On European Islamofascism

On European Islamofascism
	Let me be perfectly upfront about something. For a conservative, hyper-patriotic American, I have certain Europhile tendencies. I drive a Swedish car, wear British shoes, and shoot Austrian pistols. I like to drink a nice glass of Cotes du Rhone while listening to Bill O’Reilly try to browbeat me to “Boycott France!”

So the fact that Europe is going to hell in a handbasket worries me. Two recent books on the subject are 'Menace in Europe: Why the Continent’s Crisis is America’s, Too,' by Claire Berlinski, and 'While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West From Within,' by Bruce Bawer. Berlinski, who has spent a good deal of her life living abroad, is a self-described secular Jew. Bawer, who moved to Scandinavia in 1998, is gay and the author of a book critical of Christian conservatives. Neither, in other words, is a poster child for the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. Yet both argue that Europe faces many serious problems today. Neither dismisses Europe’s troubles as irrelevant to Americans—a mistake made by too many commentators.

The Islamization of Europe is a key element in these books. Theo van Gogh’s spec­ter haunts both authors. Bruce Bawer in particular reacts to the vicious homophobia of many Muslim immigrants. Muslims talk more about killing homosexuals than about their objections to same-sex marriage, he notes.

Commendably, both books look not just at Muslim immigrants, but also at Europe’s failure to assimilate them. It is clear that the thinly veiled racism of many Europeans has certainly not helped matters. Berlinski discusses a bestselling British novel ('White Teeth', by Zadie Smith) as well as her own personal experiences as an outsider to illustrate how even completely Westernized Muslims never really feel British—because they are never accepted as such. Berlinski contrasts this with the U.S., where pretty much anyone can be accepted as an American without fuss.

For two very secular observers, the authors have no difficulty noticing the prob­lems caused by the waning of Christianity in Europe. Bawer initially approved of the secular nature of his adopted society in his new home in the Netherlands. But he came to realize that “when Christian faith had departed, it had taken with it a sense of ultimate meaning and purpose,” leaving the Continent “vulnerable to people with deeper faith and stronger convictions,” such as radical Islamists.

Of course, Europe has other issues that are completely unrelated to radical Islam. For example, Berlinski looks at French farmer-turned-moonbat Jose Bove, whose popularity among haters of globalism/free markets/America/etc., says little for the supposedly discerning European intellect. In an odd turn, she also examines German industrial-metal band Rammstein. The band members themselves insist they are good leftists who pine for the gray old days of East Germany. Yet much of the group’s music, imagery, and lyrics suggest neo-Nazism to Berlinski. They seem to love their country like Nationalists, and they’re Socialists, so maybe they should be considered...you get the idea. While Europe is indeed afflicted with many worrisome variations of anarchy, ennui, and violence today, Berlinski may be taking a pop-music band like Rammstein too seriously.

Though much bad news can be found in these books, neither author is ready to give up hope. Bawer suggests changes in U.S. immigration policy to make it easier for Western Europeans to immigrate to America, in hopes of bridging the transatlantic gap. It’s hard to shake the feeling, however, that the continent many Americans once loved is virtually gone, while the Europe envisioned by Islamofascists is dawning.