The Strange Death of Europe
The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam
by Douglas Murray
I was somewhat skeptical that this would be a shallow and poorly articulated argument against immigration writ large, but instead the book is an intelligent argument on the risks associated with mass immigration of Muslims into Western Europe, and the massive cover up by the political elite and mainstream media on the level of crime and terrorism associated with it. I haven't read Taleb's book, "Skin in the Game," but I'm familiar with his argument, and Murray's book is a great example of politicians making terrible decisions who have no skin in the game that impact their citizens negatively.
Taleb argued, that a "bureaucracy is a construction by which a person is conveniently separated from the consequences of his or her actions.” The EU fits this definition in spades, but so do local politicians. Murray writes about a town hall meeting in Kassel, Germany that was video taped where over 800 Muslim immigrants were due to arrive over the next few days. Their district president, Mr. Lubcke calmly informs them that anybody who does not agree with the policy is free to leave Germany. At first the Germans attending laughed because he was joking, when they found out he wasn't there was great anger. It is ironic that immigrants with a very different culture and values are being imposed on various towns by the bureaucrats while the citizens who live there are told they're free to leave.
I was familiar with some of the higher profile crimes and terrorist events, but the author depicts a long laundry list of these crimes throughout much of Western Europe, and how the government and mainstream media attempt to suppress this news. Nonetheless, social media exposes it. For example, there was no denying the video footage of what happened outside a church in Germany where large gangs of immigrants were openly harassing women. The fact that the media and government attempted to suppress the news only made it worse, a further loss of trust. I suspect this is why we're seeing the rise of the so-called far right in Europe. Hillary Clinton recently said that Europe needed to solve their immigration crisis, because it is resulting in the rise of right wing groups? That is apparently true, but is that the only reason it must be resolved? Should it also be resolved for other reasons, such as the danger it presents to their citizens and culture? This why many Americans who despise President Trump will still vote him compared to a candidate on the left who always puts their own citizens last.
The best chapter in the book, was chapter 13, "Tiredness," which was a philosophical piece on why Western Europe has lost its sense of identity. He takes the argument back to colonialism to WWI and then WWII destroying their beliefs in all the ideas that defined Western Europe's culture. This collective guilt and lost moorings has resulted in a reluctance to more stiffly oppose immigration that threatens their identity, but they now question if they have one. It is a lengthy chapter that I'm not worthy of summarizing.
The author makes many interesting points and argument throughout the book, but one I found especially interesting is that Eastern Europe didn't/doesn't suffer from the guilt and loss of identity that Western Europe does, so they have imposed strict anti-immigration measures to protect their countries and cultures, and have openly called the Western Europe's policies suicidal.
The relevance to small wars is clear, any decent small wars analyst would discern that significant trouble is brewing, and attempts to conceal it by suppressing it in the media will only make it worse. Policy changes need to be implemented aggressively, yet humanely, to prevent the storm clouds from merging into a perfect storm. The author argues there are two probable outcomes, one is what I'm calling the perfect storm. The other is Europeans accept it, and Western Europe becomes multicultural, mostly Muslim, and people accept it, while Eastern Europe maintains their identity.
Europe is dying: a riposte
I found this article by a probably UK journalist of Pakistani heritage via Twitter and found it a worthy riposte. In particular this passage:
Quote:
Europe faces real challenges today, with economic austerity, political dysfunction, and, yes, migration. Rather than declaring the continent “dead” — an extremist proclamation that can only generate extremist responses — it might be worth considering that every generation faces unique challenges for which they must find new solutions.
Link:https://theintercept.com/2018/12/25/...murray-review/
The Strange Death of Europe: a Brit's reply
Bill,
I have listened to Douglas Murray a few times, he is a polemicist of a particular type, once labelled "neocon" and now more likely to be labelled a nationalist populist. A few years ago I read one of his books, it was well written and revealing - on a very different topic 'Bloody Sunday' in Northern Ireland.
His view of demographic change would be challenged by many others, notably Professor Eric Kaufmann, a Canadian of mixed heritage, whose book 'Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the future of White Majorities'. There are numerous reviews and this one is from London's main evening newspaper which ends with:
Quote:
Whatever happens, anyone interested in preparing for the future would do well to read this book.
Link:https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle...-a3971311.html
What Murray appears to overlook is that it is not just Muslims emigrating to Western Europe. In the UK we have a Polish population of between 500k to 1m (shrunk recently) and very few of them are Muslims. Another substantial new community are the Africans, in the UK mainly from West Africa, Southern Africa and East Africa, mainly Eritrea and Somalia. They now outnumber the Afro-Caribbean community; together they now make up the largest group of regularly worshiping Christians.
There also can be reverse emigration, in the UK there is one community that has dwindled since the 1990's: the Bosnian refugees. They have largely been absorbed (unlikely I think), emigrated further or simply gone home.
Plus many Muslims are far from devout, except on special days and during Ramadan. In a curious way this lack of religious faith is seen in many communities.
Today we are told that immigration is driven by asylum seekers and refugees, especially those crossing the Mediterranean. Or a few years back the large inflow of Syrians to Germany. The biggest drivers for immigration for many years post-1945 was the anticipated demand for cheap labour, the decision to enable families to be united and the demand for skilled, qualified professionals - in the UK most visibly seen with doctors and nurses.
Changes in demography do not IMHO end with Muslim majority in the UK. It is far more likely that the UK will have a substantial mixed heritage population and Kaufmann argues that will take many decades.
