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The Godfather of Blog, the Überblogger, the InstaPundit himself, Glenn Reynolds, links to this article by Anne Applebaum, asking "Did 9/11 Snuff the European Left?" (What, you don't think he deserves those titles? When I become king of the world, I'm gonna make everyone refer to me as "Shadow of God on Earth", with a lot less justification.) Unfortunately, I don't think that Ms. Applebaum asks a question that can be answered, "Yes". The Holy One blessed be He knows that there are a lot of people better informed about the European "street" than a half-crippled, middle-aged computer geek who goes out of his own house about twice a month. However, those Europeans that I correspond with show no interest whatsoever in living in America Lite. If they want more jobs and greater efficiency in government, it is only because those things leave more money to be diverted to their cradle-to-grave government benefits (I'll try to avoid using emotionally-charged words like "welfare"). Most seem unwilling to go even that far; the more capitalist, the less civilized, they appear to feel. Professor Reynolds himself is incorrect, I think, when he writes in respect to this:
Of course, the problem isn't so much immigration, but assimilation, which the Euro-elites have scrupulously avoided, concealing their contempt for the immigrants behind a figleaf of multiculturalism. It's not contempt, it's outright racism. Europe is the home of the Tribal State; if you are not a member of the Tribe, you can never be a member of Tribe, not even if you are a tenth-generation immigrant. You are at best a Gastarbeiter, to be given the scut work to do so that the Volk can collect their government benefits in peace; at worse, a nuisance to be run out of town if, inexplicably, one of the Volk wants your job instead of jusr cashing his monthly check as an "occupational reservist". That, incidentally is the reason for European anti-Semitism; the Jews not only (in their view) cannot be assimilated into the Volk, they don't want to be; they act as if being Jewish is as good as being English, or French. (These links to the InstaPundit mean a thousand hits a day for my web site, right? No? Oh, well.) John "Akatsukami" Braue Tuesday, March 19, 2002 |
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