Mark Steyn's new book, America Alone: The End Of The World As We Know It, is causing quite a stir among writers of Western culture. In it, he forcefully argues that the rising tide of Islam will soon engulf Europe and continue to spread through much of the rest of the world.
As a result, America, and perhaps Australia, will stand as the last remnants of Western civilization. Given the medieval proclivities of the aggressive radical Muslims, it's not too far-fetched to anticipate the coming of a new Dark Age across the globe.
While many of you will no doubt be highly skeptical ("there'll always be an England"), Steyn persuasively argues that demographics and a weak political stance have set in motion a tide that cannot be reversed.
When Paul Erlich wrote his infamous doomsday book, The Population Bomb, in 1968, much of the Western intellectual world bought into his dreary arguments. As a result, the "well-informed" began to limit the number of children they had, arguing that too many people would use up all of the world's resources.
Today we are smart enough to realize that Erlich's theory was complete nonsense and utterly irresponsible. With more than six billion people in the world, there are ample resources to feed and cloth them, as well as abundant energy to fuel their growing economies. Technology and productivity gains have shredded Erlich's thesis.
The only forces perpetuating poverty and famine in the world are corrupt and evil governments that won't help their own people (Kim Jong Il, call your office).
Nonetheless, his screwball idea took deep root in Europe, to the point now that most European countries' birth rates are not high enough to sustain the population and culture. Moreover, the aging societies that are propped up by social welfare systems are straining under the burden of rising future costs.
The solution Europe embraced to counteract this problem was liberal immigration of Muslims to add to the work force. So now in many countries like France and Germany, the rapidly-reproducing Muslim population is just a generation away from becoming a majority. My guess is that they knew Erlich's book was nonsense too.
We've all read the stories about Muslim enclaves in France, Holland, Denmark and other countries where Sharia law already is de facto. Police are reluctant to enter these areas and enforce the prevailing laws. France talks vaguely about "youths" who are rioting and causing untold problems. We all know they are talking about radical Muslims.
Sadly enough, it's too late to do anything about the problem. A country can't suddenly decide to become fertile again overnight. Demographics are a real bear -- once they are set in motion, look out.
From Steyn's perspective, here is what the future holds: European leaders will seek to appease their growing Muslim populations by bringing them into the government and granting them concessions regarding Sharia law. At some point, Muslims will form powerful political parties and ultimately take over these countries without firing a shot.
So where does that leave us? As the Bee Gees might sing, "Standing all alone, in a room full of strangers." Somehow, some way, we will have to summon the courage and the will to resist the radical Muslim tide, even if it means we stand alone. The alternative is a descent into barbarism and a new Dark Age.
Here's my final take: Mark Steyn has issued a wakeup call for all of us. His book is the most important examination of the terrorist and radical Muslim threat yet. You owe it to yourself and your family to read it and understand what a challenging world lies ahead of us.