Finally Getting It?

According to Tony Blankley, Europe (as well as NPR in the US) may finally be waking up from its slumber to the realization that radical Islam is a threat to them, and not just to the US. The event that finally cased this epiphany seems to have been the slaughter of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker (apparently the murder of almost 200 people on trains in Spain did not cause this realization).

From Holland's leading newspaper, the Telegraaf, to Germany's liberal Berliner Zeitung and Der Spiegel (roughly, the European equivalents of the The New York Times, The Washington Post and Time Magazine) has come the same heated prose that could be found in the United States in the aftermath of September 11. And here in the United States, even the liberal National Public Radio Network's "All Things Considered" is beginning to seriously report European volkish fury the way they usually report breathlessly on the latest developments in Brazilian rainforest depletion.

Here in the US, Hollywood - that vociferous proponent of freedom of speech and freedom from intimidation - doesn't seem to have much to say about van Gogh's murder, criticism of Islam being out of vogue.

Unlike Hollywood, however, Europe can no longer ignore the Islamist threat. The problem is that unless something drastic is done, Europe is screwed. The main problem is simple demographics in conjunction with the cradle-to-grave socialism that the Europeans have built for themselves. At this point, birth rates in virtually all western European countries are below "replacement rate", ie the society is shrinking. Pretty much the only segment of society that does have a positive birth rate is the Muslim immigrants (currently the most popular name for newborn boys in Holland is Mohammed). So Europe is stuck - if they cut down on immigration, which is mostly from Muslim countries, they will not have enough workers to support the myriad of socialist programs. On the other hand, if this immigration continues at the present rate, and Muslims continue to not assimilate, Europe will become Muslim. The Muslim world will then have, at least partially, achieved their goal of reviving the Caliphate and at some point, the US will once again have to liberate Europe.