Here is an old lefty criticizing a younger righty. There is also a response to the criticism. Both are civil and constructive, very unlike the rhetoric we get in the daily round of sound-bites from the second and third tier thinkers. The phrase “Classic Liberal” springs to mind.
Christopher Hitchens writes a thoughtful review of Mark Steyn’s America Alone (highly recommended).
This bit of Hitchen’s piece should be read aloud by those cabbies in Minnesota and especially by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota fatwa apologists.
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…Steyn is much more definite about the cultural side of his argument, in other words, than about the counterterrorist dimension. If I wanted to sharpen both prongs of his thesis, I would also propose the following:
1. An end to one-way multiculturalism and to the cultural masochism that goes with it. The Koran does not mandate the wearing of veils or genital mutilation, and until recently only those who apostasized from Islam faced the threat of punishment by death. Now, though, all manner of antisocial practices find themselves validated in the name of religion, and mullahs have begun to issue threats even against non-Muslims for criticism of Islam. This creeping Islamism must cease at once, and those responsible must feel the full weight of the law. Meanwhile, we should insist on reciprocity at all times. We should not allow a single Saudi dollar to pay for propaganda within the U.S., for example, until Saudi Arabia also permits Jewish and Christian and secular practices. No Wahhabi-printed Korans anywhere in our prison system. No Salafist imams in our armed forces.
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There are 7 more specific suggestions. If you read the whole thing, you’ll better understand Mark Steyn’s response:
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Christopher Hitchens has a somewhat critical review of my book. I disagree with him strongly about a common “Euro-Muslim identity”. I think there is one, and that it transcends differences between German Turks and French Algerians, and that there are already signs that it’s more authentically pan-Continental than ersatz EU “Europeanness”. However, his criticisms in this and other matters are worth pondering.
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TOC commentary on the Minneapolis Islamo-cabbie controversy can be found here
here and here, .
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