ISBN: 0385514727
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Summary: Thoughtful Analysis that Crosses the Ideological Divide
This book is a thoughtful analysis of ideas and cultures that is a wake-up call to be proactive against the Islamic terrorists. The author, a liberal, in critiquing both liberalism and conservatism, has lessons to offer both sides, to bridge the ideological divide. The left is ready to sacrifice security for liberty and the right liberty for security all in an effort to destroy each other and obtain supreme power. Meanwhile, they both overlook a dangerous competitor from an entirely unexpected quarter - radical Islam which has no intention of entering any dialogue with anyone other than the use of a bomb or a sword. In medieval times, the Byzantine and Persia Empires battled each other for supremacy in the Middle East only to be destroyed by another foe, Islam. If liberals and conservatives don't start working together, they will share the same fate.
The author has lived in both the Netherlands and Norway where he is fluent in their languages and experienced both the best and worst they have to offer. Gay-bashed in both countries by Muslim immigrants, the politically correct and tolerant societies chose to overlook such behavior by their Muslim minorities. Muslim intolerance is rewarded with tolerance by the greater society in hope that they will become tolerant. Instead, gay bashing is part of a wider phenomenon of many Muslims refusing to become part of the host culture. The Western European countries themselves facilitate the very behaviors that become a threat to the greater society. They have an inability to absorb immigrant and make them part of a common culture. "Tolerance," "understanding," and "multiculturalism" - the can't words of European liberalism does not work with cultures that reject the values of democracy and individual choice.
The Western European countries have a false sense of cultural superiority over Amara in their attitudes toward Muslim immigrants. Their cultural policies in the name of "liberalism" multicutluralism," "tolerance," and "understanding" have made worse the problems of absorbing immigrants into their body politic. Radical Islam and separatism are encouraged among Muslim immigrants as a sign of "respect" while at the same time they rejected from the greater society because they are foreign-born. The author himself could not get work that he was qualified even though he spoke the language well because of this attitude. America is the more dynamic society in which immigrants of all kinds are welcomed and move upward to their full potential. The result is that more educated Muslims immigrate to America while the less educated and even illiterate migrate to Western Europe. The Western Europan welfare states are exploited by these these immigrants who reap the benefits without contributing economically to the system or culturally becoming part of it. Instead ill-educated Muslim populations fester in their quarters experiencing high rates of unemployment and crime blaming the greater society for their problems and welcoming its destruction.
Individual Muslims who seek to better themselves are discouraged by these invidious attitudes and government policies from becoming part of the societies they live in. Women, in particular, are victims in which even if they have been exposed to the more liberal values in school are married off to less educated men back home through arranged marriages to keep them down and expand the Muslim population. With the native population not reproducing itself and having no fervent belief in Christianity, Western Europe indeed may become Muslim, radical Muslim indeed. Thus, Western Europe has created a cultural time bomb.
West Europeans are parochial. They know more about America culture and its celebrities than their next-door neighbors. Borrowing from another author, the Europeans are "one-idea states" that go from left to the far left in their ideas. The media is part of the ruling elite that reinforces this instead of questioning the politicians. Charles De Gaulle did not restore France as a world power but launched an anti-American screed. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are political and cultural heroes even though they created a despotic system in Cuba. The Europeans fail to realize that the radical Islam that they are nurturing in their midst has no desire for dialogue and understanding but demands the acceptance of Sharia and their inferiority as dhimmis. While Americans may differ on how to fight the war on terror, the Europeans blissfully still think they are not part of this even though they have experienced their own versions of 9/11. The East Europeans who lived under tyranny a generation earlier know the difference.
The West Europeans have a "zero-sum understanding of economics" (page 126) in which they perceive one could only become rich by stealing from somebody else instead of an economic pie that can be made bigger to benefit everybody. The result is increasing unemployment and stagnant economies by the European welfare states. They also support foreign tyrants through foreign aid.
Anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head in Europe in which history turned upside down. Palestinians are seen as latest victims and the Jews as the Nazis of the Holocaust! In an effort to be politically correct, the West European media describes a "cultural conflict" between Muslims and Jews when in reality is simply unprovoked one-sided Jewish bashing by Muslims whose anti-Semitism has been encouraged, rather than diminished, by the supposedly tolerant, liberal, multicultural West European culture.
Western European media perceive American culture and materialism to be the enemy while glossing over the evils of Communism and glorifying it. Radical Islam is the enemy they choose not to confront. Peace at any price has become the new mantra (page 132). Peace, indeed, they may get, the peace of the grave. Only belatedly Western Europe has started to wake up belatedly to some consequences of these ill-conceived policies that their good intentions unreciprocated will result in their destruction if left unchanged..
We in America can learn from the West European experiences not to make their mistakes. It is time that the left and right in America listen to each other and agree on a common program on how to fight the War on Terror. Or else we will lose it. There can be no accommodation with fanatics.
Summary: A Churchillian call to defend Western civilization
Bruce Bawer's While Europe Slept is an incredibly powerful book. Having recently read two authors whom I consider to be the authority on Islam, Daniel Pipes and Bat Ye'or, I must say that I will be adding Bawer to my list of favorites. His writing style is unique because he isn't just writing about his observations, but rather his own experiences dealing with Islamists in Europe. Bawer also introduces us to contemporary European writers and political figures that are not willing to submit to dhimmitude without a fight. The sad part of the story is that a once great continent is being engulfed radical Islam and is letting the balance of power tilt further away from moderation and Western values. I highly suggest Bawer's book to anyone who wants to know why we in the United States are fighting back. Finally, his gripping conclusion summons the European people to a Churchillian defense of their culture and way of life like nothing I have read before. You have to read this book!
Summary: Pretty darn scary
A hot global-warmed earth under Islamic rule - makes me glad I am in my 50s, and will hopefully be gone before it happens.
I think this is all true - but I should also remind everyone of the threat of Christan Fundamentalism in the U.S.A. While they don't enfore their beliefs with murder and violence, their tactics are subtle and insidious. The enemy is really conservative religion of every stripe. Only a capitalist, libertarian society, free of welfare and fundamentalist religion can save us. I fear for the future.
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