3 Options

Submitted by Nelson X (Canada), Mar 2, 2007 at 15:38

Option 1 is the most logical if events keep following the same trajectory that Europe is now on. Contrasting the open embarrassment and rejection that native Europeans and Westerners feel for their own history and culture with the rise of Islamist fundamentalism as the predominate expression of a Muslim's religion and Option 1 is sure to follow.

Moreover, unlike the way that germanic barbarians became enculturated with the pre-existing European values in the previous clash of cultures on European soil, this time the depth of the invading culture possesses a cultural depth that the germanic tribes of a previous millenium did not. It is not at all certain that any semblance of a native Graeco-Roman/JudeoChristian would remain after this invasion.

Option 2 is most unlikely. The underpinning violence that would make such an option possible would require a much younger population base that Europe currently possesses. Grey power would be Grandma baking cookies for the neighbours cookies and making nice. Granny swinging a baseball bat at a hijabed head is an oxymoron.

Option 3 is a bit of a pipe dream, but it is at least possible. So far though , the Hirsi Ali's of Europe are the exception rather than the rule, and even they are seeing the light and moving on to across the sea. After all, if native Europeans no longer have any passionate attachment to a culture of freedom, it is not likely that those from a foreign culture will become all that enthralled about it either.

Nevertheless, Option 3 is still a possibility, especially if the Islamism that grips the Islamic homelands proves itself more and more to be a bust in the eyes of Muslims themselves.

But if European Muslims eventually do latch on to the values of the Enlightenment as their own, there is the fourth possibility, that native Europeans themselves will begin to really appreciate what their own culture has actually given the world themselves. (you'd have to light the second pipe yourself, to begin believing that will ever happen though).

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