I doubt Hirsi Ali's arrival in the United States will be the beginning of a new wave of immigration from Europe.
Most of those who face real persecution and personal danger will be left to fend for themselves while we welcome unskilled Mexicans who walk illegally across the southern border.
Both Holland and Belgium attempted to stay out of World War II by declaring their neutrality. It didn't work: in May 1940, they were both attacked and occupied along with France. (In the case of Belgium, the neutrality attempt had very serious consequences for France's ability to defend itself and hence for world history.)
It sounds like I may disagree with Ms. Ali on the place of religion in politics. I look forward to disagreeing with an American resident, and hope to eventually be disagreeing with a fellow citizen of this great nation.
And when our debate is over, should there be one, I expect she will return to her home and be greeted by her neighbors, each of whom, I hope, will understand the futility of hiding from oppression. May those neighbors shame her current neighbors.
And if, by some chance of fate, I become one of those neighbors, I look forward to many years of friendly disagreements across the back fence or over lemonade on the front porch. And when we are not disagreeing, she will speak to our children of her experiences, while we fix her a fabulous meal in honor of her finally finding her rightful home, one that does not fear her opinions.
And when she finally leaves, we will further teach our children to honor both God and her testimony, and not to fear disagreement like the Islamo-nutjobs in Holland do.
Long-term I do think Europe's going to have to find its collective spine again. Their liberalism has descended in some cases to a tolerance for barbarism, and that's what's really biting them now. The fear of standing up for yourself and your values, thinking that all morality is ultimately relative is going to destroy them if they don't watch it.
(No, I don't think moral absolutism is the cure either. There's no reason to swing from one extreme to the other.)
I have to disagree on Europe finding its spine, Dean. They are actively running what spine they have out, as evidenced by Ali's departure. When it is completly gone, they will get an entirely new spine imported, across the Mediterranean from North Africa.
Heinlein's character Lazarus Long put forth the proposition that space travel had ruined the Earth because anybody with any brains or ambition left.
It can be said that America ruined EUrope (western EUrope or EUnuchstan) because, for the last 400 years, any EUropeans with any balls came to America and the ones who stayed were more likely to allow others to rule them. The EU is a great example of that.
I have always wondered if that was true. They are much more likely to trust the gov't than in the US and to allow a much more intrusive gov't than in America.
Most of those who face real persecution and personal danger will be left to fend for themselves while we welcome unskilled Mexicans who walk illegally across the southern border.
Not that I'm disgusted or anything...
I worry that history may be repeating itself...
And when our debate is over, should there be one, I expect she will return to her home and be greeted by her neighbors, each of whom, I hope, will understand the futility of hiding from oppression. May those neighbors shame her current neighbors.
And if, by some chance of fate, I become one of those neighbors, I look forward to many years of friendly disagreements across the back fence or over lemonade on the front porch. And when we are not disagreeing, she will speak to our children of her experiences, while we fix her a fabulous meal in honor of her finally finding her rightful home, one that does not fear her opinions.
And when she finally leaves, we will further teach our children to honor both God and her testimony, and not to fear disagreement like the Islamo-nutjobs in Holland do.
Long-term I do think Europe's going to have to find its collective spine again. Their liberalism has descended in some cases to a tolerance for barbarism, and that's what's really biting them now. The fear of standing up for yourself and your values, thinking that all morality is ultimately relative is going to destroy them if they don't watch it.
(No, I don't think moral absolutism is the cure either. There's no reason to swing from one extreme to the other.)
It can be said that America ruined EUrope (western EUrope or EUnuchstan) because, for the last 400 years, any EUropeans with any balls came to America and the ones who stayed were more likely to allow others to rule them. The EU is a great example of that.
I have always wondered if that was true. They are much more likely to trust the gov't than in the US and to allow a much more intrusive gov't than in America.
Social evolution, in other words.