Interesting read, a bit long, and a bit rambling at times. I don't agree with all of it, but he raises some interesting points.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007760
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007760
It's nobodys business but the Turks
- Thread starter Damn True
- Start date
Blah. That dude lists his top national values at family (good), military, and church.
No offense to people of faith - I'm all about freedom of worship. But it's far from a top national priority.
And if the USA didn't spend 300 gajillion bazillion dollars every month trying to control oil by spraying it's military's piss all over the Arab world, the rest of the world wouldn't need nearly as much of a military.
No offense to people of faith - I'm all about freedom of worship. But it's far from a top national priority.
And if the USA didn't spend 300 gajillion bazillion dollars every month trying to control oil by spraying it's military's piss all over the Arab world, the rest of the world wouldn't need nearly as much of a military.
Well, for a large part of the populace that would be correct.
But you gotta get past the introduction. It starts off a little "this guys a jerkoff" but there is some good stuff in there.
Not all of it mind you.
But you gotta get past the introduction. It starts off a little "this guys a jerkoff" but there is some good stuff in there.
Not all of it mind you.
That was too long, I got like halfway though and I still don't know WTF his point is...
LOL, I know. I had to read it in shifts.
Looks like someone read Collapse by Jared Diamond and desperately wants a way to pin everything on the secular humanists...
And, halfway down, there it is.
And, halfway down, there it is.
Not familiar with that (collapse). Summarize for me if you would.
I'm only 1/3 through it. One quote from the article that irked me:Damn True said:
Poor old Diamond can't see the forest because of his obsession with the trees. (Russia's collapsing even as it's undergoing reforestation.)
Now, on page 15 of the book, Diamond says, "I should add, of course, that just as climate change, hostile neighbors, and trade partners may or may not contribute to a particluar society's collapse, environmental damage may or may not contribute. It would be absurd to claim that environmental damage must be a major factor in all collapses: the collapse of the Soviet Union is a modern counter-example, and the destruction of Carthage by Rome in 146 B.C. is an ancient one."
Seems to me that Steyn read the synopsis of the book and went from there...
Interesting. I s'pose a better characterization of the article would be "provacative".
He has some valid points, but the overall thrust I do not find terribly convincing. Basically, he stops not far short (or event not short at all) of predicting that most of the Western world will be thrown into cultural chaos and conflict as Muslims reproduce and begin to take over institutions and enact Islamic law as the legal norm.
One problem is that like Ehrlich and Malthus (the former he mentions in the article in rather uncomplimentary fashion), his predictions are of a coming doom that, above all, assumes the status quo. He fails to take into account the demographic transition occurring at present, not just what has happened in the last couple of decades.
He also seems to suggest something like this: we should ignore the environment, personal rights etc. in favor of getting it on.
And couldn't we maybe be worried about the religious nuts in this country perhaps going too far before the "Islamists" get here?
One problem is that like Ehrlich and Malthus (the former he mentions in the article in rather uncomplimentary fashion), his predictions are of a coming doom that, above all, assumes the status quo. He fails to take into account the demographic transition occurring at present, not just what has happened in the last couple of decades.
He also seems to suggest something like this: we should ignore the environment, personal rights etc. in favor of getting it on.
And couldn't we maybe be worried about the religious nuts in this country perhaps going too far before the "Islamists" get here?