Rep. King's hearings. I'm a bit sour on Rep. Peter King's congressional hearings on Islamic terrorism. For one thing I have never been able to forget King's loud and active support for Irish terrorism, and how he very suddenly saw the light and became keenly anti-terrorist … when? When was it? Round about September 12th, 2001, I think it was. I therefore have trouble pushing away the suspicion that Rep. King is a hypocritical blowhard. Although if that's what he is, then goodness knows, he's in the right line of work.
For another thing, I don't mind Islam, though I think we've been very stupid to let so many Muslims settle in the West. A lot of people have trouble with this, so let me have another go at explaining myself.
Let's break down the major points of view here.
- The left thinks that mass Muslim immigration is a wonderful thing because it dilutes the traditional Judeo-Christian-European culture of this country, and they hate that culture.
- The open-borders right believes that everyone in the world has a perfect right to come and live in America, and that human groups are infinitely fungible, and that so long as immigrants nod assent to the Declaration of Independence, they'll turn into fine Americans before you can say "melting pot." So what's the problem?
- The Islamophobic right thinks that Islam is a false and wicked religion and should be kept out of America.
I disagree with all these people. I have no problem with Islam. It's an ancient religion that has served as the organizing principle for significant civilizations, and that provides comfort and consolation to hundreds of millions of people. Yay, Islam! Sure I think that the tenets of Islam are all false; but then, as an unbeliever, I think the same of all religions. As my colleague Andrew Stuttaford put it so memorably: I don't have a God in this fight.
At the same time, I'd like to see Islam kept out of Western countries. It just doesn't mix.
I deny there is any contradiction here. You can like pistachio ice cream and you can like curried chicken, without wishing to see them both on the same plate. You can like cats and dogs both, without wanting both in your house at the same time.
The U.S.A. is not a homeless shelter. We don't have to admit anyone who wants to come in. This is our country. If we want to exclude from settlement all Muslims, or all red-heads, or all cross-eyed Rastafarian hunchbacks, we may do so without violating a single sentence of our Constitution. It's our country; it's up to us.
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference includes 56 or 57 nations, depending on which website you look at. Any Muslim who wants to change countries is spoiled for choice. There is no constitutional, national, or moral imperative to let Muslims settle here in large numbers, and we should not have done so. I can't see any positives from it, and the negatives are rather obvious. It was a dumb idea. Islam is fine in its own countries. I wish it, and them, well. I just don't want Islam here in force. What is wrong with this position?
[Read or listen to this post at the above link.]
No comments:
Post a Comment