Despite all the blather about how “there are extremists in every religion”?
I too was excited at first about Christopher Caldwell’s new book, but like Taylor, I now have to ask:
Why bother writing such a 90% brave book
Whether out of ignorance, cowardice, or—could it possibly be?—conviction, Caldwell refused to recognize that Europe and America face the same crisis. Whatever he learned in Europe he seems to have forgotten when he stepped off the plane.
There is worse. Caldwell sees as clearly as anyone sees anything that immigration is a disaster for Europe. But he dismisses as moral inferiors the men who recognized the truth long before he did.
The book opens with an account of Enoch Powell’s famous so-called “Rivers of Blood” speech, given in 1968 when Caldwell was in knee britches. Caldwell admits that Powell’s predictions were factually correct—”beyond any shadow of a doubt”—but says, without explanation, that Powell was “morally wrong”. This is as obtuse as calling the speech a “rant”—the immensely cultivated Powell was incapable of ranting—but he also calls Oriana Fallaci’s hugely successful critique of Islam (The Rage and the Pride) a “tirade”.
And what about people who are actually trying to defend Europe against the threat Caldwell so clearly spells out? Jean-Marie Le Pen is a “fear-mongering reactionary” and his National Front is “fascistic”. The British National Party is one of those “extremist parties that sow hatred” and Pia Kjaersgaard’s Danish Peoples Party is “immigrant obsessed”.
Why does Caldwell abuse his elders and betters? Is he afraid he will be called a “fear-mongering reactionary” and thinks he can head off charges by redirecting them?
