A reader writes this about Mark Steyn's assertion that Serbian genocide was a response to the Serbs' being "out-bred" by Muslims:
It's true that the demographic balance between Muslims and Serbs shifted. But not because the Muslims had more kids! Quite the opposite.
In Bosnia, the Muslims tended to be richer and better educated ... they were descendants of the old ruling class, after all. They were much more likely to be lawyers, doctors, and other professionals. Bosnian Serbs had originally been the peasant class; their descendants were still more likely to be farmers, or (if educated) soldiers, policemen, or government officials.
So, the Muslims usually had fewer kids than the more rural Serbs. Then why did the number of Serbs decrease? Because the Serbs tended to drift out of Bosnia and into Serbia, especially to Belgrade. That was the capital, the big city with the bright lights. Bosnian Muslims, on the other hand, tended to stay put in Bosnia.
There's a twist here: the Bosnian Serbs who moved to Serbia tended to be the most ambitious and best educated. As a result, the ones left behind grew steadily more rural, backwards and bigoted. And this was a major reason for the violence in Bosnia: the Muslims considered the Serbs a bunch of dumb, violent rednecks, while the Serbs resented the Muslims as a lot of overeducated, snotty ponces. Bosnia wasn't a "clash of civilizations". It was what you get when a culture war turns septic.
And it's one reason to attempt to prevent our own culture war going the same way. The premise of Steyn's entire "argument" is that Muslims will win the civilizational war by "out-breeding" pansy-ass Westerners. There's an interesting debate to be had here, about "natalist" and "non-natalist" societies. But Steyn doesn't come close to grappling with it. It would ruin the gags. I note solely that the words he uses literally dehumanizes the enemy. And it dehumanizes all Muslims, regardless of their sect, politics or assimilation. The use of language to dehumanize the enemy is usually a precursor to abusing or killing them, or acquiescing in both. It is the mark of a deeply illiberal mindset.