Building on my post, Dutch Gays Prefer Conservative Parties in a post of his own, our friend Chris Crain, provides some information about conservatism in the Netherlands, based on his travels here and greater knowledge of Dutch politics. He also repeats a question he had asked before: “how do you tolerate everything while not tolerating intolerance?”
The question bears repetition. It sometimes seems tolerance is the watchword of the left, well, tolerance for everything but white male individuals supporting Western Judaeo-Christian ideas and institutions.
Hence, in Europe, we see tolerance of the anti-gay and misogynistic practices of radical Muslims in Western society which Bruce Bawer details so well in his excellent book, While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within. This tolerance has caused police in European nations to look the other way when Muslim families kills their daughters for dating (or being presumed to date) outside the faith. Or for engaging in sexual relations before marriage.
British Gay leaders have received death threats from Muslim fundamentalists in the United Kingdom while one Muslim extremist murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. They all claim to be doing this in the name of their faith.
Should we be tolerant of such murderous bigotry? By speaking out regularly against narrow (but less vicioius) attitudes of American social conservatives, representatives of gay organizations refuse to tolerate the beliefs of certain Christians. Shouldn’t they be less tolerant of a attitudes which more regularly have more fatal consequences?
In failing to readily (and regularly) condemn brutality against our fellows in nations governed by Islamofascist regimes, do these very groups show a tolerance of the prejudice of this supposedly oppressed (by the West) faith? No wonder I think it’s a big deal when Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon publically addresses how conservative national security policy benefits gay people in standing up to these hateful regimes.
If we, as the Europeans are finding, become too tolerant of groups merely because they are minorities and thus perceived to be oppressed, we may find ourselves tolerating an intolerance which often has brutal, if not fatal, consequences for our gay and lesbian fellows. Not to mention others who refuse to follow the narrow dictates of radical Islam.
As you read Chris’s piece, take note how he, having talked to actual gay Republicans, can distinguish between our attitudes and views and those of outspoken social conservatives in our party.)
I’m glad to see Bauer’s book getting the references it does. He cites with excellent examples the risks that the socialist democracies have taken and failed their constituencies.
Great post. Linked.
This is my book list for Rise of Islam/Fall of West:
Links here: http://home.comcast.net/~vincep312/books.html
The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy
Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to Present
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within
Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America
Infidel
Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror
The West’s Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
Londonistan
Inside the Jihad: My Life With Al Qaeda: A Spy’s Story
The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Islam (and the Crusades)
Why I am Not a Muslim
America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion
Al Qaida Reader
The Cube And the Cathedral: Europe, America, And Politics Without God