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| Britain |
| Mark Steyn: EUtopia is over — join the real world |
| 2004-09-28 |
| I was reading a news item in the Guardian the other day. Didn't get very far. This was the first sentence: "The Church of England said yesterday that police counter-terrorism operations were directed disproportionately against Muslims and risked alienating them." At that point, I fell off the chair, howling with laughter. Not because of the strikingly non-ecumenical character of the infanticidal thugs at Beslan, the bombers of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, the murderers of the 12 Nepalese workers, the terrorist suspects arrested in north London on Friday, or the beheaders of two American hostages and impending beheader of a third British one. No, what's hilarious about the C of E's intervention is that it felt the need to make it. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #7 I found it entertaining. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-09-28 10:33:15 PM |
| #6 Mark Steyn always makes for entertaining reading. Unfortunately he really doesn't have a clue about the EU. What has the EU to do with the rising number of Muslims in the UK (which are a heritage of the British colonies). What has the EU to do with the fact that the British don't have enough babies? Who forces the British to adopt Swedish tax rates (which for the average worker aren't really higher than anywhere else) Who forces the British to work 35 hours a week (btw nobody works that few hours as a full time job in Europe these days). And why does Mr Steyn systematically ignore that many EU states have already embarked on painful reforms cutting the welfare system to sustainable levels? Free Viagra from Washington? Cialis is an European product and has less side effects :-) |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-09-28 10:24:12 PM |
| #5 thanks for the vow of abstinence, Aris |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-09-28 10:10:51 PM |
| #4 Barbara, I read it before you even posted. But it doesn't contain anything much worth answering to -- a mass of jokes pretending to be making a point but just reiterating cliches and assumptions instead. It wouldn't convince anyone who isn't already convinced. Have seen much more meaningful attacks on the EU, and ones that are more structurally coherent as well. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-09-28 9:54:00 PM |
| #3 A much better line: "If the core of European identity turns out to have made you impotent, you ought to treat the disease rather than demand free Viagra from Washington." Now if that don't describe Euro-American politics and economics for the past 100 years! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-09-28 5:48:37 PM |
| #2 This line That's modern Europe, with its head in the sand but convinced that it's the only one holding the map the right way..., not arrogance on America's part, sums up nicely why Americans aren't jumping on the bandwagon of the EU parade. It's too bad; we have a shared history. We might well have been sitting here today with the same optimism about the EU as Europeans have, had there been a bit less posturing and a bit more responsibility for the state of the world demonstrated by our old friends. George Bush is up 8+ points in the polls because the reconstituted liberal pulp served up by big brother Europe is a breakfast we stopped eating a long time ago. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-09-28 4:43:01 PM |
| #1 Uh-oh. Hope Aris doesn't read this one. He hates it when someone disses his beloved EU. ;-) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-09-28 3:38:23 PM |