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January 03, 2006
It's the demography, stupid
Mark Steyn has penned a thought-provoking piece on the inevitable decline of the West in The New Criterion.
Much of what we loosely call the western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most western European countries. There’ll probably still be a geographical area on the map marked as Italy or the Netherlands— probably—just as in Istanbul there’s still a building called St. Sophia’s Cathedral. But it’s not a cathedral; it’s merely a designation for a piece of real estate.
Likewise, Italy and the Netherlands will merely be designations for real estate. The challenge for those who reckon western civilization is on balance better than the alternatives is to figure out a way to save at least some parts of the west.
How's that for a grim start to the New Year?
To what does Steyn attribute this dismal future? His thesis is in the title of the article: "It’s the demography, stupid."
There's more to it than that, including cultural self-loathing, pacifism and an inability to understand that the first duty of any civilization is to protect itself and its citizens. Take the time to read the whole thing.
Posted by Mike Lief at January 3, 2006 12:47 AM