evil itself.

    "Moderate" western Moslems should surely have something to say about their co-religionists behaviour. But with a few rare exceptions we hear nothing. That's the point Mark is making.

    As to American foreign policy, America is not in the Sudan. These Muslim are doing this to their own countrymen.

    Barrington alleges, "Your particular brand of anti-Islamic diatribes...can only serve to radicalize Muslims further." Considering 9/11, Abdul Rahman, Danish cartoon response, wholesale slaughter and mayhem in the Middle East and around the world, it's hard to imagine how much more radical Muslims can get. But, no doubt, there's more to come.

    I expect Mark isn't writing for a Muslim world that could hardly be more radical, but for the deaf, dumb and blind western world. People like Mr Barrington maybe.

    Hermina Dykxhoorn
    Calgary


    MAIL FROM BARRINGTON TO STEYN:

    Dear Mark,

    The points made about Muslims in your recent "Letter of the Week" would have more validity if similarly awful atrocities had not recently been carried out by non-Muslims in Rwanda, the Congo, Angola, Columbia and other places.

    In any case, no one argue for measured criticism of barbarity, only for measured criticism of Islam. Individuals are responsible for their actions, not entire communities. I hardly need to point out (or perhaps I DO need to point out?) that most Muslims do not condone, or participate in, the kind of horrific barbarities described in the letter. If there is some supposedly sinister silence amongst Muslims about what is happening in Sudan, then might that not be because the average Muslim has about as much connection with the Sudanese militias as the average African-American has with the Angolan militias?

    I dread to think what daft conclusions you would have drawn about Islam if Rwandans happened to be Muslim. As it is, I suppose Christians are answerable for the behaviour of their co-religionists, the Hutu militias?

    And would your columns about Islam even be justifiable if we imagined some hypothetical world where such atrocities had only been carried out by Muslims? Well, no, because your columns put forward no serious explanation as to WHY Muslims are baby-killers and breast-amputators. In the absence of any such explanation, your anti-Muslim stance is utterly trite. Perhaps you think the time for sitting around explaining is past, and the time for action is upon us? In which case, perhaps you should stop sitting around writing anti-Muslim propaganda, and go and do something.

    Your writing may be aimed at blind, dumb and deaf Westerners like me, but my original mail was provoked by your hectoring response to a Muslim correspondent.

    Brian Barrington

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  3. "A vigorous exchange followed, in which Steyn demanded to know my address so that he could send me death threats."

    Oh please - are you serious?

    "Can I forward my death threats to your street address?"

    He's offering to send you a copy of the death threats he's been receiving.

    Disagree with him all you like - I often do but this sort of thing...well, it's pathetic.

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  4. You have confused a number of things in your post. Steyn was not offering to send to death threats coming from hims to you. He was offering to send the the death threats that he has received from others to rebut your point about how it is not brave to criticize the powerless.

    Further, your use of Israel as an anology to Europe made no sense. It does not matter how many Muslims surround Israel. What matters is how many live within Israel itself. This is where the analogy to Europe is relevant. A fast-growing minority with deeply different values to the majority population and higher birth rates. This causes so much consternation in Israel that they passed a law a few years ago banning Arab Israelis from marrying and "importing" Palestinians from the territories into Israel because this was happening quite frequently.

    Your point about how if demography was destiny Jews would have been doomed long ago also made no sense because Jews are "doomed". The population of Jews is steadily decreasing because the inter-marriage rates are so high (outside of Israel where is not much selection). One Rabbi a few years ago even referred to the threat of inter-marriage as a second Holocaust. While this is hyperbolic, the fact is that the Jewish population is decreasing.

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  5. You: "A vigorous exchange followed, in which Steyn demanded to know my address so that he could send me death threats, and accused me of sexual impotence."

    vs.

    Steyn: "Can I forward my death threats to your street address?...Perhaps one sign of "a small man" is that he calls other people small men. As Ira Gershwin's favorite Russian mistranslation of Porgy And Bess went, "Little David was impotent but oh my…"'

    Dude. That isn't "demanding" your address to "send you death threats." Your statement implies that he wanted to send you death threats that he wrote. Untrue. He's asking if he can send the death threats that he received, to make a point. No one would know this without scrolling down your blog to check for it, so it's a total mischaracterization.

    The impotence reference has nothing to do with sex, either, just stature. So don't worry about it. And as for his star falling, well, the guy's printed in a bunch of places and does time filling in for Rush Limbaugh and co-hosting on Fox. You may not like the venues, but he's hardly hurting. You sound weird saying he's a New York Times best seller at the top of your post, and a washed up loser at the end of it.

    You'll probably find out he's not hurting for readers. Your hit count will go up large because he put you on his site. Send him a thank you note.

    Sean - Toronto

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  6. Brian- I think you should stop talking through your hole.

    Steyn has many critics, but they generally don't bother to dispute the demographic FACTS.
    He is by no means the only one talking about this either. From the Times just a few days ago:

    Muslim population 'rising 10 times faster than rest of society' http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5621482.ece

    Then again- you don't have to believe the Professors of Demography and Social Geography quoted here. You can reference a few wikipedia pages and continue your self-important rants in the hope that people will agree with your preposterous demographic "thesis".

    Julie

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  7. Thanks for your comments,

    Apologies if I created the impression that Mark wanted to send death threats from himself to me. Absolutely nothing of that kind happened. Just to clarify: he was talking about sending death threats that he had received on to me.

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  8. I'm very pleased to have discovered such a reasoned and intelligent critique of the foul, racist -- and totally deluded -- spewings of the hatemonger Mark Steyn.

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  9. Just to set the record straight: Mark Steyn is not American. He was born in Canada, and educated in England, where he spent most of his younger life. But perhaps calling him "American" is useful in a European context? After all, what upstanding European wouldn't rather take a Jihadist over an Americans any day?

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  10. "Apologies if I created the impression that Mark wanted to send death threats"

    you didn't "create the impression", you explicitly said that he did so.

    now, either this was a mistake on your part, in which case you edit your post with a notification about the original text, your correction and the reason for that correction...

    OR

    you intended to libel him.

    considering that i have to read well down into the page before finding Steyn's actual quote to know that you're lying ... you can guess which conclusion i'm going to reach.

    feel free to edit your post at any time.

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  11. Dear Mr. Barrington:

    I read your article. Every word. The inescapable conclusion is that you are a colossus of ignorance of such monumental proportion as to strain credulity. How does a name-calling idiot like you ever get published? I suppose that's what we have to look forward to for at least another four years because Americans voted for another idiot that thinks America has 57 states and the Speaker of the House thinks "500 million Americans get put out of work every month". The entire Administration is dumber than a bag of rocks, and more venal than illegal drug lords. Why then, should I expect any better from a fool like you?

    How sad that your admirers respond positively to knee jerk stupidity like yours. How sad you are. Thanks for confirming me in my opinion of leftist jackasses like you.

    Sincerely,
    Oodeluph

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  12. Hi Bob,

    Unfortunately there seems to be no facility for editing comments on these google blogs (if anyone knows a way then let me know, so that I can change it).

    There is only a limited way to manage the comments. I could delete the comment, and then repost it in edited form - but then it would appear at the bottom of the section, rendering the entire thread of comments confusing. Maybe that's what I should do?

    To be honest, I would have thought it was pretty clear that Steyn did not intend to send me any death threats, or that I was seriously intending to claim that this is what he had done. He's a well-known, published writer - why in the name of God would he suddenly start sending out threats to someone as insignificant as me? He's not completely off his rocker.

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  13. Mr. Barrington,

    You seem to have misunderstood, or at the very least, misinterpreted the basic premise of America Alone and Steyn's continued campaign to try to wake up a civilization in deep hibernation. Proof of that can be found in your statement, "Anyway, how Islamicists intend to establish an oppressive Muslim caliphate in Europe against the opposition of a majority of Europeans and against a majority of European Muslims, has yet to be given a persuasive explanation by Mark Steyn."

    What opposition? Many of Steyn's assertions have less to do with direct Muslim aggressiveness or any coordinated effort to establish a European caliphate as they do with the increasingly clear fact that Europe simply seems to have run out of steam and rolls over at the mildest provocation. A quick read of British headlines will bear that out. Nearly every day we can read about the erosion of the British will to survive as an intact culture (and by extension, most of the remainder of Europe).

    Does Steyn like Islam? Hardly. I'm not so thrilled with it myself. But his basic contention is that so long as the pervasive rot of multiculturism and political correctness continue to be the underpinnings of modern Western culture, and we continue to disavow the greatness of that culture (warts and all), it won't be a Muslim conquest so much as a European suicide.

    I couldn't agree more.

    Regards,
    Bob (another proud knuckle-dragging New Hampshire resident)

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  14. Mr. Barrington,

    As a follow-up to my earlier post, you use Israel as evidence of a flaw in Steyn's theory. I contend that exactly the opposite is true. The existence of Israel is proof that Steyn is right. Israel exists amidst mostly hostile neighbors (some dedicated to its eradication) because it has a will to do so. They will fight, both in the metaphoric sense as well as literally, for their survival.

    This is exactly what Steyn is trying to point out: Europe has lost the will to survive as a coherent culture and will eventually succumb to outside forces -- even if that outside force is currently only 4% of the population. Without the will to recognize and maintain European culture, it's just a waiting game. It's the demographics that are the important aspect here. You can remove the element of an "enemy" from Steyn's argument, but the inevitable conclusion -- based on current demographics -- is that Europe seems intent on self annihilation.

    Second regards,
    Bob (oh, and also of proud "fighting Irish" decent, when the Irish knew how to fight, that is)

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  15. Brian, it may well be that you are right, and that we will look back in 2050 and wonder why we fretted over the ‘perils’ of Islam. We may do the same about climate change.
    However, in both cases it would be wise to worry about both, not because they are certain but because they are possible, even probable. We don’t insure our cars because we will crash; we insure them because we might. Better an unclaimed non-accident than an unclaimable accident.
    Given that the Anglo/Western left have most to lose from growing Islamic assertiveness (with its hostility to gays, feminism etc), one can only conclude that their reluctance to debate, let alone criticise, it stems from their curious ethnic and cultural self-loathing. Anything other than fawning deference to any non-western group just isn’t done. In the hierarchy of politically correct poker hands, race is the five-of-a-kind; it trumps all else.
    Steyn postulates a worst-case scenario, which hopefully won’t eventuate. But that does not mean we have nothing to worry about – the middling case scenario is also pretty uncomfortable. Better we have the debate, however it offends certain sensibilities. For the left shut it down with cries of ‘racism’ might be a costly error for our kids.

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  16. Brian Old Boy,

    By all means, take a quiet walk around the suburbs of Paris, even in broad daylight. The French not longer in control? That's right! Of course, this brief excursion will be your last, anywhere! Miss the IRA, do you?

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  17. America Alone stands up pretty well to scrutiny if one takes off the social liberal filters and pushes away the blinders. but demographics aside, the book isn't about Muslim Hordes with Swords overrunning Europe. it is about cultural suicide in the guise of multiculturalism, the infantilizing welfare state, a sense of entitlement without a sense of liberty and self responsibility, and the cultural apathy of those who accept this. it's easy for a vigorous culture like Islam to simply override tired effete institutions in Europe and replace them with another.

    open your eyes. look at what's happening in Europe and in my country, Canada.

    you'll understand in a few years.

    your comment about "death threats" and "impotence" are bonkers. you obviously can't be trusted with context.

    Shel

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  18. "To be honest, I would have thought it was pretty clear that Steyn did not intend to send me any death threats, or that I was seriously intending to claim that this is what he had done".

    uh huh... nice try. you obviously weren't expecting your usual readers to research your statements, nor a bunch o' wingnuts to call you on it.

    good night.

    shel

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  19. "Steyn has also been investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for propagating hatred against Muslims. "

    Oh, sure --- except you neglect to say that Steyn was completely vindicated, and that the Commission behaved in such a reprehensible, Stalinoid manner that IT is now under investigation by the Canadian government for violating its original mandate AND the Human Rights charter Canada is signatory to.

    IOW: Niggling details that entirely undercut your position.

    You, sir, are disingenuous to the point of mendacity.

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  20. Hi Bob

    I just wanna direct your attention to the fact, that in Germany for example indeed the muslim share of the population is even less than 4%, i think its arround 3,5%, BUT and this is the fact about which Steyns argument is: the newborn Children of the last 10 years have 9% at least one muslim parent and 8% both muslim parent, which means that they double there share of the poplulation within a generation.

    i dont think that Steyn is right and this happening in our livetime but it is happening,
    of course not in Ireland (muslim population below 1% - smart Irish folks by the way...), but its happening.

    And since im writing from Germany i should add, that we Germans made the political experience that u dont necessarily need a majority to excercise power, but a violent and ideological, young minority can be sufficient too.

    Greetz from good ol Germany
    T.P. Brantinger

    (sorry for my rusty english)

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  21. Shel, You paint a frightening picture of the decline of Europe - its feeble defence of freedom, its sclerotic socialist economies, its low quality of life. Amidst all this despair and anguish, I feel obliged to try and strike a note of hope:

    * According to the Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index, of the top ten countries in the world with the highest quality of life, 9 are in Europe.

    * According to Reporters Without Borders, of the top 20 countries in the world with the freest press and media, 18 are in Europe (the other two are Canada and New Zealand).

    * According to the UN’s Human Development Index, of the top 20 countries in the world with the highest level of human development, 15 are in Europe.

    * According to the Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, of the 20 most democratic countries in the world, 15 are in Europe.

    * According to Freedom House, every country in the European Union is classified as “Fully Free”.

    * According to the IMF, the World Bank and the CIA, the European Union has the largest and wealthiest economy in the world – it has the highest GDP.

    * According to the CIA, the European Union has by far the largest industrial output in the world (i.e. it makes more real stuff than anywhere else). It’s industrial output is 38% higher than that of the US, for example.

    * According to the UN and the CIA, citizens of the European Union have a higher life-expectancy than citizens of the US.

    * According to the UN’s Education Index, 17 of the top 25 best educated populations in the world are in Europe.

    * Western Europe is the safest region to live in the world. For example, the murder rate in North America is 440% higher than the murder rate in Western and Central Europe.

    * According to the Fortune Global 500, 170 of the largest companies in the world as measured by revenue, are located in the European Union (153 in the US)


    According to Jared Diamond, the great American scientist writing in the New York Times, “Western Europe’s standard of living is higher that America’s by any reasonable criterion, including life expectancy, health, infant mortality, access to medical care, financial security after retirement, vacation time, quality of public schools and support for the arts”.

    One is almost tempted to think that things are not actually that bad in Europe.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-Life_Index
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Without_Borders
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sector_composition
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisfaction_with_Life_Index
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_rate
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_Global_500

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  22. Brian, re your glowing report card on Europe. How many of these yardsticks will still be so favourable in, say, 2020 (let alone 2050)?

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  23. Well Shloto, Europe is safer, wealthier, healthier, and more populated than it has ever been in its long history. We’re talking about a continent that has survived the black death, famines, genocides, barbarian invasions, two horrific world wars, centuries of religious wars and much much more. Odds are it will survive its current minor problems, don’t you think? You seem to want Europeans to fly into a panic. Dream on. Europeans have seen it all before.

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  24. Brina (hey, you misspelt my name...), sure Europe has survived all the above traumas. Alas none of them include its own psychological castration. We have no track record to go on.

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  25. This is a brilliant and well written review.

    As for the cultural suicide stuff, I find it amusing. The implication is that, given a choice between a life of hedonism, social liberalism and freedom, and life of prayer, suffering, and oppression, people would choose the latter. The fact that people assume that Muslims left their oppresive countries to live in that fashion says a lot about the racist cooks who make those claims.

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  26. Dear Brian
    When I started to read your blog you were promising me increased happiness which I badly needed. Now I am getting increasingly unhappy listening to these intolerant and aggressive exchanges. How can I recover my equilibrium with reds under the beds, Islamists under the carpets and Steyn fans in fear and trembling and a frenzy of hatred. Normally when I feel upset I go to some Buddhist meditation classes but maybe the Buddhists are trying to take over the world so I dont know what to do now and am looking to you for some kind of an injection of happiness, goodwill to all men, restoration of faith in human nature etc. Please help.
    Unhappy but trying

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  27. "A Review of Mark Steyn’s America Alone" (Brian Barrington)

    I agree with most of the article. Of course, since the book is two years old, there have already been other critics of its on the demographics level (including http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1082 and http://oyvindstrommen.be/?p=141 ), but your is nevertheless very good.

    A few comments: Mark Steyn is not "talking through his hole" in my opinion, but through conservativ and Europeans-bahing deforming glass, and there are not 4% Muslims in European Union, but 3.2 or 3.4% in my opinion.

    Are you still in mail relation with Mark Steyn? If yes, could you ask him this quesiton, from http://thecrossedpond.com/?p=139 and http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/03/steyns_numbers.html#main about where did he found that "by some projections, the EU's population will be 40 percent Muslim by 2025"?

    "Unfortunately, since the below exchange of views, Steyn’s star seems to have fallen somewhat – he has lost many of his column syndications, and his patron Conrad Black has been thrown in jail for Criminal Fraud." (Brian Barrington)

    Since most of Steyn's "column syndications" were in the Conrad Black's press empire, I guess it is because "Conrad Black has been thrown in jail" that Mark Steyn "has lost many of his column syndications".

    "the demographic FACTS" (Anonymous)

    What are you talking about? The untrue statement that "Every Muslim woman in Western Europe is producing 3.5 children"? The silly claim that "the average Muslim in France, Steyn tells us, has 3 times as many children as the average non-Muslim French woman"?

    "which means that they double there share of the poplulation within a generation." (Brantinger)

    Yes, if it were appenning. Is this appenning? I have never seen any evidence or demographic data supporting this claim (for Germany or other European country, like "in France, approximately one birth in three is to a Muslim family.").

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  28. You've analyzed his book exceptionally well. Bravo, we need more people in the world with your mindset. It's a shame how ignorant people can be.

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  29. wondering how you think about the same topic now?

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  30. how do you think about the same topic now over 100+ dead bodies?

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