Imperialism has its moments

Submitted by Dave, Aug 5, 2019 at 19:52

As an expansionist expression of the values of a nation, imperialism can have positive qualities if the nation does. For example, British imperialism, and colonialism, was key to the establishment of democracy in Canada and the United States. Also consider India and Hong Kong, and we can see that despite the obvious negatives like slavery and economic exploitation, it would be wrong to generalize and get on the Western guilt trip, so fashionable nowadays.

Of course, there are the outstanding negative cases, such as Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, or the Islamic conquests that bequeathed such monstrosities as Iran, Turkey and many other hideous examples. Desert raiders certainly lacked the refinements of English countrymen.

It's unfortunate that imperialism has become so shameful in the West because it may ultimately be needed if the cancer of Islamism is to ever be excised. Just look at Afghanistan. We've spent billions there, lost many good men, and after almost two decades we are back at square one. An imperial solution would be to set up a secular regime and chase the Islamists into the hills. If the Muslim imperialists could conquer it from the Buddhists, we can certainly conquer it from them. But we are too shy, too ashamed of ourselves. We lack the will.

Contrast that with the Muslim attitude. Muslims look back on their conquests with pride and nostalgia, and lament that they can't even conquer Israel; that's a constant theme in MEMRI clips. They are always ready to denounce Western imperialism and the Crusades, but you never hear them breast-beating about the Islamic conquests, which they find glorious and righteous.

And now, they have embarked on a new imperial adventure: Make the hijra to the West and claim it for Islam.
Unless we turn the tables on them we will regret it.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".