America Alone

Mark Steyn (a Canadian writer living in the US) is one of the funniest and scariest writers around. He is currently on "trial" by a Canadian Human Rights Commission for inciting hate with remarks from his book, America Alone. There's lots of information on the net about the trial, such as this op/ed piece from the LA Times a few days ago. Instapundit often links to updates.

I just finished reading America Alone this morning. It's a worthwhile book. Some people can't stomach the anti-Islam tone, though all his commentary about radical Islam's desire to rule the world comes directly from the news or from quotes by Islamists themselves. So I don't see where the "hate" comes in. He's reporting.

But, if that's not to your liking, you could read just Part 1: "The Gelded Age," and the last 2 chapters, "the Importance of Being Exceptional" and "the Falling Camel," in which Steyn outlines the demographic problems facing Europe and, to a lesser degree (so far), the US: European citizens are not having enough babies to keep their cultures alive. The US is close to doing the same. And who pays for those nifty welfare-state benefits when the population ages and there are no babies coming along behind? Important to think about as we contemplate Canadian-style Socialist medicine.

There are great quotes, like:

As French philosopher Jean-Francois Revel wrote, "Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself."

Or:

Multiculturalism was conceived by Western elites not to celebrate all cultures but to deny their own.

That reminds me of a comment a long-lost friend of mine made about a neighbor's marriage: they were really cool, she said, because it was a multi-cultural marriage. Implying that mine, being mono-cultural, was not so cool, I guess. Sorry to be so boring by being white and American and marrying a white American guy.

It's funny, too. A quick read, maybe an important read for this election year.