Have you contemplated moving *out* of Oslo, Bruce Bawer?
I hear that NYC's nice.
By Moe Lane Posted in Liberals — Comments (11) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
OK, that was cruel - but necessary. Bruce Bawer is an American writer who happens to be gay, and who left the USA in 1998 to live in gay-friendly Amsterdam (and later, Oslo). Please, read those two links, all the way through. Note the bit about a "malevolent theocratic movement," too. No. Just read.
OK?
OK. Now read this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.
(H/t: Glenn Reynolds)
(pause)
Amazing what a change of address can do for a man, isn't it? We should set up tours.
Read on.
What's happened here, of course, is that the author - who is not a right-winger of any sort - has had it forcibly made clear to him that, no matter how personally disapproving American social conservatives (particularly the evangelical Christian ones) might be of his sexual preferences, they are not engaged in a systematic and long-term campaign to remove every human right from Mr. Bawer, including the rather fundamental right of him not to be beaten to death on a public street. In this they differ from radical Islamists (note suffix), who are currently working their way to a position in Western Europe where they can do precisely that. A perusal of the author's work suggests that he has thankfully taken this realization to heart; would that more of his putative ideological compatriots could do the same.
It really is fascinating to see the evolution here: while Bawer might even now still reflexively bristle at being called a "neocon," if you eliminated the odd touch of Bush-bashing here and there there would be nothing that would cause somebody to contest the description. Samuel Johnson's famous aphorism about the ability of an upcoming hanging to act as an aid to mental concentration seems fairly apt; it certainly seems to have worked in this case. But perhaps I say that because I am myself a neo-conservative, and thus biased towards assuming that wisdom equals agreeing with me.
Either way, I suggest that Bawer come back home: unless things change (and that will require action from not only European governments, but from regular Muslims who don't particularly feel like living under a theocracy, either*) it just isn't going to be safe for him over there for all that much longer. As for your partner... yeah, that's currently a sticky point, immigration-wise, and (squishy-soft social moderate that I am) I can't say that I blame you for being upset about it.
Well, at the rate things are going thirty years from now being European and gay is likely to be sufficient cause to claim refugee status anyway, so he might as well come in now and avoid the rush.
Moe
*We will now pause for the obligatory argument over what is the exact ratio of that subset to the set of all Muslims.
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Have you contemplated moving *out* of Oslo, Bruce Bawer? 11 Comments (0 topical, 11 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
It's always fascinating to see the light go on in someone's head, where they realize that what they thought they believed were misconceptions, and what they had ridiculed they now see as clear truth.
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Finrod's First Law of Bandwidth:
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it takes the bandwidth of ten thousand.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, and now reading America Alone. I don't want to be one of those crazies fearing the end of the world-but both books offer an historical application of concern of what the world may become.
I will add the previous readings to this list of what my liberal friends call "an irrational fear of a non-existant force (war on terror/spread of Islam).
MelZ
It is unfortunate that George Bush hasn't been able to deliver this kind of message to America, or even at least, find ambassadors like Bruce to do the talking for him. Or could it be that the left just doesn't want to hear it over their hatred for their own country.
I think the following let's us see the left
Yes, the Netherlands does have churches, but they're overwhelmingly liberal. In any case, few Dutch people are religious. Bold"In America, people rely on God,"Bolda University of Amsterdam grad student told me. "Here they rely on each other.” What more stinging indictment could there be of America’s religious right, which too often preaches not love but hate?
We may not be perfect, but we are the only country in the world to be able to claim to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. May God continue to bless America.
"Two legs bad, four legs good."
I meant to add the headline from Boston.com, ,
The tension between radical Islam and European secular values is explored in Murder in Amsterdam
They don't get it that we tell them their wrong out of love, not to dominate them as Islam will.
"Two legs bad, four legs good."
hate...
Please cite specific examples of that statement. And let me give you a couple of hints.
1. Noting that the Bible does not consider the homosexual lifestyle to be compatible with Godliness isn't hate. Dragging homosexuals out and stoning them or hanging them would qualify. See Iran.
2. Don't even bother with Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. The founder and head nutcase is a Democrat.
Produce some specifics.
____
CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
That was a quote, not his opinion. I think.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
While I don't think that gay marriage by an imposed judiciary is the way to go about gay marriage, I personally support gay marriage. I also would say that the preaching of hate comes into play much like the way Tancredo supporters come into play of being of the "wetback" crowd.
Here's an example-"[Homosexuals]want to come into churches and disrupt church services and throw blood all around and try to give people AIDS and spit in the face of ministers."- Pat Robertson, 700 Club, 1/18/95
See where the hate inerpretation could be made? This is the difference between someone like Mitt Romney, who can disagree with gay marriage and be respectful about, and someone like Huckabee, who comes off as the name calling type that is the stereotype of the religous right. And don't get me wrong, I think that evangelicals do many wonderful, wonderful things for the country, such as the cause for preserving the sanctity life, their overwhelming charity domestically and abroad, and their committments and work in reforming the prison system. For me, talking gay marriage though makes me queasy, which is why I usually refrain from taking a position, but Becker I think to deny that there is anti-gay hatred in the SoCon wing is to be at worse, painfully naive, but more likely I think you are in denial because you yourself are not anti-gay I'm sure, and most of the Christians you know may not be.
If you ever find that you only have an hour to live,spend it with a liberal and it will seem like a year."-Rush Limbaugh
I do believe Moe's point is that Bruce Bawer -- someone most definitely not a conservative -- has come to embrace some fairly conservative viewpoints as pertains to the topic of the struggle against Islamists.
What it took was a direct attack on his human rights, freedoms, and liberties for the formerly (and possibly presently) America-hating liberal. Because homosexuality was such an important identity for Bruce, he left America and its 'malevolent theocratic movement' to settle somewhere he could live in peace.
Turns out that wasn't the case.
Suddenly, he sees all of the vile oppression not just against gays, but against women, against Jews, against Christians, against native Europeans.
My question is this: does it take a personal experience of evil for liberals to wake up?
In other words, does a liberal woman have to go live in Iran for a while to understand that Islamists represent real repression that can't be "fought" with signs saying "Hands Off My Body" and crude jokes involving President Bush's name? Does a liberal straight man have to experience his daughter getting raped by a bunch of Muslim thugs for the crime of walking around in public without a headscarf for him to realize the enemy isn't the kind to be deterred by NYT Op/Ed pieces?
Maybe so. Maybe we need to simply wait it out, as we did once prior to World War II. Once the Islamists start attacking the hallowed institutions of the West -- free recreational sex, feminism, gay rights, abortion, drugs, and 'transgressive art' -- not with regulations and editorials, but with knives and steel-toed boots... the Left in this country may wake up. They did once during Hitler's time when the Reich attacked Soviet Union. Suddenly, that was a Good War.
Perhaps before the War on Islamists becomes a "Good War" celebrated by the American culture machine and by the media, the Islamists must overreach and start stoning gays in the Champs Elysees.
Or can their blindness be removed without such human sacrifice?
-TS
"When men fear work or fear righteous war, when women fear motherhood, they tremble on the brink of doom; and well it is that they should vanish from the earth." - Teddy Roosevelt
This is probably the most fascinating thing I’ve come across on this website in the 3 or so years I’ve been stopping by. You have to start from those first two links and move forward to truly appreciate the author’s history with America and Europe, and the evolution of his intelligence and true open-mindedness. It’s actually a really depressing read when he describes the European elitist mindset and all of the damage being done right before everyone’s eyes. However, it is uplifting at the same time to know that there are people out there like Mr. Bawer, true liberals in the classic sense of the word, willing to stand up for facts and history in the face of everything that has become the perverted, modern, “progressive” definition of liberalism.
His writing is impressive and his insight even more so. Mr. Bawer is quite the brave man - not only is he a stranger, not only is he a gay man, not only is he a gay man living in a rapidly Islamicized Europe, but he is also a gay man who openly espouses some pretty conservative views. My hat's off to him.
Read his book "While Europe Slept". It's the single scariest book I've ever read.
It's got it's problems, it's a bit too anecdotal to draw any firm conclusions, but it certainly demonstrates a bunch of very frightening trends.
John Bolton for President
"FEAR THE 'STACH!!!"