Europe has problems. The economy is moribund. Taxes are high but insufficient to pay for an addictive and ever-growing welfare state which leaves defense budgets so underfunded and reliant on America that Europe is vulnerable to a military invasion.
Europe’s infrastructure is crumbling. They lag America and East Asia in critical technology, especially computer and AI tech. They made a bad bet on alternative energy. Their birthrate is far below the replacement rate.
Rather than confronting these problems directly, the Europeans blame others, specifically the Muslim immigrants from Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon and Jordan.
The invasion to worry about, goes the typical European narrative, is not from the east, but from the south. It’s not Russian or Chinese armies of millions they should fear, says the narrative, but Muslim families of six.
It’s understandable that the non-Muslim 94% of Europe blames the Muslim 6%. It’s always tempting to blame another person for your problems, especially if that person has another skin color, another religion, another language, and another mode of attire. It’s human nature.
Before they had the Muslims, the Germans blamed the French, the French blamed the English, the English blamed the Scots, the Catholic Irish blamed the Protestant Irish, the Basques blamed the Spanish, Denmark blamed Sweden, and everybody blamed the Jews.
Americans have joined in this anti-Muslim crusade. After all, Europeans are the ancestors of most Americans and look like most Americans. Muslims aren’t and don’t.
Besides, if Americans were to blame Europeans for their self-inflicted problems, that hits too close to home – especially when America itself seems to be on the same road with regard to problems such as the welfare state. It’s easier for Americans to blame Somalian fraud for the malignant welfare budget of America – and Europe – than to blame America itself, even if the actual Somalian fraud is only a tiny fraction of the overall welfare budget.
(By the way, give the Somalians some credit for entrepreneurialism. Can anyone doubt that the Italian, Irish and Jewish immigrants would have done the same thing in their time if given the chance by idiots like Minnesota’s Governor Walz?)
Ah, you say, with an attempt to change the subject, Islam is a religion of war and Judeo-Christianity are religions of peace. Therefore, Europe should be reserved for peaceful Europeans and America should be reserved for peaceful Americans (but not native ones). In other words, America and Europe should be reserved for Christians and a few Jews.
To that I say: Have you read the Old Testament lately to see what this so-called religion of peace says about war? They seemed to be engaged in war all the time.
Indeed, this Judeo-Christian “religion of peace” produced two millennia of war within itself over the narcissism of small differences like whether we should eat meat on Fridays.
War is not a religious thing. It’s a species thing. Humans do it, and always have. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and before that pagans and earth worshipers, commit war. You name it, we’ve fought over it. Don’t tell me that Islam uniquely is a religion of war.
Nor are Muslims less law-abiding than other immigrant groups. The first generation of Muslim immigrants – the immigrants themselves – tend to be very law-abiding, more so than native-born Americans. In part, this is because they fear being deported upon conviction of a crime.
The law-abiding status of Muslims declines in the second generation after immigration. They tend to be much more criminal. It’s theorized that this is because they are as American as you or I, insofar as citizenship goes. Thus, they can be punished for a crime, but the punishment cannot include being deported. Once the deterrent of deportation is removed, they’re more criminal.
In addition, they are ostracized and discriminated against, and therefore live in poor immigrant communities with limited upward mobility. Frustration brews in them in a way that didn’t in their parents, who were just happy to be here, wanted to fit in, and were afraid of being deported.
I was skeptical about this rationale for second-generation crime among immigrants until I read the studies. It turns out that this was the pattern of the Germans who immigrated to the Midwest in the 19th century. It was the pattern of the Scandinavians who immigrated to the upper Midwest and the pattern of the Irish who immigrated to New England later in that century. It was the pattern of the Italians who came to New York City early in the 20th century and started Little Italy. It was even the pattern of the Jews. In each case, the initial immigrants were very law-abiding, and their children were not.
The only exception was among the East Asians who came in the late 20th century. They tended to be law-abiding in both the first and second generations, due, apparently, to strong community and cultural connections.
By the time of the third generation, all groups of immigrants are essentially assimilated and match the crime rate of Americans at large (except the Asians, who continue to lag in criminality).
Muslims follow the same pattern; the criminality of third-generation Muslims matches the criminality of third-generation Irish, fifth-generation Italians, fourth-generation Greeks, and so on. By the time they reach the third generation, they all cheat, lie and steal, and occasionally rape, assault and murder, to pretty much the same degree as the rest of us.
(Although off the subject a bit, it bears mentioning that the pattern is the same among Latin Americans. The first generation is very law-abiding, the second generation is much less so, and the third generation matches that of the rest of us.)
None of this is intended to suggest that Europe has no Muslim problem. It does. So does America. A good case can be made that in both continents the immigration by Muslims has been too many and too fast. The same is true of Latin Americans.
But the Muslim problem of both continents is typical of the problem of assimilating an immigrant group, and it is likely to resolve over time. As in America many times in the past, the immigrants – this time Muslim – may ultimately be our salvation and resurrection.
In the meantime, blaming Muslims for the self-inflicted problems of Europe and America has the effect of ignoring the real source of those problems.
The real source of those problems is that the European descendants of the greatest civilization in history, the Roman Empire, now piss on the ruins. Europeans and, increasingly, Americans have been taken in by populist socialism. We need to reject the promises of freebies, and make good on the promises of merit and investment.
Since we’re talking about Muslims, and economics, it’s worth considering what the great religions have to say on the subject of socialism. While casual feel-gooders might have you believe that spirituality is at war with economics, it was David who said, “When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.”
Jesus proclaimed, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”
Muhammed said, “No one ever ate a meal better than that which he earned with his own hands.”
The Buddha praised, “by energetic striving, gathered by the strength of their arm, earned by the sweat of their brow, a righteous wealth righteously gained.”
Milton Freidman couldn’t have said it better.
I’ll earmark this article for reference the next time some Christian terrorist scream “Jesus saves!” and guns down a bunch of innocents.
Have you ever heard of the Spanish Inquisition which tortured people for being non-Catholic? Or the witch burnings by Protestants in Salem? Or the Nazis who gassed 6 million Jews? Or, more recently, the bombing of Lord Mountbatten by the Catholic Irish Republican Army?
Muslims have no monopoly on atrocities.
Million of Christians are persecuted by Muslims today. Thousands of Christians are systematically murder by Muslims every year for being infidels. You want to pull the rhetorical fallacy of “everyone does it” over a political execution 50 years ago? Seriously? Mountbatten was a Christian. If it were a religious execution it would have been because he was also a PEDOPHILE. Ancient history is as instructive as it is irrelevant. The Inquisition isn’t coming back anymore than Muslims are going to stop systematically murdering Christians. TODAY Muslims have the monopoly on atrocities and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.
With all due respect (and that is not tongue in cheek), in my lifetime, 66 years, the ledger for atrocities is firmly in favor of the Muslims. Some of us it seems have evolved to a less violent if not more tolerant state.
It’s an open question whether more people have been killed in the name of Christianity vs Islam. It depends on how you measure the cause and effect.
In the last 66 years, Islam clearly wins this gruesome race. But if your time period is since the advent of Islam, it’s a close call. Neither has a good record. It’s worth notuing, however, that arguably it was Chrisitians who sarted the fight — with the Crusades.
Neither has a good record. It’s worth notuing, however, that arguably it was Chrisitians who sarted the fight — with the Crusades.
That is like saying, “It all started when he hit me back.”
The Crusades started AFTER the muslims invaded and conquered the Holy Land.
At least the judeo-christian religious leaders at least do lip service to being nice to everyone. We have largely out grown our atrocity phase. Not so with the muslims. If you aren’t muslim and you don’t pay the “tax”, you are fair game.
And also there is the problem of apostasy.
I almost forgot : Taqqiya also poses major problems.
The problem is not immigration. It is allowing people to immigrate who have no desire or intent to assimilate.
I’d also like to hear about assimilation problems with sharia law.. War tends to separate winners from losers, which we seem to be becoming.
The writer makes a good point: a nation that betrays its own moral standards leaves itself wide open for others (immigrants) to fill the void with their own standards. I believe the Muslim standards are primitive and not suitable for Western society, but if the West is determined to wreck itself rather than build upon the wisdom of its past it may well deserve what it gets. Europe and America would do well to take a hard look at part it has played in bringing about it’s own demise and make big changes. Only blaming Islam will not solve this.
It seems that the majority of Muslim immigrants exacerbate the deficit issue which none of other groups did. The fertility rates of Muslims will , as has always happened in every country that they conquered, dominate the politics and culture everywhere.
Please look at the fertility rates of the Irish and Italians when they immigrated.
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Perhaps you haven’t noticed but Islam is at war with America! It’s not Iran, the Persians are a peaceful people! Don’t believe me? Ask those who desire the Caliphate! Further there is no such thing as Radical Islamists only Islamists. There has been no change for 1400 years! a THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED YEARS!
Glenn, I saw this yesterday on our drive to Aspen so just now getting time to comment. This is an interesting take, and I agree that prejudice based solely on religion is wrong. And when I first started work after graduating from college in the mid-1980’s, I worked with a “displaced” former Iranian diplomat who had worked for the Shah. Ali was educated, sophisticated, funny and kind – and obviously Muslim (of proud Persian descent). I have a friend now, whose father served as a general for the Shah. She, too, is very a Western Muslim and such a good, interesting, intelligent person. My daughter’s best friend is American but her parents are from Pakistan and western India, and they are very Westernized Muslims. My point is that these are examples of what you are talking about – Muslims who have willingly assimilated into American life. They dress in a Western fashion, they send their kids (boys and girls) to the best schools they can, they have professional careers, fully participate in our community and they respect American culture. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, in Houston, where we live most of the year, there are enclaves of Muslims who do not want to assimilate. I see women in burkhas walking on busy roads in 95+ degree heat because they aren’t allowed to wear seasonably appropriate clothes nor drive a car. I see little girls covered head-to-toe as well, while the fathers and sons wear short-sleeved shirts and shorts. And the men and teen boys drive cars and trucks. There’s also the issue of Sharia Law being practiced in some US, UK and European cities as a parallel to Western laws. And entire Islamic neighborhoods being developed – there’s one in SW Houston, and another one proposed. My point is, the Muslim religion, itself, is not necessarily the issue (Christianity and the Jewish faith also have some problematic histories), it is the conservative, more fundamental and radical Islamism that is at issue in, and in conflict with, Western countries. Jihads and fatwas have been declared against the US and those who openly oppose Islamism. Hasan, of the recent (unfortunately public) execution, is an example of that, as is the attempt to cause harm at the UK airfield where we were keeping some of our military aircraft. Islamists hate America, the Great Satan. And, what I will add is that my daughter’s friend, as very Western, sophisticated and highly educated as she is, follows Al Jazeera online and social media and she believes every word they say about Israel and what’s going on in Gaza, etc. And, PS, she was expected by her parents to (and did) marry within their sect of Islam, as did all of her “Brown” friends who live down in SW Houston. They are American but they only assimilate up to a point. And I’ll just say for the record, I will not look good in a burkha so…
Thanks for your comment, Tiffany. The most important thing is the recognition that not all Muslims are the same, just as not all Christians or Jews are the same.
Let me add something. I’ll note that American society is very seductive. If we can assimimilate the Irish in Boston, the Italians and Jews in NYC, and the Chinese in San Fran, well, in my opinion we can assimilate the Muslims in Houston. We’ll see.
When Islam undergoes a serious reformation and makes an honest effort to join western civilization I’ll relax a bit. And yes, I said “western” civilization. And yes, I know western civilization is frayed and worn and weakening lately. But what’s needed is a resurgence of the will to defend it. Every Islamist who migrates into a western democracy is just another agent of the effort to destroy the west. Islam and western democracy are incompatible. Until Islam reforms. I’m not holding my breath.
Western Europe ended in 1945. The US attempted to keep it functioning with the Marshall Plan and infusions of capital- all in the interest of global security. It seemed to work if you didn’t look too closely- and besides what was the alternative? But now that Europe is being forced to pay its own way, it becomes more obvious each year that the numbers simply do not work. It is sad to watch the muslim invasion -there are so many reasons why it is wrong- and the muslims are advancing because the Europeans are weak and unable to save themselves. But that was true in 1945 and here we are 80+ years later.
Will Europe die OF Islam, or will Europe die WITH Islam? In any case, Islam will be the final nail in Europe’s coffin. Europe probably would not have survived even if Islam didn’t exist, but no one will ever know. Islam is fatal to civilization, that is indisputable.
“Islam is fatal to civilization, that is indisputable.”
I’m not so sure. Islam conquered Constantinople and nearly conquered Europe in the Middle Ages. They’ve had their moments, and some of those moments have lasted far longer than the US has.
Also, note that the greatest civilization in history, Rome, fell soon after it converted to Christianity. I not sure religion is a good measure of a civilization’s durability.
Glen, Muslims may not be Europe’s only problem but they are a major problem. They have been a fifth column embedded in the West. Chipping away at democracy. I believe they have been forced into a more active role post October 7,2023.
Who are the “they” that you refer to?
All 2 billion Muslims worldwide, or just the 50 million in Europe?
Thats a dishonest distraction.
It is not dishonest at all. My point is that blaming millions or billions of people for the actions of a tiny minority of them is what’s dishonest.
I’m convinced that, for most of mankind, religion is just the excuse they need to do whatever they want to do. However, I also believe that Islam enables to a degree that current religions do not.
Don’t forget the separation of church and state thing. Islam is the church and the state. It is not possible to separate a thing from itself. People who do not understand Islam but understand some other religion assume Islam must be like the religion they know. That is how humans synthesize new information. They look for something they already know which is similar to the new data point. Learning by analogy. Islam works well enough as long as everyone is a muslim.