Sunday, May 21, 2006

Bystanders

Africans in the Canary Islands
They’re rioting in Africa,
They’re starving in Spain.
There’s hurricanes in Florida,
And Texas needs rain
The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles;
Italians hate Yugoslavs,
South Africans hate the Dutch,
And I don’t like anybody very much…

Plus ça change, hmm? In the almost fifty years since the Kingston Trio toured with that song (which ends in nuclear destruction), things haven’t changed very much. And yet that world is so lost, so absolutely gone that it’s hard for anyone who didn’t live through the innocence-tied-to-fear world view to understand the times.

Self-hatred had not become endemic, though there were pockets of the virus, particularly in France with its admiration of Sartre’s nihilism. The men who fought World War II still ran things, and they had firm ideas about The Enemy and what needed to be done to contain him. Eisenhower, not an intellectual, warned of the military-industrial complex and didn’t know of the nascent rise of academic mandarins, bent on the destruction of anything un-ironic, and sworn to relativism as an over-arching world view.

America still stood firmly with Israel; the quislings had not yet risen to power. In fact, many of them hadn’t made it to college yet. Mario Savio was unknown.

What was present in our country, and what remains a threat because its spidery fingers have spun such a wide-cast web, was the Communist Party. Now they are draped in ANSWER’s clothing, trying to drum up dissension among illegal immigrants. They are behind much of the wacko, extremist Greenie anti-global, anti-capitalist, and virulently anti-American nihilism. Still as statist as ever, still as dystopian, and still as attractive to the pseudo-intellectuals that swig off the government teat in their academic villages. They are far more tied to their form of the dole as any welfare mother ever was.

They love victims because they love projection. At some level, they must understand what losers they are and thus align themselves with anything or anyone remotely resembling A Victim. Being Americans, though, they have that peculiarly American characteristic: they want to fix it. So they try — with hyper-correct language, with special handicap scores for the handicapped, with vitriol for all the abled who are so pitilessly going about their daily business. Attention must be paid! And paid. And paid. And paid. And then we’ll have a conference and many, many studies all of which will show that the agenda they carried into the quest is the agenda they bring back to us. Amazing, no? Whole industries have grown up around Victims…and those who love them. Not to mention those who hate them — now a thought crime — and those who feed off them. Jesse Jackson is a vampire. A Victim Vampire.

But it gets old. In fact, it’s rapidly ageing and compassion is disappearing in scattered spots around the world. Not here yet, but Europe is always in the vanguard of new intellectual ideas, right?

The first example comes from one of yesterday’s Little Green Footballs’ posts. This one concerns a recent poll in Germany which demonstrates a growing mistrust of Islam:

In spite of official attempts to promote dialog among religions, distrust of Islam continues to grow, with 60 percent of Germans expecting tension between traditional German society and immigrants from Muslim countries, according to an Allensbach study commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

“Germans are increasingly of the opinion that a lasting, peaceful coexistence with the Islamic world will not be possible,” the researchers said in the survey, released Wednesday.

Some 56 percent of Germans said they believed a “clash of cultures” already exists, partly a result of recent incidents that received a large amount of media attention, according to the survey’s authors Elisabeth Noelle and Thomas Petersen.

This isn’t news, exactly. The Germans, like many European natives, distrust other cultures generally. That they would distrust the Muslims among them only makes sense, given their history of treatment of the foreign workers they invited in to do the dirty work when times were good, while limiting their access to citizenship or other jobs.

Notice, though that the “clash of cultures” is partly due to media attention to the problem. Not the actual mayhem and murder that caused the media reports in the first place, but the reports themselves:

The case of a Berlin “honor killing,” a quarrel over two Bonn students who wore burkas to school and discussions concerning increasing schoolyard violence among immigrant children have all made headlines in the German press recently.

“In view of the diffuse feeling of being under threat, and the suspected intolerance of Islam, the readiness of Germans to show tolerance to the Muslim faith is sinking,” Noelle and Petersen wrote.

Do you get the feeling it’s not the Islamists’ behavior that leads to fear, but rather the media reports about it? Well, the all powerful media managed to produce this statistic:

When asked what they associate with the word “Islam,” 91 percent of respondents connected the religion to the discrimination of women, and 61 percent called Islam “undemocratic.” Eight percent of Germans associated “peacefulness” with Islam.

The Germans are even willing to abridge religious freedom to contain the Islamists, or better yet, to encourage them to live elsewhere:

About 40 percent of Germans queried were willing to limit the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion if constricting the practice of the Muslim religion would lead to fewer violent Muslims choosing to live in Germany. Over half of those who took part, 56 percent, agreed with the statement, “If some Muslim countries forbid building churches, then it should be forbidden to build mosques here.”

Meanwhile, Spain is ratcheting up its own efforts to contain the strangers currently overwhelming some of their territories. A reader sends this report from Breitbart:

Spain has put the last touches to initiatives, including a strengthened presence in Africa, to try to stem the swelling tide of immigrants from the continent heading for its shores.

The government’s plan was agreed as it was announced that a total of 656 African illegal immigrants had arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands in the space of 24 hours.

In Madrid Deputy Prime Minister Maria-Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said after a cabinet meeting she would be going to Brussels next week to discuss the issue with, among others, European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.
She said that “more Europe” had to be one of the weapons in the battle against would-be illegal immigration.

An “Africa plan” was to be implemented within the space of 48 hours, said de la Vega. The headquarters will be in the Senegalese capital Dakar, under the supervision of a specially appointed ambassador, Miguel Angel Mazarambroz.
His staff will cover the west African states Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Senegal.

The Spanish official said embassies would be opened in Mali and Cape Verde and the mission in Sudan would be reopened to reinforce Spain’s diplomatic presence in sub-Saharan Africa, at present limited to embassies in eight states (Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Senegal).

The scale of the problem is illustrated by figures showing that with well over 1,000 arrivals in the Canary Islands this week alone, the total for the year to date is now 7,384. That compared with 4,751 for the whole of last year and 8,500 in 2004.

According to the Red Cross, hundreds of would-be immigrants have drowned in seas off Spain since the end of last year. Many travel in overcrowded makeshift boats not suited to the high seas.

Red Cross workers on the Canaries say they are overwhelmed with the “avalanche” of people arriving every day, many of whom are in need of immediate medical treatment.

In all, around 2,400 immigrants without papers are awaiting processing in the archipelago.

The Canary Islands, Spanish territory and therefore part of the European Union, have been targeted by would-be immigrants since passage became more difficult from Morocco to Europe via the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the scene last year of violent attempts by would-be immigrants to storm them. Sixteen people died in the incidents after which prospective immigrants were rounded up and dumped in the desert. Since then security measures have been tightened on both sides of the Mediterranean.

We reported this last October, when Spain began to beat back the immigrants:

Spain plans to build a third high-security fence between its enclave Melilla and Morocco as an added measure to keep out immigrants who have repeatedly stormed the barriers in recent weeks, Interior Ministry delegate Jose Fernandez Chacon said Tuesday.

Seems like the great unwashed and unwanted hordes, desperate for work, are risking death and dismemberment:

Hundreds of poor sub-Saharan African immigrants gathered in northern Morocco have stormed the fences repeatedly over the past two weeks in a bid to enter Europe. Five immigrants were killed in a similar charge last week at Ceuta, Spain’s other enclave on the northern Moroccan coast. Both city enclaves already have twin 3-meter (10-foot) razor fences around their perimeters.

Does Europe think the hordes can be contained? Do we? Is dumping the unwashed unwanted in the desert a solution?

What is to be done to prevent the Islamist meltdown in Europe? And what is to be done about the Mexican surge into the Southwest United States? Does Spain see this beating back the desperate as a solution or merely a holding action?

How are we different? Or are we?

As Thomas Merton said, there are no innocent bystanders. Helpless ones, like you and me, perhaps…

12 comments:

chuck said...

Speaking of the Kingston trio, one of my highschool history teachers taught Bob Shane in Hawaii. Apparently Bob didn't concentrate on his studies and that teacher gave him the old lecture about never amounting to much if he didn't knuckle down to serious stuff instead of playing music all the time. Well, a few years passed, the Kingston trio was on a roll, and they came to Hawaii to give a concert. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, Bob made sure to send that teacher a ticket with a note so that he could see how his lazy student had made out.

Mary said...

In the 70s I read this book about the coming migration of the world's have-nots to take over the territory of the haves. Then as now,the party with resolve will prevail.
Should pont out that the book was considered to be racist and xenophobic. I haven't read it in years, but recall that it made some good points, including Western values (eg compassion) being exploited in the name of those who would destroy the civilization that holds them.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1881780074/103-9369685-7343035?v=glance&n=283155

Unknown said...

"Does Europe think the hordes can be contained? Do we? Is dumping the unwashed unwanted in the desert a solution?

What is to be done to prevent the Islamist meltdown in Europe? And what is to be done about the Mexican surge into the Southwest United States? Does Spain see this beating back the desperate as a solution or merely a holding action?"

So what do you propose?

Jason Pappas said...

Europe needs immigrants for economic reasons but Islamic immigrants bring with them a barbaric culture which they are unwilling to discard in too many cases. Mexico has a surplus of emigrants eager to immigrate to a more prosperous country … and all of them Christians. I see a solution here!

Unknown said...

Robert Kagan wrote a book a few years ago, called "The coming anarchy", postulating that the inevitable surge of migration from the poor regions of the world (he focused on Africa), into the prosperous western democracies, would bring with it all of their dysfunction pathologies. What we would end up with, would be the disaster that stalks Africa, like a plague, right across the west. Oh well, I guess the good professor Genova from Columbia, will actually get his most sincere wish, just not quite as he imagined it, I doubt. Nice logic there professor.

Can't help wondering, will the new neighbors start dismantling the "ivory towers" to make their new dwelling.

David Foster said...

A huge difference between the US and Europe: almost all immigrants to the US quickly become economically productive--the proportion is much lower in Europe due to excessive regulation of business combined with badly-thought-out welfare policies.

Mother Effingby said...

Interesting. I live in a housing development, where all the houses are alike. In this development are foreigners of every stripe. I would say most of them are well assimilated, English-speaking, and hard working. I really don't know too many trouble makers. Of course, this is America. I am not sure how it would be for me in Europe, living in a Gulag of Corbusiers, isolated from the natives. Call me lucky. I love the American Experience. I love our foreign neighbors. On one side, we have Kenyans and Ethiopians, on the other, Iranians, Italians and Chinese. Our kids play together, and we visit each other and wish each other the best.
Even the native born minorities are intermarried as much as I can tell. Most of the black kids have at least one white parent. This phenomenon is seldom commented on, since it is so widespread and commonplace.
If the coming anarchy is on the way, something truly cataclismic will have to happen in a middleclass neighborhood like mine to begin the balkanisation to come.

David Foster said...

One thing is problematic, even in the US...in previous waves of immigration, we weren't saddled with a whole industry of people (professors, journalists) who were focused on creating resentment against the society to which people were immigrating. Now, there are hundreds of thousands of such people.

Fellow Peacekeeper said...

Hard to read some of these comments without cringing.

Nationalism is the antibody to the multicultural/islamoid virus. The good news is that the taint of multiculturalism/political_correctness/cultural_marxism appears not to have penetrated Europe (Germany in particular) as deeply as the coopted media (both euro and US) seemingly wants us to believe. Hence the immense latent strength of nationalism of a european true nation state with the intertwined racial/language/cultural/historical/relation complex is more likely to emerge sooner, with sufficient will to take the steps necessary.

The earlier steps are taken to limit and remove the infection, the less drastic they will have to be. So applaud when Spain cracks down on asylum seekers, cause it is way gentler than cracking down on illegal immigrants, which is less traumatic than mass expulsions of immigrants, which in turn is better than supressing native born hostile alien communities.

Fellow Peacekeeper said...

Culture is merely one element.

France : France has largely fallen into the hole it is in by taking a purely cultural/language view.

Belgium : Of course, Belguim is a state and not a nation. It should not be surprising that the multicultural rot is particularly horrifying there (read Brussels Journal and weep).

Spain : "Not much to be proud of?" Is that a joke?

"Mexicans who can't learn english and american ways have to leave. Any other approach leads to massive violence." But what if they just don't want to go? Forcibly expulsing millions is massive violence, like it or not.

Anonymous said...

Excellent comments there, Fellow Peacekeeper. I concur.

If the coming anarchy is on the way, something truly cataclismic will have to happen in a middleclass neighborhood like mine to begin the balkanisation to come. - Jauhara

A cataclysm is not necessary. What is necessary is a lack of prosperity that smoothes over all these "non-fitting" yet cordial pieces that makes up your neighborhood. I can guarantee you 1000% that were it not for that, your multi-culti stew would boil over into chaos. People have not begun to realize that Jorge Bush is decimating the country, erasing borders, and sending most middle class jobs overseas. The US dollar has been dropping for at least a couple of years now with the end not yet in sight. It will stop, though not before it goes much lower which makes things more unaffordable. The housing market, which creates the idea of prosperity is in a bubble and the housing index is setting to take a plunge. For those who don't know, the housing index is an index of 20 companies whose primary lines of business are directly associated with the U.S. housing construction market. Greenspan states that the boom is over as well which is not what someone mortgaged to the hilt wants to hear. When one negative thing happens after another compounded with more unemployment as well as feelings of despair, chaos is the eventual result. Mix all that with peoples who share no commonality with the host nor each other and you see gang and tribal violence as well. Cue Brazil.

Dymphna said...

Thanks for the response, guys.

Mazjoob, I don't have *any* proposals which could address the complexity of this proble, which is world-wide. Mexico has depended for generations on being able to use America as a release valve. The mechanism has broken down now and there is no return to the trickle of illegals during the status quo ante.

I left all those questions open-ended deliberately in order to foster some generating of ideas and to have us see that we are all part of it, even though none of us is to blame...

...our own Congress is beginning to resemble a corrupt South American fat cat. It is embarrassing to hear one of them spout off, like a sperm whale coming up for air. The Republicans are a walking shame, and the Dems are a surrealist nightmare. Nice choice, huh?

It is third party time here, or close to it. If it is truly a sea change we have a chance. If it only draws off a third or so of voters, Hillary is in. We get what we deserve -- or are ready for.