I glimpsed this last night but couldn't stay online to get the whole thing...so I came back today already pondering, but I'm struck by other thoughts after a better reading.
The points are interesting--in a vaguely old-fashioned way though. It is fascinating just how narrow a focus Mr. Steyn has because I think he is a marker for some of the bigger philosophical problems we have in the world today. He does cover a few nice points from the recent birthrate book I read, however, even if he offers a much more curmudgeony and conservative stance.
Sort of ironic, too, the idea that multiculturalism is somehow hurting us in a fight against a kind of xenophobia. It ignores whole levels of analysis. The list could go on and on...and we've probably talked about nearly every counterpoint to his before. He offers a nice summary though for a kind of jumping off stage.
I do think he is right that what people worry about is pretty important. That is, perhaps, the key to understanding some of the culture wars. What do we really value? We're having an inner-Western conflict over that ourselves. In that way it is global struggle and the question is "what is civilization?" And I think Mr. Steyn is "worried" about the wrong things.
It isn't the progressive agenda that is a suicide bomb...the progressive agenda is our only hope against not only militant fundamentalism, but stagnant conservative thought as well. I'd say that is why I believe in progressive values...it's the only set of beliefs that offers hope via intellect and thoughtfulness against all sorts of cultural problems that plague the world. Mr. Steyn's view simply doesn't fit in the postmodern, complex world that we're forced to live in these days. Oh, but I wish things were as simple as he seems to want.
If the fundamentalists are the ones who are multiplying, I'd like to think we can encourage people to raise our birthrate while also holding firm on the progressive items which define us from every society that has come before. I'm not sure the free world is necessarily safe, but if it is to survive it has to overcome the Steyn's of the culture in addition to jihadists and falling birthrates.
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Date: 2006-01-05 07:38 am (UTC)From:The points are interesting--in a vaguely old-fashioned way though. It is fascinating just how narrow a focus Mr. Steyn has because I think he is a marker for some of the bigger philosophical problems we have in the world today. He does cover a few nice points from the recent birthrate book I read, however, even if he offers a much more curmudgeony and conservative stance.
Sort of ironic, too, the idea that multiculturalism is somehow hurting us in a fight against a kind of xenophobia. It ignores whole levels of analysis. The list could go on and on...and we've probably talked about nearly every counterpoint to his before. He offers a nice summary though for a kind of jumping off stage.
I do think he is right that what people worry about is pretty important. That is, perhaps, the key to understanding some of the culture wars. What do we really value? We're having an inner-Western conflict over that ourselves. In that way it is global struggle and the question is "what is civilization?" And I think Mr. Steyn is "worried" about the wrong things.
It isn't the progressive agenda that is a suicide bomb...the progressive agenda is our only hope against not only militant fundamentalism, but stagnant conservative thought as well. I'd say that is why I believe in progressive values...it's the only set of beliefs that offers hope via intellect and thoughtfulness against all sorts of cultural problems that plague the world. Mr. Steyn's view simply doesn't fit in the postmodern, complex world that we're forced to live in these days. Oh, but I wish things were as simple as he seems to want.
If the fundamentalists are the ones who are multiplying, I'd like to think we can encourage people to raise our birthrate while also holding firm on the progressive items which define us from every society that has come before. I'm not sure the free world is necessarily safe, but if it is to survive it has to overcome the Steyn's of the culture in addition to jihadists and falling birthrates.