Mark Steyn piece in the WSJ Opinion Journal

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  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    aside from that, the basic premise that the low birth rates in european countries coupled with the need for workers to support the high cost of social benefits lead to the high immigration. And the failure to force assimilation and the militancy of Saudi Wahabiism creating a Eurabia. Do you think thats legit.?

    Yes and no. I think it's typical for a heavily politicized opinion piece in that it makes Mount Everest out of a clump of sand. Sure, there are lower birth rates (probably because they aren't hampered by ridiculous abstinence-only sex education) and higher immigration. Is this causing Eurabia? Hardly. Steyn just thinks that having Arabic immigrants means terror! Is coming! To your doorstep! It will end Western civilization!

    Basically, you put your finger on the small kernel of truth in this piece; the rest of it is pretty much alarmist bullshit that, again, is argued from incredibly tenuous positions.

    Yeah. thats kinda what Im thinking. But it seems like the number crunching involved isnt difficult or likely to change drastically. But can you accept part of the argument without accepting all of it, is what Im wondering.

    Sure I can. I accept the kernel of truth mentioned above; what I don't accept is Steyn's analysis, such as it is, and opining about said kernel for the reasons I stated earlier in this thread. He takes some pieces of info supported by data (Europe has a low birth rate and increased immigration), and from that he spins this bizarre and unsubstantiated web in which Europe quickly becomes the Islamic Terrorist Republic of Europe, thereby destroying anything and everything good Westerners (which, by definition, cannot include liberals, as their "multiculturalism" is implicit support for the establishment of the Islamic Terrorist Republic of Europe) hold dear. Considering all the muted bigotry, ideological blinders, and logical fallacies contained in the piece, it's hard to take it seriously.


    I don't think its so much "terrorism" as just the institution of islamic law. The thesis is that where the numbers are is where the politics will go.

  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    aside from that, the basic premise that the low birth rates in european countries coupled with the need for workers to support the high cost of social benefits lead to the high immigration. And the failure to force assimilation and the militancy of Saudi Wahabiism creating a Eurabia. Do you think thats legit.?

    Yes and no. I think it's typical for a heavily politicized opinion piece in that it makes Mount Everest out of a clump of sand. Sure, there are lower birth rates (probably because they aren't hampered by ridiculous abstinence-only sex education) and higher immigration. Is this causing Eurabia? Hardly. Steyn just thinks that having Arabic immigrants means terror! Is coming! To your doorstep! It will end Western civilization!

    Basically, you put your finger on the small kernel of truth in this piece; the rest of it is pretty much alarmist bullshit that, again, is argued from incredibly tenuous positions.

    Yeah. thats kinda what Im thinking. But it seems like the number crunching involved isnt difficult or likely to change drastically. But can you accept part of the argument without accepting all of it, is what Im wondering.

    Sure I can. I accept the kernel of truth mentioned above; what I don't accept is Steyn's analysis, such as it is, and opining about said kernel for the reasons I stated earlier in this thread. He takes some pieces of info supported by data (Europe has a low birth rate and increased immigration), and from that he spins this bizarre and unsubstantiated web in which Europe quickly becomes the Islamic Terrorist Republic of Europe, thereby destroying anything and everything good Westerners (which, by definition, cannot include liberals, as their "multiculturalism" is implicit support for the establishment of the Islamic Terrorist Republic of Europe) hold dear. Considering all the muted bigotry, ideological blinders, and logical fallacies contained in the piece, it's hard to take it seriously.

    Instead of worrying about Islamofascism invading Yurp, shouldn't the wingnuts be worried about a power vacuum in the middle east? Invading Iran would be setting up the dominos for some crazy 1984 type stuff. US boots from the Med to China. Not smart.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    Generalizations that go "right and left are equally guilty" of such and such always seem to come from the right side of the spectrum. Hmmmm

    Well nice to see you've placed me neatly in the "right side of the spectrum" box.

    I probably agree with the "left" on as many issues(legalization of drugs, pro-choice, separation of church & state, environmental stewardship, etc.) as I do the "right"...but I'm constantly amazed to see that if you aren't in line 100% with either side they automatically paint you as the "enemy". They just can't come to grips with folks who form their own opinions and aren't one of the Sheeple.

    What your observation confirms is that the left side of the spectrum think they're too smart to ever be wrong or guilty of anything.

  • caight with thier slips showing


    SO SEXIST RIGHT NOW

  • R*ich you are on the r*ght... You only think you're center cause you live in Tex*s...

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts

    So basically, Rockadelic, I don't deny that gay advocacy groups have an agenda; I think that their agenda is to get what you and I think [/b] they should already have as Humans[/b] : equality. I don't see that as at all bad, much less the insidious force of pure evil that so many alarmist right-wingers see it as.

    But you have to come to grips with the fact that most Americans and ALL Muslims do not have that opinion.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    R*ich you are on the r*ght... You only think you're center cause you live in Tex*s...

    I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY....a well known spawning ground for right wing fanaticism

    Who on the right(besides me apparently)....is for the legalization of ALL drugs, are Pro-Choice, and works 40 hours a week to improve our Environment???

    Or are you stereotyping me based on selective issues? Yes you are.

  • 40 hours eh

    I stand corrected -- anyone who would move from Brooklyn to Texas isn't right in the head

    Seriously though you come off seriously right by the way you are constantly making blanket statements about the lefty "sheeple" on soulstrut. The issues you choose to raise here and the debates which stir your passions definitely mark you as someone skewing way to the right. You rant like a right winger. I'm sure I'm not alone in my perceptions... but then again I am part of the left wing groupmind. Know thyself.

  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    R*ich you are on the r*ght... You only think you're center cause you live in Tex*s...

    I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY....a well known spawning ground for right wing fanaticism

    Who on the right(besides me apparently)....is for the legalization of ALL drugs, are Pro-Choice, and works 40 hours a week to improve our Environment???

    Or are you stereotyping me based on selective issues? Yes you are.


    Norman Podhoretz is from Brooklyn.

  • JoeMojoJoeMojo 720 Posts
    Who on the right(besides me apparently)....is for the legalization of ALL drugs, are Pro-Choice, and works 40 hours a week to improve our Environment???

    Or are you stereotyping me based on selective issues? Yes you are.

    The Economist editorial board?

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    40 hours eh

    I stand corrected -- anyone who would move from Brooklyn to Texas isn't right in the head

    Seriously though you come off seriously right by the way you are constantly making blanket statements about the lefty "sheeple" on soulstrut. The issues you choose to raise here and the debates which stir your passions definitely mark you as someone skewing way to the right. You rant like a right winger. I'm sure I'm not alone in my perceptions... but then again I am part of the left wing groupmind. Know thyself.

    I would call you Righty Sheeple but that's on another website.

  • asprinasprin 1,765 Posts
    Problem is that people only want to read those articles that support their personal opinions and don't mind stretching truth and integrity a little as long as it reinforces their feelings...

    No, the problem is no one (here) wants to listen to a long winded, reactionary rant disguised as a think piece.

    I can post the entire text of Shakespeare's collected works here and say "DISCUSS, BITCHES" but that doesn't mean anyone owes me a response. I can hold out beef bait and have no one reply but that doesn't necessarily mean everyone at soulstrut thinks with one liberal mind.

    Generalizations that go "right and left are equally guilty" of such and such always seem to come from the right side of the spectrum. Hmmmm

    Thank you.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    Problem is that people only want to read those articles that support their personal opinions and don't mind stretching truth and integrity a little as long as it reinforces their feelings...

    No, the problem is no one (here) wants to listen to a long winded, reactionary rant disguised as a think piece.

    I can post the entire text of Shakespeare's collected works here and say "DISCUSS, BITCHES" but that doesn't mean anyone owes me a response. I can hold out beef bait and have no one reply but that doesn't necessarily mean everyone at soulstrut thinks with one liberal mind.

    Generalizations that go "right and left are equally guilty" of such and such always seem to come from the right side of the spectrum. Hmmmm

    Thank you.

    Atta Boy.....Way To Go....Yeah Yeah Yeah!!!!




  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    i posted the article to show that the articles I post are meaningless, that was the point.

  • asprinasprin 1,765 Posts
    Some message boards have an ignore function that a member can use to block out posts by certain individual...oh how I wish SS had that.

  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    Some message boards have an ignore function that a member can use to block out posts by certain individual...oh how I wish SS had that.

    He's a victim man, a victim.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    Some message boards have an ignore function that a member can use to block out posts by certain individual...oh how I wish SS had that.

    He's a victim man, a victim.

    Refuses to be....that's apparently what pisses some folks off....I'm thoroughly amused

  • asprinasprin 1,765 Posts
    ehhh...tepid at best

  • twoplytwoply Only Built 4 Manzanita Links 2,914 Posts
    Every special interest group, bar none, has an agenda.

    I laughed out loud when I read this. My mother and her wife have been complaining for years about having never received their copies of the "Homosexual Agenda."

    "Special interest group" indeed.



  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    aside from that, the basic premise that the low birth rates in european countries coupled with the need for workers to support the high cost of social benefits lead to the high immigration. And the failure to force assimilation and the militancy of Saudi Wahabiism creating a Eurabia. Do you think thats legit.?

    Sabada, you know what's funny is that I've just been reading about Muslim immigration to Europe and the spread of Islamism that addresses exactly these issues and might answer your questions, but it's all based upon books and newspaper articles and I know you don't have room in your worldview for those kinds of things. Oh well.
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