I hate to break it to you...

Submitted by Pro-Israeli Democrat (United States), Dec 12, 2006 at 22:05

I was simply trying to give you some information on seven or eight select Muslims who really ARE out there trying to make a change. Try some of their websites. Irshad Manji, in particular, is more than just a moderate. She is a revolutionary, and frankly she deserves a Nobel Prize for her book. Along with Daniel Pipes himself, I believe that the majority of Muslims are moderates, but only a few (including the names I have mentioned) have recognized that you sometimes have to fight (and risk life and limb) for freedom. The number of Muslims that ascribe to "militant islam" is estimated to be around 10-15%; that's a lot of people, between 100 and 150 million (and a lot of them are IN EUROPE). So when I say that militant islam constitutes a minority, I don't mean a small one.

Then again, there are some 1.2 billion Muslims throughout the world. Destroying a religion of 1.2 billion adherents is simply not a feasible option without having another several hundred more Holocausts (and probably nuclear weapons), and no one wants that. Anyways, we must distinguish between the world's second largest religion and the militant ideology that has spun off of it (and you will find that a lot of the responsibility for this rests with the Saudi government). We are fighting militant islam (which is comparable to Nazism and/or the ideology of 1930s Japan); not islam itself. That's what Dr. Pipes says and (though I don't necessarily agree with his politics), I trust his word on issues of Islamism and the coming of "Eurabia". I think you would love Irshad's book The Trouble With Islam Today if only you gave it a chance. Ijtihad is the key to fixing"mainstream Islam. Her book will definately expand your horizons. This message, though, is about a different issue altogether.

You say in one of your replies that I am "USA-centered;" you are right (submission to Allah is not in my future, though; I am, in fact, and atheist, though I always call myself a "secular Jew"). I am an American, and a proud one at that. Global events make my appreciation for this country grow by the day, in spite of the Iraq disaster. I have only been to Europe once (Venice; and I am traveling to France in six months) and I loved it. If not for the worsening socio-political situation, I'd consider living there in the future. Still, I am visiting Europe while I can, because within the next 50 years that may no longer be possible.

You have noted, though, that you live in "Old Europe;" so this I am going to say: America, like Canada, was designed to be a multicultural society from day one. Over the years, Mexicans, Chinese, Muslims, and Jews have assimilated quite well here. The European countries (like, say, Japan) were not designed to be like America. They simply are not big enough. It does not mean America is "better," but that countries like France, Italy, and Belgium are just too small. It's all about geography.

I hate to break it to you (I am sure you know it already) but Europe is finished. The continent is going to explode within the next few decades, and not just because of the growing Muslim population. There is another co-factor: Far-right neo-nazi movements are surging BIG TIME in several European countries: Italy, Germany, Britain, and France, just to name a few. What you are looking at is a clash between National-Socialism and Eurabia. The continent is going to be torn apart by extremes: militant islam, the far right, and the far left. This isn't happening here in America, though we have our whackos, too (including a few theocrats within our own government).

Again, I am sure you know all of this already. Unless Europeans want to fight for their heritage (which would require a revival not of Christianity, but of the hard-nosed secular nationalism of the industrial period) without slipping back into fascism, that heritage is going to be lost. Once more, I'm sure you know that (and have probably read your fair share of Oriana Fallaci). You probably won't agree with me on Islam, but from one blogger to another, I am going to offer the following advice:

You may want to move to America.

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