The cynic as hero

Just as I was posting my comment that many conservatives view Mark Steyn as a hero, a reader sent this brilliant explanation of the Steyn phenomenon:

This is the age of the cynic.

The man who sees danger coming but has no desire to do anything about it but who will be able to say, “I told you so,” when the final moments close is our hero.

Continuing on this line, here is what I think is most objectionable and dangerous about Steyn, making him, from one point of view, the quintessential neocon. It is that with his unending (and entertaining) attacks on the easy targets of leftist insanity, he gives his readers the delusory feeling of, “Boy, that Steyn, at least he sees the truth about how all the lefties are surrendering to Islam. He even comes right out and says that we’re in a war with Islam. Three cheers for Steyn!” Filled with this false afflatus, the readers fail to notice that Steyn himself, notwithstanding his noisy “war” talk, proposes doing absolutely nothing serious about Islam.

The upshot is that Steyn is worse than a leftist. The leftists are openly anti-American and anti-Western; we know where they stand and prepared to deal with them. By contrast, Steyn seems to be pro-American and pro-Western, but in fact he is merely anti-leftist. When it comes to the ultimate enemies of the West, the Muslims, Steyn has already surrendered, even as his snookered fans think he’s waging war against the Muslims on their behalf.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 28, 2005 06:41 PM | Send