Mr. Hitchens Says: "Meet Me at the Danish Embassy"

 
Yesterday, Christopher Hitchens had telling points to make about the treatment of Denmark. He is rightly outraged:

The incredible thing about the ongoing Kristallnacht against Denmark (and in some places, against the embassies and citizens of any Scandinavian or even European Union nation) is that it has resulted in, not opprobrium for the religion that perpetrates and excuses it, but increased respectability! A small democratic country with an open society, a system of confessional pluralism, and a free press has been subjected to a fantastic, incredible, organized campaign of lies and hatred and violence, extending to one of the gravest imaginable breaches of international law and civility: the violation of diplomatic immunity. And nobody in authority can be found to state the obvious and the necessary—that we stand with the Danes against this defamation and blackmail and sabotage. Instead, all compassion and concern is apparently to be expended upon those who lit the powder trail, and who yell and scream for joy as the embassies of democracies are put to the torch in the capital cities of miserable, fly-blown dictatorships. Let's be sure we haven't hurt the vandals' feelings.

Yes, Mr. Hitchens, feelings do trump all, don’t they? That is the final outcome of a multi-culti universe. One bases moral judgments, actions, and failures to act on feelings. Not on fellow-feeling, not on empathy or the ‘feeling’ of respect, but on how a particular event makes one feel. As in, “if it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it.” That is the multi-culti cul-de-sac, the end of the road. Nothing trumps feelings…why nothing even matches them.

Sooo: anyone feel like standing up for Denmark after this long, dark Kristallnacht? If you want to show the Danish people how you “feel” about this abomination by the vandals, show up at the Danish Embassy this coming Friday. Here is Mr. Hitchens’ directions and recommendations for his show of hands at the Danish Embassy:

Thank you all who've written [in response to his original column]. Please be outside the Embassy of Denmark, 3200 Whitehaven Street (off Massachusetts Avenue) between noon and 1 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 24. Quietness and calm are the necessities, plus cheerful conversation. Danish flags are good, or posters reading "Stand By Denmark" and any variation on this theme (such as "Buy Carlsberg/ Havarti/ Lego") The response has been astonishing and I know that the Danes are appreciative. But they are an embassy and thus do not of course endorse or comment on any demonstration. Let us hope, however, to set a precedent for other cities and countries. Please pass on this message to friends and colleagues.

This is a great idea which is limited by the choice of day. Having it on Friday will preclude many people from attending. Those with jobs and kids' schedules who live within two hours of the District will be constrained by the choice of day. That's unfortunate since it will make for a smaller, probably much smaller, turnout.