Welcome to Part Twelve in our ongoing audio adaptation of a favourite book among Steyn readers: America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, in the run-up to its twentieth anniversary.
For the past fortnight, we've been posting a few moments from my one-and-only appearance at the suddenly beleaguered Heritage Foundation. Viewers seemed to enjoy it, so we thought we'd dust off a third excerpt. Here I am in Washington DC in January 2007, with a few musings on assorted topics from geopolitical stability to the Larry King guest-panel:
On this weekend's episode of America Alone, we begin with a gag. Here's me twenty years ago:
Still, as we always say, the 'vast majority' of Muslims oppose 'extremism'. These are the so-called 'moderate Muslims'. One is tempted to update the old joke: A ten-dollar bill is in the center of the crossroads. To the north, there's Santa Claus. To the west, the Tooth Fairy. To the east, a radical Muslim. To the south, a moderate Muslim. Who reaches the ten-dollar bill first?
Answer: The radical Muslim. All the others are mythical creatures...
The 'moderate Muslim' is a unique contributor to cultural diversity: unlike all the visible minorities, he's a non-visible one – or, at any rate, non-audible. But that doesn't mean we can't speak up on his behalf. So, for example, EU officials have produced new 'guidelines' for discussing the, ah, current unpleasantness. The phrase 'Islamic terrorism' is out. Instead, the EU bureaucrats have replaced it with the expression 'terrorists who abusively invoke Islam'.
Who's some white-bread Belgian to say whether Johnny bin Jihad is 'abusively' invoking Islam? There seem to be plenty of Muslim scholars and imams who would disagree. We know, because western politicians and religious leaders tell us so incessantly, that the 'vast majority' of Muslims do not support terrorism? Yet how vast is the minority that does? One per cent? Ten per cent?
The west's traitorous ruling class has never wanted a serious answer to that question. But the general trendline can be deduced from a new survey merely of western Muslims born since I wrote those words. You can read it in the original French in Le Figaro:
En France, la tentation islamiste gagne du terrain dans la jeune génération musulmane
Or:
In France, the Islamist temptation gains ground with the generation of young Muslims
The Telegraph provides a précis for non-francophones:
Some 57% of Muslims aged 15 to 24 believe Islamic law should outrank French legislation in areas such as ritual slaughter of animals, marriage and inheritance.
It is thought to be a steep rise from three decades ago, when just 36% of French Muslims aged 18 to 24 felt that sharia should take precedence...
The report also revealed a dramatic increase in Mosque attendance, which rose from 7% in 1989 to 40% today. Meanwhile, strict fasting during Ramadan jumped from 51 to 83% and the proportion of young women wearing the veil has nearly tripled.
Social habits have also changed: alcohol consumption among Muslims under 25 has fallen from nearly 30% in 2011 to just 12% today. Only 12% of young Muslims now want Islam to adapt to modernity, down from 41% in 1998.
It's almost like, as I told the Heritage crowd, there is no "stability" - and that twenty sod-bollocking years of doing bugger all about anything that matters have sealed your fate. Funny how that happens.
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read Part Twelve of America Alone simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
~If you prefer more fictional fancies of a weekend, we have a new Tale for Our Time - from the day before yesterday in a lost Europe: Agatha Christie's Murder on the Links. Not in the mood for Hercule Poirot? Well, there are spy thrillers, comedy classics, tales of horror and historical romance and much more, all over at our Tales for Our Time home page. If you've a friend who might be partial to our six-dozen-plus cracking capers, we have a special Gift Membership that, aside from audio capers, also includes video poetry, live music and more. And I'll be doing a live-performance Tale for Our Time at sea on the next Mark Steyn Cruise - sailing aboard the Queen Mary 2.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - and don't forget that special Gift Membership. As soon as you join, you'll get access not only to America Alone but to over seventy audio adventures in Tales for Our Time. Please join me next weekend for Part Thirteen of America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It.
