Steyn's Islamophobia

Some readers thought I was being too hard on Mark Steyn, who may have just been typing sloppily when he fretted yesterday about "resurgent Islam, freelance nuclearization, and the demographic decline of the west," making no distinction between Islam as such and violent jihadist ideologies. It was, however, no mistake. Here's Gideon Rachman on Steyn's book:

Mr Steyn argues that – “Europe has all but succumbed to the dull opiate of multiculturalism.” Indeed “a fearless Muslim advance has penetrated far deeper into Europe than Abd al-Rahman” – a Muslim general who made it to the outskirts of Paris in 732. With apparent relish Mr Steyn predicts a “Eurabian civil war”. The weak-kneed elites will succumb to militant Islam. But an “unreconstructed minority” will turn to “neo-nationalist strongmen”. The poor old Europeans can’t win. It’s either appeasement or fascism.

Here, again, the "enemy" is being defined very broadly; Europe simply has too many Muslims living in it. Their immigration constitutes a "fearless Muslim advance."

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/05/steyns-islamophobia/42374/