Pendragon_6
08-16-2005, 10:08 AM
By: Greg Strange
I don’t generally like to be gratuitously self-congratulatory or to inject hackneyed clichés into my columns, but for today I’m suspending the rules long enough to say I told you so and better late than never. Elaboration on that, however, should be prefaced with the good news: Tony Blair has seen the light! He gets it. He recognizes multiculturalism gone wild when he sees it and he’s bound and determined to do something about it because he doesn’t want to see Western civilization idiotically destroy itself.
"Multiculturalism gone wild" might be an expression that reeks of absurdity given the images it conjures up of a certain videotape hawked on late night tv. But when imams are being allowed in the name of multiculturalism and tolerance to preach jihad to the rafters of British mosques and bug-eyed Muslim radicals are screeching the same on London street corners, how is the message any less blatant than that being conveyed by "Girls Gone Wild" yanking up their shirts for the cameras? One is obviously about sexual titillation and the other is obviously about terroristic titillation. When it comes to either, no one can reasonably say they don’t understand what’s going on.
So, rather than continue to ignore the obvious, the previous doing of which got them 7/7, 7/21 and a host of other troubles, including shooting to death an innocent Brazilian man in a tube station, the Brits have decided to clean house. In a monthly news conference, Blair said, "Let no one be in any doubt, the rules are changing. People cannot come here and abuse our tolerance and good nature. Do not meddle in extremism. If you do, you will go back out."
He also said it was "not a right" to come to Britain and for those that do, they should "share the values that support the British way of life."
He also revealed that there will be a new legal power in Britain that will be able to shut down a place of worship that is used for "fomenting terrorism."
The bottom line is, there will be no more blatant indecent exposure in Britain when it comes to radical Islam. If you don’t keep your shirt pulled down, so to speak, you’re outta there.
Of course, they still have a bit of a sticky wicket when it comes to what to do with radicalized second and third generation Muslims who have been brainwashed into thinking they are aggrieved and who are not legally deportable since they were born and raised in Britain. But Blair’s measures are a start and it should help to cut off the cancer of extremist jihadist preaching that seems to inspire the young and disaffected.
So what did I mean when I said I told you so at the beginning? Simply that in a recent column I had commented that Britain’s problem boiled down to its "recent dalliance with extreme multiculturalism which allowed Islamic fundamentalists to infiltrate the country while the happy-headed gurus of diversity and tolerance sat around congratulating themselves for their extraordinary enlightenment.
"One suspects that after the events of the last few weeks, the attitude of most Britons is, if this is enlightenment, you can have it--just give us our country back. And do something about all the tinhorn, terror-inciting ayatollahs that have set up their little shops of horrors in London and elsewhere, having despicably taken advantage of British hospitality."
In another column on the same topic, I also said that "enlightened tolerance does not require the toleration of extreme intolerance, which is what constitutes radical Islam. Unfortunately, the high priests of multiculturalism don’t get that, or at least they didn’t before 7/7. Whether their heretofore impervious minds will change post-7/7 remains to be seen . . ."
Well, Blair’s certainly has and that’s a good thing.
About the same time Blair was announcing the new policies, al-Jazeera was premiering the latest videographic communication of al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri from his hiding place threatening more destruction in London and elsewhere. It got the usual boffo ratings on all the news channels for a couple of days before making its way to the shelf where they stash used videotapes of standard issue jihadi boilerplate.
I don’t want to say that the style of language Zawahri used was laughably stereotypical, but it sounded like dialogue from some B-grade 1950s desert swashbuckler, like "Son of Ali Baba" with Tony Curtis. I mean, we are talking b-a-a-a-d, man. Here’s a sampling:
"Blair has brought destruction upon you, to the center of London, and he will have more of it, Allah willing. Oh, the peoples of the Crusader coalition, we have offered you, at least, to stop your aggression against the Muslims. The lion of Islam, the mujaheed Sheik Osama bin Laden, may Allah protect him, has offered you a truce, so you will leave the lands of Islam. Did Sheik Osama bin Laden not tell you that you could not dream of security before . . . all the infidel armies leave the land of Muhammad? But you have made rivers of blood in our countries, so we blew up volcanoes of wrath in your countries."
"Volcanoes of wrath?" Who writes this anachronistic twaddle? It’s all so goofily tenth century. Honestly, if we can’t prevail over these turbaned primitives, the world might very well be in for another dark age. That may sound extreme or even absurd, but in an age of loose nukes and a significant portion of the West being too self-loathing and apologetic to put up a serious fight against obvious evil, anything is possible.
Tony Blair has the right idea, as does George W. Bush. Will the rest of the West face reality or continue to commit slow civilizational suicide in the name of multiculturalism gone wild?
"Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
Ether Zone (http://www.etherzone.com/2005/stra081605.shtml)
Greg Strange is a freelance writer of humor and social commentary. His columns have appeared in Atlanta Constitution, Christian Science Monitor and Comic Relief Magazine. He is a regular columnist for Ether Zone.
Greg Strange can be reached at gpstrange30341@yahoo.com
I don’t generally like to be gratuitously self-congratulatory or to inject hackneyed clichés into my columns, but for today I’m suspending the rules long enough to say I told you so and better late than never. Elaboration on that, however, should be prefaced with the good news: Tony Blair has seen the light! He gets it. He recognizes multiculturalism gone wild when he sees it and he’s bound and determined to do something about it because he doesn’t want to see Western civilization idiotically destroy itself.
"Multiculturalism gone wild" might be an expression that reeks of absurdity given the images it conjures up of a certain videotape hawked on late night tv. But when imams are being allowed in the name of multiculturalism and tolerance to preach jihad to the rafters of British mosques and bug-eyed Muslim radicals are screeching the same on London street corners, how is the message any less blatant than that being conveyed by "Girls Gone Wild" yanking up their shirts for the cameras? One is obviously about sexual titillation and the other is obviously about terroristic titillation. When it comes to either, no one can reasonably say they don’t understand what’s going on.
So, rather than continue to ignore the obvious, the previous doing of which got them 7/7, 7/21 and a host of other troubles, including shooting to death an innocent Brazilian man in a tube station, the Brits have decided to clean house. In a monthly news conference, Blair said, "Let no one be in any doubt, the rules are changing. People cannot come here and abuse our tolerance and good nature. Do not meddle in extremism. If you do, you will go back out."
He also said it was "not a right" to come to Britain and for those that do, they should "share the values that support the British way of life."
He also revealed that there will be a new legal power in Britain that will be able to shut down a place of worship that is used for "fomenting terrorism."
The bottom line is, there will be no more blatant indecent exposure in Britain when it comes to radical Islam. If you don’t keep your shirt pulled down, so to speak, you’re outta there.
Of course, they still have a bit of a sticky wicket when it comes to what to do with radicalized second and third generation Muslims who have been brainwashed into thinking they are aggrieved and who are not legally deportable since they were born and raised in Britain. But Blair’s measures are a start and it should help to cut off the cancer of extremist jihadist preaching that seems to inspire the young and disaffected.
So what did I mean when I said I told you so at the beginning? Simply that in a recent column I had commented that Britain’s problem boiled down to its "recent dalliance with extreme multiculturalism which allowed Islamic fundamentalists to infiltrate the country while the happy-headed gurus of diversity and tolerance sat around congratulating themselves for their extraordinary enlightenment.
"One suspects that after the events of the last few weeks, the attitude of most Britons is, if this is enlightenment, you can have it--just give us our country back. And do something about all the tinhorn, terror-inciting ayatollahs that have set up their little shops of horrors in London and elsewhere, having despicably taken advantage of British hospitality."
In another column on the same topic, I also said that "enlightened tolerance does not require the toleration of extreme intolerance, which is what constitutes radical Islam. Unfortunately, the high priests of multiculturalism don’t get that, or at least they didn’t before 7/7. Whether their heretofore impervious minds will change post-7/7 remains to be seen . . ."
Well, Blair’s certainly has and that’s a good thing.
About the same time Blair was announcing the new policies, al-Jazeera was premiering the latest videographic communication of al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri from his hiding place threatening more destruction in London and elsewhere. It got the usual boffo ratings on all the news channels for a couple of days before making its way to the shelf where they stash used videotapes of standard issue jihadi boilerplate.
I don’t want to say that the style of language Zawahri used was laughably stereotypical, but it sounded like dialogue from some B-grade 1950s desert swashbuckler, like "Son of Ali Baba" with Tony Curtis. I mean, we are talking b-a-a-a-d, man. Here’s a sampling:
"Blair has brought destruction upon you, to the center of London, and he will have more of it, Allah willing. Oh, the peoples of the Crusader coalition, we have offered you, at least, to stop your aggression against the Muslims. The lion of Islam, the mujaheed Sheik Osama bin Laden, may Allah protect him, has offered you a truce, so you will leave the lands of Islam. Did Sheik Osama bin Laden not tell you that you could not dream of security before . . . all the infidel armies leave the land of Muhammad? But you have made rivers of blood in our countries, so we blew up volcanoes of wrath in your countries."
"Volcanoes of wrath?" Who writes this anachronistic twaddle? It’s all so goofily tenth century. Honestly, if we can’t prevail over these turbaned primitives, the world might very well be in for another dark age. That may sound extreme or even absurd, but in an age of loose nukes and a significant portion of the West being too self-loathing and apologetic to put up a serious fight against obvious evil, anything is possible.
Tony Blair has the right idea, as does George W. Bush. Will the rest of the West face reality or continue to commit slow civilizational suicide in the name of multiculturalism gone wild?
"Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
Ether Zone (http://www.etherzone.com/2005/stra081605.shtml)
Greg Strange is a freelance writer of humor and social commentary. His columns have appeared in Atlanta Constitution, Christian Science Monitor and Comic Relief Magazine. He is a regular columnist for Ether Zone.
Greg Strange can be reached at gpstrange30341@yahoo.com